Chapter 18:

"Welcome aboard."

General Hawk had said, his words still ringing loudly in Isabella's ears, even after he was long gone from the room.

From behind, Isabella could hear a few voices congratulating her while a couple hands patted her back in return but none of it was really capable of being processed at the moment. All of Isabella's senses had gone numb at the news.

"No…" the young woman thought in disbelief before she was finally able to open her mouth and get the words out verbally, "No, no, no!" she stated and shook her head before she quickly sought out her cami and began throwing it over her head.

"Yo, Isabella…" Came Ripcord's voice. While Isabella hastily pulled her shirt down to its proper place, she turned about to see Ripcord and everyone else in the room watching her. "You okay?" he asked curiously.

Her eyes went about the room, taking in all the faces; they even flickered momentarily over to Snake Eyes who was standing tall as usual with his head inclined to the side. "Can't talk right now." She replied in a hurry before she turned on her heel and dashed for the doorway.

"Bella!" she heard her name get called after her, but she had already flown out of the room before another word could have been spoken. Ripcord turned toward Duke in surprise, "Where's she going?" he asked. Duke shrugged a shoulder and shook his head.

"Do you think we should go after her?" Breaker asked as he set his computer equipment down and stood up from his seat. Ripcord thought about it for a second before he went back over to the bench and collected his and Duke's T-shirts.

"Probably." Ripcord answered while he tossed Duke his shirt and swiftly pulled his own over his head.

"I bet you she's gone after General Hawk." Breaker stated knowingly as the three men headed out of the workout room. Duke and Ripcord shared a quick look with each other before nodding,

"Right." Ripcord breathed out before he and he other two men walked out of the bunker.


Heart racing along with her fast moving legs as they carried her through the pit, Isabella followed her own way down to General Hawk's office. As she neared the door, she skidded to a stop, her hand already raising itself up to rap on the closed door.

"Sir?" she called as her fist firmly knocked. From inside she heard the General reply, "It's open."

With a quick sigh, Isabella lowered her hand down to the door's handle and gave it a turn before she pushed the door open and stepped in. "Sir…" Isabella started to speak as her eyes landed on General Hawk sitting behind his desk with a tiny smirk on his face.

"Come on in, Lieutenant." General Hawk stated, "…take a seat." He offered. Isabella sighed but stepped into the room and closed the door.

"Thank you sir, but I prefer to stand." She answered as she walked over to stand in front of the General's desk. When Isabella carefully studied General Hawk's smirking face, something inside Isabella clicked.

"You were expecting me." She stated knowingly, her brows furrowing softly in puzzlement. General Hawk's smirk widened into a smile. "You wanted me to follow you." She added with a nod of understanding.

"I was counting on it." General Hawk replied calmly as he leaned forward in his desk and placed both hands on top, "Now let's get down to business."

Isabella straightened up, "Alright." she agreed while her arms came up and crossed themselves over her chest, "I'm sure then you already know why I've come here in the first place, correct?" she asked

"Of course. You want to argue with me about your test results." General Hawk answered coolly.

"I believe there's been a mistake." Isabella stated firmly. General Hawk chuckled before he sat back in his seat. Using one hand, he opened the top drawer of his desk and pulled out a file.

"I'll have to disagree with you on that, Lieutenant." He answered while he flipped the folder open to browse through its contents, "Though you are much younger than most people we test here, your results perfectly meet all of our expectations of a GI Joe soldier."

"But…" Isabella started but General Hawk quickly interjected.

"Now I know you probably have a lot to say about this, but it's already been made official. Your commanding officers have already signed you over to me."

Isabella's mouth dropped open at the news, "….they can do that?" she asked in disbelief. General Hawk smiled softly and nodded.

"Absolutely. I have the paperwork if you'd like to see it." He offered.

Isabella shook her head while raising a hand up to cover her eyes, "Not necessary, sir." She mumbled, letting out a huffed sigh as she dropped her hand back down to her side, "So what happens now if I am indeed under your command?" she asked, her eyes staring intently into General Hawks face.

He smiled again before he reached into the folder and pulled out a piece of paper, "First I need you to sign this." He answered while he slid the paper across the desk.

Isabella took a small step towards it, "What's this? A contract?" she questioned as she read over the words printed on it.

"You can think of it as such." General Hawk replied while he extended out a pen for Isabella to take, "Its purpose is to just…seal the deal. Showing that you understand your duty as a Joe and that you swear to follow through with all orders like any other soldier. It's pretty much the same thing you had to agree to when you joined the Marine Corps; the only main difference is that you'll be signing under my name." He explained.

Sighing in defeat, Isabella reached out and took up the pen, "Right." She murmured quietly as she leaned over the desk slightly, bringing the tip of the pen down on the blank line that required her signature. With quick, smooth penmanship, Isabella neatly signed her first, middle and last name on the paper. As she set the pen down and stepped away from the desk, General Hawk reached out and collected the contract before slipping it safely back into its folder.

"Very good, Strider." General Hawk stated approvingly.

Isabella's turquoise eyes widened in surprise, "How…how did you know my nickname?"

"Its like I said before, I know a lot about you." He answered with a warm smile. "You won't mind being called that, here at the pit, will you?"

Isabella shook her head, licking her lips quietly, "No sir. The name's fine." She answered.

"Excellent. Oh! I almost forgot." General lightly exclaimed before he reached a hand down, leaning to the side in his chair. "Someone had this dropped off for you." He stated as he lifted off the ground a duffle bag alongside his chair before he set it on top of the desk.

