Chapter 27:

Stepping out of the small bathroom that was on the aircraft and closing the door, Isabella finished zipping her black jacket up to the spot right beneath her breasts before she began making her way back to where the rest of the Joes were sitting just a few feet away.

Realizing after a couple of steps that she hadn't zipped up her calve hugging boots, she paused for a moment, bracing a hand against the east wall before reaching down for the zipper on the sides.

At the same moment, the aircraft shook and jerked briefly with turbulence. Catching Isabella off guard, the young woman lost her balance and support before being tossed lightly into the wall,

" Shit!" she swore as she found herself tumbling forward only to be caught by her waist in mid-air by Heavy Duty's thickly muscled arm.

"Easy there, sweetheart." He stated in his heavy British accent as he righted her before drawing his arm back.

Looking down into his face, Isabella gave a tiny, apologetic smile, "Thanks…"

Hushed, amused laughter reached Isabella's ears and when she fixed her eyes upon the other Joes, she found every single one trying to hide their smiles by pretending that they didn't see anything; they did this by staring off in different directions.

Ripcord however, couldn't do it, and he openly showed his humor by laughing out loud.

Isabella frowned, her arms crossing over her chest before she walked back to her seat, sitting in between Duke and Breaker. "Something funny, Rip?" she asked.

"Actually…" her dark friend replied, "Yes!" he answered with a grin before pointing a finger. "You're a klutz!" he exclaimed in merriment.

Isabella's eyes narrowed, "I am not…" she grumbled back.

Ripcord rolled his eyes, clearly not believing her answer; a grin still visible on his face.

"Well forgive me for not having Air Legs." Isabella threw across at him as she sat back in her seat, slouching; her shoulders hunched in her obvious displeasure for Ripcord's teasing.

"What? No Air Legs, Bella?" Breaker asked in surprise as his head turned to stare over in wonder at the young woman sitting next to him.

A smooth eyebrow was arched in response, "Uh no…" she confirmed before she uncrossed her arms only to bring a lose fist over Breaker's black hair and lightly knocked on his skull, "Marine, remember?" she reminded him. "My feet were always planted on the ground…"

Breaker considered her words, his head bobbing slightly in understanding, "Ok, that makes sense." He confessed.

"So what made you go Marine, girl?" Ripcord asked abruptly, leaning forward in sudden interest.

Isabella turned her head towards Ripcord and blinked a couple times at the question, "Well…my father was a Marine Officer so…it was kind of in my blood." She answered coolly with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Yeah, ok but why go Marine…" Ripcord continued on, "When you could've gone..." he paused for a second to bring his hands up in front of him, "Air Force?" he finished while making an imaginary rainbow gesture with his hands.

Isabella snorted at the thought, "Air Force?" she repeated, "You're kidding right?" she asked back.

"Why not?"

"Because…" Isabella answered like it was a matter of fact issue, "The Air Force goes to the fight….that's not what I wanted." She continued on as a tiny smile pulled at a corner of her mouth; her eyes alight with a mischievous twinkle, "….I wanted to bring the fight."

"Oh hell yeah!" Duke's voice chimed in as he slung an arm around Isabella's shoulder and gave her a half-bear hug, "Dude, I love this girl." Duke stated in a brotherly manner as he released Isabella and fixed Ripcord a In-your-face look, "Told you man…the Air Force is just…"

"Is what Duke? The greatest force of all time?"

"Uh no…that would be us, actually." Breaker voiced in.

Ripcord shut up for about a second before correcting his statement, "The greatest Flying force of all time?"

"Still us…." Answered Scarlet with an amused shake of her fiery red head.

"Maaann…" Ripcord whined as he sat back in his chair defeated, "Why does everybody diss on my Air Force?"

The plane erupted with laughter from every Joe.

Well…from all but one.

After glancing around at the faces of the Joes' sitting near her, Isabella found her head being drawn towards the far back of the aircraft.

Sitting silently in a seat that was isolated from everyone else, shrouded in a hooded cloak as black as the rest of him as he diligently sharpened his katana, was Snake Eyes.

His hooded head was bowed slightly as he worked, using a sharpening stone across his blade.

"Amazing how he can be here in the same room and yet go completely unnoticed as if he wasn't…." Isabella thought to herself as her eyes lightly traced over his form.

He must've sensed her watching because his head lifted ever so slightly till Isabella assumed she was in his direct line of sight for his efforts stilled as he looked back.

Her heart skipped a beat as she realized that she had been caught staring and before she would let her face go red from slight embarrassment, Isabella bit her lip and quickly looked away.

