Chapter 11:
Fuming on her walk back from the General's Office, Isabella mindlessly wandered around the seemingly endless corridors of the base. Eventually, she found herself heading back towards the Mess Hall where she spotted from a distance, Duke and Ripcord with the team of Joes from earlier all huddled right outside its doors. They all seemed to be in a deep conversation of some sort and though Isabella tried to sneak on by unnoticed her presence was soon detected for somebody then called her name.
"Ah there you are, Isabella. Where've you been girl?" Said Ripcord; Isabella stopped in her tracks before she slowly turned to face the group of people who were now staring right at her.
"Oh you know….." she answered in a sarcastic tone, "…just planning my escape route."
"Ouch." Answered Ripcord, "…you really don't wanna be here, huh?" he asked.
Isabella took a couple steps closer to the group before crossing her arms over her chest, "No I don't but what choice do I have?" she replied. Scarlet raised a single eye brow up at her words.
"Ah. So it's true then….General Hawk wants you to join our team." She stated in an unenthusiastic tone.
"Ooh. Really?" Breaker asked curiously, his head was cocked to the side as he, along with the other Joes, studied Isabella. Heavy Duty let out a grunt of amusement while Scarlet and Snake Eyes stayed silent.
"Wait…" Ripcord suddenly spoke up, "…so does that mean that you're staying for the training?" he asked. Isabella glanced over at the dark skinned man and noticed the excitement that he held within his brown eyes before she nodded.
"Yeah….for now." She answered. Ripcord let out a soft whoop before he walked over and slung an arm around Isabella's shoulders.
"Nice girl. Looks like we'll be training buddies." He stated with a grin. Isabella forced a small smile back.
"Guess so." She answered. A moment of silence then passed between the group before Heavy Duty decided to speak up.
"Well now that we've got that settled, let's head on back to the bunker." Said Heavy Duty before he turned his scrutinizing gaze upon Isabella, Ripcord and Duke and eyed the trio with uncertainty, "….I can already tell tomorrow's gonna be a rough day." He stated.
Isabella softly snorted to herself and rolled her eyes in response. Then the group moved out from their little place by the Mess Hall and headed for their private bunker. When the group reached their quarters, everyone seemed then to go their own way. Heavy Duty and Scarlet almost immediately went to their rooms; Breaker went to lounge around on a large sofa that was set up in the middle of the room while Duke and Ripcord both walked around their new surroundings in wonder. Isabella eyed the two men for a couple of seconds before she herself felt eyes on her and turned her head to see that Snake Eyes had remained in the room as well and was looking straight at her. He was casually leaning up against a pillar with his arms crossed comfortably over his well muscled chest. Isabella frowned softly at the black ninja before she walked across the room to have a quick word with Breaker.
"Uh Breaker?" she addressed him as she went to stand before him. He looked up at his name and offered Isabella a polite and friendly smile,
"Yes?" he inquired.
"How is rooming gonna work out exactly?" she asked curiously. His brows furrowed softly in confusion before they shot up in surprise.
"Oh! Yes of course." He stated before jumping to his feet. "How rude of us not getting you newbies settled in. Uh let's see…Ripcord, Duke, you two can share the room down that hallway." Breaker said while he pointed a finger in the direction of the room he was referring to that resided down a hallway on the left side of the bunker. "Bella….we'll put you over here." he said as he then led the way over to the right side of the room where another hallway was located at. "You can have the room next to Scarlet and right across from Snake Eyes." He stated as he showed her to her new living quarters. Isabella offered Breaker a soft sincere smile and murmured a quick thanks and goodnight which he returned before he turned on his heel and went back to his spot on the sofa leaving Isabella alone in the hallway right outside her door. With a soft sigh, Isabella entered her room.