It took Isabella a few seconds to look the bag over before gasping in shock, "That's my bag from home." She stated in astonishment. General Hawk nodded his head,

"Yes, your father had it sent over immediately after I had told him of your acceptance here at GI Joe headquarters."

"And when did you do that?" Isabella asked curiously.

A sly smile pulled at General Hawk's lips, "That's not important." He answered.

Isabella blinked in response, clearly taken back by the man's words, "Uhh…" she murmured not knowing what to say.

General Hawk chuckled, "Think nothing of it." He stated, "Now I believe our business here is complete. So you're free to go." He dismissed.

Isabella opened her mouth to say something else but words came forth. Instead, the young woman nodded her head slightly before collecting her duffle bag off the desk. When it securely hung off a shoulder, Isabella turned away from General Hawk's desk, crossed the room to open his office door and walked on out. As it closed behind her and she slowly began her walk down the corridor, Isabella closed her eyes and shook her head,

"Is there's no end to this?" she groaned out loud to herself as she found herself trudging off in the direction that would take her back down to the bunker. As she rounded a corner, Isabella had only a few seconds to think before colliding head on with Ripcord. Isabella's smaller form ran right into Ripcord's chest causing her to stumble back a few steps before his hands were on her upper arms, steadying her.

"Oh man, you okay girl?" Ripcord asked. Isabella nodded,

"Yeah it's all good." She answered, looking up into his face before noticing Duke and Breaker right behind him. Her brows furrowed in confusion, "Wait, what are you guys doing here in the first place?"

"Oh…."Ripcord murmured as he released Isabella and took a respectful step back, "We thought that we should check up on you…with you rushing off, we wanted to make sure everything was cool." He explained.

"Oh…" Isabella murmured.

"So is it?" Ripcord inquired.

Isabella forced a tiny smile on her face, "Yeah, everything's fine." She answered.

"So what was the rush about anyway?" Duke asked curiously.

Isabella shrugged a shoulder, "I just wanted to make sure that my stuff had arrived." She lied while she nodded her head down on the duffle bag hanging on her side, "…and it did. So I had to run down to General Hawk to pick it up." Isabella was surpirsed at how easily the lie came to her.

"Stuff?" Breaker repeated before his eyes lit up, "Oh so you're staying?" he stated excitedly, "…like permanently?" he added.

Isabella did everything she could to prevent herself from cringing at the word 'permanently' but she managed to force another smile on her face, "Yeah looks like I'll be hanging around for some time." She answered while she slowly began moving around the trio of men, "I'm heading back to the bunker to drop my things off now." She stated.

"Oh ok cool!" Ripcord replied with a grin, "Well since everything's fine with you, me and the boys are gonna head down and get some breakfast. Shall we save you a spot at the table?" he asked.

"Uh…no thank you, Rip." Isabella answered, "I'll just catch you guys later." She answered.

All three men nodded their heads, "Well ok." Ripcord answered with a quick shrug before he, Duke and Breaker continued their way down the corridor while Isabella went the opposite direction.

When she finally made it back to bunker, it seemed like everyone had gone for breakfast for the entire bunker was completely silent. Sighing, Isabella carried her duffel bag all the way to her bedroom before dropping it on the bed. Then with nothing else better to do, Isabella unzipped the bag and began pulling her belongings out so that she could put them away in the small dresser that she had here. Once all her clothes had been neatly put away, Isabella checked the rest of her bag for anything else her parents had packed for her; she found her Ipod along with its charger in one side pocket. And as she opened the pocket on the other side, she found a dainty box tied with a red ribbon. Raising an eyebrow, Isabella reached a hand inside and pulled the box out; the box itself was kind of narrow but no longer than her hand. Undoing the ribbon carefully, Isabella lifted the lid of the box open; a tiny slip of paper hid its contents. Placing the box in her lap, she lifted the little card, gasping at what it had hidden. A silver chain bracelet rested inside and hanging off it was a miniature pink crystal rose charm. Smiling, Isabella removed the piece of jewelry from the box before slowly draping it about her left wrist and doing its clasp.

After taking a few seconds to admire it, Isabella's eyes instantly pulled themselves away from the beautifully gift to look over the card in her hand. As she flipped it over, she found words written on its other side; Isabella recognized the handwriting immediately. It was from her father.

"Bella,
Words cannot begin to describe how proud I am of you.
You were always a very gifted young woman, who could
set out and accomplish anything you set your mind to.
Congratulations on your acceptance into the ranks of the Joes.
I already knew you could do it. We both did.

Love, Dad

Licking her lips, Isabella quickly reread the note, feeling some very heavy emotions coming on. Her eyes found themselves stopping at the last line.

"I already knew you could do it. We both did."

We being the key word. Like she had been stuck by lightning, suddenly everything started making sense. The forced training, the fact that her things, including military transcripts and applications, had already been sent over from home in such a short time, there was only one answer to it all; everything had been staged.

"They had planned this all out." Isabella whispered out loud as tears of frustration instantly burned behind her eyes; 'they' being her father and Hawk. It must've all started when her father had received her recruitment letter from Hawk a couple years back. Of course that time, she had just turned 20, so they probably decided to wait a few years before actually shipping her out. And then by chance, when Isabella had been picked up by Hawk's team, that was when she had been condemned to all of this. It had already been decided, even before the training, that Isabella was going to be a Joe.