Chapter 32:
Keeping her chin tucked and her head down, Isabella fought the hard, bitter gusts of wind as she treaded through the snow; nothing however could keep away the tremors that were begin to take hold of her. Coming up alongside her, Storm Shadow draped an arm about her shoulders, lightly directing her towards a cave entrance that had been cut into a wall of ice; in his other hand he held the warheads case.
Though she hated the closeness to the white ninja, she couldn't deny the fact that she was somewhat grateful for the extra covering on her shoulders; leather boots, ripped jeans, a cotton top and light jacket, one that only extends as far as her ribs with a missing sleeve, is not the ideal attire to wear when in arctic temperatures.
Storm Shadow must've realized that as he lengthened his stride and almost hurried her into the cave. The second she was out of the wind, Isabella released a heavy sigh of relief, watching as her hot breath misted out in front of her eyes. As she drew a breath in, her teeth began to chatter.
Leading the group, Storm Shadow with Isabella still tucked under his arm, stepped on over to another wall of ice. For a moment, the white ninja had to draw his arm back off Isabella so he could reach into his pocket and pull out a small device.
When he did, Isabella's body tremors increased tenfold that everything from her shoulders down to her legs were visibly shaking.
"Shit...it's cold..." she spoke through clenched teeth. Storm Shadow chuckled beside her as he carefully placed the warheads case on the ground.
Using the device he had taken from his pocket, the white ninja pointed it at the ice and clicked a button.
The solid ice wall that was before them, appeared to just melt away, revealing a sturdy, black quick-acting hatch. Isabella recognized the type of door as it was normally used on Naval Ships.
Licking her wind-dried lips, Isabella spared glance over her shoulder back at Duke who stood near the Baroness with two Viper Soldiers behind him. He met her gaze before his eyes flickered to something else.
Brows furrowing in confusion, Isabella traced the path of his gaze and found him locked on the warheads case that was sitting right by Storm Shadow's feet.
"Wait a second..." the young woman thought to herself, "He's not going to.."
Before she could finish her thought, Duke made a lunge for the case. Grabbing it with his cuffed hands, Duke spun about, knocking both Viper's in the head with the case before he took off running for the cave's exit.
"Duke!" Isabella called to him as she turned around and took an automatic step after him. Before she could make another move, Storm Shadow's hand grabbed the back of her jacket and flung her, facedown to the icy ground while a third Viper took up his gun and aimed it at Duke's retreating form.
"NO!" The Baroness cried, "McCullen has plans for him." she informed.
Reaching into his sleeve, Storm Shadow pulled out a single throwing star and hurled it at Duke; its jagged blade struck the man in the back of his shoulder, forcing him to drop the case and collapse to the ground.
Recovering from the blow, Duke dragged himself on his stomach and grabbed at the case once more before the Viper's caught up to him and beat him down.
"Enough!" The Baroness ordered, ceasing the Vipers' movements.
With a casual stride, Storm Shadow walked around and took the case once more into his custody before he kneeled down by Duke's head.
"And what was your plan?" he asked, "Run 3000 miles across the ice?" With his free hand, Storm Shadow reached behind Duke and pulled his metal star from his shoulder, "Stupid soldier."
Rolling onto her side with a quiet swear, Isabella tucked a leg in and hoisted her upper body off the icy floor till she was sitting on her knees. The cold had already seeped through her clothes and was searing her skin. Storm Shadow came up behind her and wrapped his free around her waist before he lifted her back to her feet and nudged her forward to the closed hatch.
"I hate you..." Isabella hissed through chattering teeth. The white ninja spared her a second's glance as a smirk pulled at a corner of his mouth.
A Viper then quickly moved past them and had the hatch opened.
"Keep moving.." he replied before he hugged Isabella close to his body, lifting her feet right off the ground before he stepped up and tossed her through the door's threshold. "Into the elevator."
"Ass!" the young woman shouted back him; Storm Shadow chuckled as he followed her inside. The Baroness and Duke and the few Vipers crowded in last before the door was sealed shut and the elevator was set in motion.
The dropping sensation as the pod descended below the ice and water, lasted for about a minute.
When it finally came to a halt and the hatch was opened form the outside, Isabella felt her stomach once again knot with dread.
"Oh boy..." the young woman thought to herself quietly before Storm Shadow's hand firmly gripped her by the back of her neck.
"Do I need to say more or will you just cooperate?" he asked as he shoved her forward a few feet.
Gritting her teeth in anger, Isabella calmly stepped out of the elevator. Her eyes instantly came to a rest upon the form of James McCullen who stood patiently a few feet away, watching as everyone filed out.
Coming up beside her, Storm Shadow nodded down to the case he held with a smug smile, "Three left." he informed.
"Take the Warheads to the missiles...I want them ready to launch in one hour." McCullen ordered.
"It will be done." the white ninja replied
Seeing Storm Shadow distracted with getting his next instructions, Isabella took this opportunity by slyly moving over a few steps till was standing next to Duke.