It wasn't a huge space and it was fairly dark inside, but it provided the basic necessities like a fairly decent sized bed and bathroom. A soft frown pulled at Isabella's lips as she carefully approached the single sized bed and then after testing it out for comfort, she turned on her heel and walked over to the bathroom. Inside, after turning on a light, Isabella rummaged around in the couple of cupboards and drawers by the sink before she came across what she was looking for; a new toothbrush and a small tube of toothpaste. Then for a few minuets, Isabella thoroughly brushed her teeth, taking her sweet time to neatly clean and freshen her mouth since it has been some time since she last did so. Once satisfied with her clean teeth, she quickly spit in the sink, rinsed it out then efficiently splashed some water on her face. After drying off with a hand towel, Isabella left the bathroom and headed back over to the bed where she then cautiously pulled back the few covers that were on it before she slowly climbed in. The bed sheets were cool and evening through her skinny jeans she could feel its chill seeping in. Isabella shivered softly before pulling the sheets up to her shoulders and then couldn't help but think about her first day of training the next day.
"Whatever they've got planned," she whispered to loud to herself, "I'm doing things my way." Then after a few silent moments, Isabella relaxed her body and went to sleep…..
Alarm clocks began sounding off at exactly 5:00 A.M.
And like any well trained GI Joe solider, they wasted no time in getting up and getting ready for their day. Dressing in their usual grey cammo uniforms, Heavy Duty, Scarlet, Snake Eyes and Breaker all gathered in the center of the main bunker where they then waited for the last arrivals. A couple minuets passed by before Duke and Ripcord immerged from their room. They looked like they slept well judging by the energy that they seemed to carry with them as the crossed the room and headed over to the group of Joes. Heavy Duty eyed the two NATO soldiers while crossing his muscled arms over his chest,
"I take it that you guys are ready for today?" he asked in his deep, British voice. Ripcord gave a light snort in reply before he lifted both hand up and cracked his knuckles,
"Pssh, me and my boy are always ready." Ripcord answered with confidence. Duke looked over at his closest pal before smirking softly. Heavy Duty rolled his dark eyes in silence. Then Ripcord, after he took a couple seconds to scan the faces of the people in the room, frowned softly in confusion.
"Eh yo…" he began, "….where's our girl Isabella?" he asked. Everyone shared a quick glance before heads turned about in search of their last addition. Scarlet shook her head and sighed,
"Alright, who wants to go get the little miss up?" she asked. When no one made a move to go, Breaker cleared his throat before he took a small step out,
"I'll go." He answered before he turned and headed over to Isabella's bedroom. The group of Joes watched him disappear down the hallway and then listened intently as they heard the sound of him opening up her bedroom door,
"Uh…Isabella?" his voice faintly called out. Then everything went silent and the Joes were left waiting for the return of their teammate. In less then a minute, Breaker reemerged from the hallway and made his way back over to the group.
After seeing him come back empty handed, Scarlet raised an eyebrow,
"Well Breaker?" she inquired. Breaker cleared his throat once more,
"Uh…yeah….I believe she's not much of a morning person." He answered. Ripcord grinned softly in response before he straightened up and left for Isabella's bedroom himself.
"Don't worry guys, I got this." He stated as he crossed the room. Duke opened his mouth to protest at his friend's retreating form
"Uh Rip? I'm not sure…" he began but Ripcord cut him off.
"Chill man, me and Isabella are like this now." He called back over his shoulder before he raised a hand up in the air to show the group his two crossed fingers.
Duke sighed and shook his head as he watched Ripcord disappear from sight. "I highly doubt that."
As Ripcord marched into Isabella's still dark room, another grin appeared on his face as he spotted the young woman's sleeping form still tucked away in her bed. Tip toeing carefully across the floor into the room, he approached the side of the bed closest to Isabella's head before he bent his head down to speak in her ear,
"Hey…" he began while he reached a hand down and lightly shook her by the shoulder, "Gotta get up now girl." He informed in a whisper. Isabella made a low warning sound in response before she scooted away from Ripcord's touch.