"Oh smooth…." Her head scolded herself before shaking softly, "Shit….what am I gonna do about him?" she found herself asking but was unable to come up with an answer.

Unbeknownst to her, when Snake Eyes lowered his head back down to finish readying his weapon, his mouth turned up in a hidden smile.

Just as she was getting ready to ponder more on that Black Clad Ninja, Isabella was shaken from her thoughts when Heavy Duty began addressing the group.

"Right…" He started, "We're gonna be landing soon…our mission; retrieve the Warheads." He paused for a second to quickly glance around at all his fellow Joes. "At all costs." He finished.

Everyone nodded in understanding.

"Now, when we reach our drop-off sight, we'll have two vehicles at our disposal. Breaker and I will run one of them; the van." Heavy Duty informed, "Duke, Ripcord, you guys are gonna be our 'runner's."

"Oooh…that sounds cool." Ripcord chimed in with a grin.

"When we get close to the Baroness, we'll get you situated in the Accelerator Suits." Heavy Duty went on, "Scarlet, Snake…you guys will be on standby in the van until needed."

"What about me?" Isabella asked; realizing that everyone had been assigned some kind of role already.

Heavy Duty's head turned at the question before he met Isabella with a slow smile stretching across his face.

"You…our newest addition…will be our second driver."

Isabella kind of liked the sound of that; the half smile that pulled at her mouth easily showed it.

After landing and getting off the plane about a half an hour later, Heavy Duty led the Joes over to the giant white Van that was waiting for them a few yards away. Throwing open the side door, Duke and Ripcord climbed in first, followed by Scarlet while Heavy Duty moved around to the Driver's seat in front.

When Snake Eyes finally climbed in, he didn't do so without first sparing Isabella a look before he slammed the door shut behind him.

"Bella…" said Breaker as he adjusted his high tech glasses, "You're over here." he informed as pointed to a sporty looking black vehicle with tinted windows that was parked just ahead of the van.

Isabella eyed the car for a couple seconds, her eyes squinting for a moment as if she was having a hard time seeing the car itself.

"Is that…." She started; her eyes widening with soft excitement, "…that Portia?"

Breaker nodded his head. "Mmhmm."

Isabella smiled, "Daaaammmnn."

The computer wiz chuckled, "Come on, I need to show you a few things."

As they reached the car, Breaker was nice enough to open the driver's side door for Bella. "In you go." He stated; practically ushering her inside.

Sliding into the nice car, Isabella sat back in the chair, "Ooh..yes…I like this a lot." She confessed as she quickly reached down and adjusted the chair to a comfortable height level and closeness for driving.

With her seated in the car, Breaker handed her a set of keys which she took and then inserted into the ignition; turning them clockwise, the car rumbled for a second before coming alive.

Hearing the smooth yet powerful sound of the engine, Isabella smiled again before she reached over her left shoulder and pulled the seatbelt across her body before snapping it in.

"Ok…do you see the screen off to your right?" Breaker asked.

Isabella glanced over to see the blackened screen that he was talking about, "Yeah, I see it."

"Hit the power button on the side." He directed.

Isabella did what she was told.

The screen glowed blue for a few seconds as it warmed up before the screen changed to what looked like a typical GPS.

"Now, you won't have to worry about messing with this…" Breaker informed, "…, my computer in the van is linked to it, so you'll receive your coordinates and routes from me, understand?"

"Yeah, roger that."

"Also…it'll show you where everyone is, where they are heading at the exact moment too; so always keep an eye on the screen." With that said, Breaker handed her what appeared to be a wireless head set. "Wear this too…it'll allow us to communicate the whole time.

Taking the device, Isabella clasped the thing behind her head, moving the ear piece to rest inside her ear, and adjusting the mouth piece to level with her lips.

"Gotcha…anything else?"

"Yeah…." Breaker answered before giving her a quick wink before stepping away from the vehicle, "Drive safe, Bella." He finished before he closed the driver's door shut.

Isabella rolled her eyes, a devious smile pulling at her lips, "We'll see."

"We heard that!"

Hearing the voices of Breaker, Heavy Duty and Scarlet at the same time in her ear piece, Isabella burst out laughing.

"Oh shit…it does work!" She said as her laughter died down before she took the steering wheel in both hands and began turning it before she placed her foot on the gas.

"So Breaker…" Isabella spoke out.

"Yeah?"

"Start guiding me to these Warheads."

There was a second's pause before a quiet 'beep' sounded off in the car and when Isabella glanced down on her screen, it displayed a map of Paris followed by the appearances of both a red and green streak.

"You're following green, Bella."

"Copy that."

Without saying another word, Isabella pressed down on the gas and drove on ahead of her team.