"Oh okay….it's gonna be like that, is it?" he replied in his normal tone. When Isabella remained silent, Ripcord eyes lit up with a sudden idea in waking up the young woman before him. He took a silent step closer to the bed before he purposely leaned out to lightly hover right above Isabella's form. Then as he leaned down as close as he could get towards her ear, he took in a deep breath before shouting,
"Hey there sunshine!"
Isabella's eyes snapped open at the extremely loud and shocking voice by her head. Her body in response jerked itself to the side; next thing Isabella knew, she was uttering a soft cry of surprise before tumbling out of the bed to the floor on the other side of the bed. Though Isabella was never really asleep since Breaker had come in, she was now very much awake. And very pissed off. Falling flat on her face in the early morning is not a good start for someone like Isabella. She slowly pushed herself off the ground and turned about to face Ripcord who still stood in his original place with a huge grin on his face. Isabella's turquoise eyes narrowed in a silent threat. Ripcord picked it up almost immediately because his grin vanished in a second before he started taking side steps towards the door. Isabella's head turned with his movement before she took started to advance on him Ripcord uttered a soft curse before he dashed out of the room. Isabella left right on his trail.
"DUKE!" Ripcord cried as he came out into the larger room where the group still stood waiting for him and the appearance of Isabella. As Ripcord crossed the room, he made a swift move to move around the couch that was in his way from getting to the safety of the group of Joes, but as he made his move to go around it, Isabella came right at him from behind before she easily cleared the couch in once smooth jump to intercept Ripcord's retreat. His feet skidded to a stop right in front of Isabella,
"Oh shi…" he began but was suddenly cut off by Isabella as she tackled him to the ground. The two tumbled to floor and after a few quick struggles, Isabella had Ripcord face down on the ground beneath her with one of his arms twisted up behind his back and her knee skillfully pressed into his middle back.
"Not a smart move Ripcord." Isabella informed in her low, dangerous tone. Ripcord's response to that was a grunt of discomfort followed by laughter coming from the group of people that stood watching the scene with great amusement. Isabella's eyes flashed upwards to stare over at the group of Joes and Duke.
"Quick on her feet isn't she?" Breaker asked out loud with a soft approving smile. Heavy Duty chuckled in response while Scarlet and Snake Eyes remained silent in their observations.
"Hey…hey Duke?" Ripcord mumbled out through his teeth, "…a little help?" he asked. Duke shook his head before he walked over to his fallen friend and glanced down on him before he looked over to Isabella,
"Nice tackle." He stated. Isabella nodded her head in thanks before she roughly released her hold on Ripcord before swiftly rising to her feet and stepping over Ripcord's form. Duke then reached down and helped Ripcord pull himself off the floor.
"Well now that you're finally here, we can get you guys ready for training." Scarlet suddenly spoke out as she eyed Isabella with uncertainty, "…but first….you'll need a change of clothes." She stated as she took in Isabella's skinny jeans and blue cami. "….and boots." She added before she turned on her heel and marched off. After a couple minuets, Scarlet came back carrying a neatly folded uniform that matched the rest of the Joes, including, as Isabella actually took time to notice, Duke and Ripcord. She quickly handed the uniform over to Isabella along with some black army boots.
"Hurry and change." She ordered in a firm voice.
Isabella rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah, yeah." She mumbled softly before she then swiftly left the group to change her clothes. After switching her jeans and cami for the fitting, gray cammo pants and T-shirt, Isabella then put on some socks before slipping her feet into the army boots and tying the laces up. With a bored sigh, not even bothering to look herself over in a mirror, Isabella went back out to the group. "Ta Da." She stated in an unenthusiastic tone.
"Right." Said Heavy Duty before he glanced over at the rest of his team, "Let's put these newbies to the test." He informed the group of Joes who all nodded their heads in response.
"Duke, Ripcord," Heavy Duty continued as he turned his gaze upon the two NATO soldiers, "You're starting with me. Isabella…" he paused momentarily to look the young woman over, "…Scarlet will handle you."