Glancing out of the corner of his eyes, Duke looked down on Isabella's smaller form before he ever so slightly leaned down close to her ear to whisper a quick message.
At his words, Isabella's eyes widened and she drew in a sharp intake of breath.
"Hey!" A Viper soldier called them out, "No talking!" Before Isabella could protest, she was grabbed from behind and shoved forward. "Walk." The Viper ordered.
"Walk where?" Isabella snapped back as she dug her heels into the metal plating floor.
"Ah...almost forgot about you." the heavy Scottish voice of McCullen stated. The young woman turned her head to see McCullen watching her with steady eyes.
"Take her to the prison hold and lock her up in cell 8...the Doctor will see to her shortly after her friend here." McCullen informed as he signaled over at Duke. The Viper nodded his head in understanding before giving a puzzled Isabella another hard push in her back.
"Move it." the Viper demanded.
Casting one last glance back at Duke, Isabella's received a tiny smile of reassurance before she was continually shoved and directed down a corridor that led her away from everyone else.
After five long minutes of walking, the hallway eventually forked and the young woman was roughly pushed left; another left turn was made shortly after till she found herself in a long and dreary looking passageway with doors lining both walls.
As they reached a fourth door on the right, the Viper stopped Isabella with a bruising grip on her arm while he used his other one to punch a code into a pad on the side, allowing the door to slide open.
"Get in." The Viper barked as he swung the young woman about and tossed her into the room.
The second she was inside, Isabella stumbled for a moment to regain her balance before she turned around to face the door, only to watch the Viper seal her shut inside.
An exasperated sigh slipped past her frowning lips, "Well that's just great."
Now she was going to have to remain here, stuck and still cuffed till the Doctor or someone else came for her.
Looking around, Isabella spotted a cot pushed against the far wall. With a heavy trudge in her step, she marched over and plopped down; stretching out on the mat as she laid down as comfortably as she could.
"This probably is not the most productive thing I could be doing at the moment." she noted out loud.
But suddenly she was struck with a thought...and it gave her an idea for a plan.
Bracing her knees up on the cot, Isabella arched her back and raised her hips. Her body curled inwardly as she strained her cuffed hands down and over her rear till the metal clasps on her wrists could slide up behind her knees.
Sucking in a deep breath of air as she tightened every muscle in her core, the young woman rolled back onto the blades of her shoulders and elevated her legs. Opening her arms up at the elbows, she formed an almost perfect circle with her limbs.
And it was just big enough to allow her flexible body to tuck and slip her legs out, one at a time, till her cuffed hands were able to reside in front of her instead of behind.
Releasing a heavy breath of air, Isabella found herself smiling in satisfaction. "And Dad thought those Yoga classes would never pay off..." she spoke as she swung her legs off the side of the mat and got back on her feet.
"Part one of plan, complete." she murmured out loud to herself; that was the easy part.
Now it's time for part two.
After dispatching from the ship, the four Joes swiftly made their advancement across the ice in a quiet motorized snowmobile.
As they approached the Cobra's Base entryway, Scarlet took out the two Vipers standing guard at the ice cave's entrance with two efficient shots to the head, giving their team a clear way inside.
Bringing their snow pods to a quick halt, Scarlet, Ripcord, Breaker and Snake Eyes climbed out.
"Nice shooting." Ripcord announced.
"Thank you." Scarlet returned with a smile.
"Woo...we are a long way from Miami..." the handsome black man added as he stood shivering in his white camouflage suit complete with a fur lined hood.
The team of four carefully moved further into the cave.
They didn't get too far before walls of ice began to crack and the ground began trembling violently beneath their feet. The Joes quickly shared a knowing look.
"Oh no..." Ripcord swore as he and the rest of his team quickly turned around and ran back towards the entrance. "They're launching the missiles!"
They were barely fifteen feet out when he icy ground before them broke as three large missiles shot up into the sky.
Wasting no time, Snake Eyes quickly pivoted on his feet and sprinted back into the cave only to climb into one of their snow pods and drive the vehicle back outside.
Zooming past his comrades, Snake Eyes quickly took up the machine's own firing controls and shot an explosive of their own up at the closest rocket.
It met with a powerful explosion and once the smoke cleared away, there was nothing left of the missile.
Turning the pod around once again, Snake Eyes speeded his way back into the cave.
"Well that's one down." Scarlet spoke out loud from her position next to her other two teammates .
Lifting his orange goggles off his eyes, Breaker studied the remaining missiles that were soaring up into the atmosphere.
"What about the other two?" the computer wiz asked.
"Find the kill switches." Ripcord suggested as he placed a hand upon Scarlet's shoulder.
The redhead shook her head, "They're already too far out of range."
"Somebody is gonna have to get up there and shoot those things down." Breaker agreed.
"Well..." Ripcord also removed his protective goggles up from over his eyes, "...guess that's me."
Understanding what to do, the trio of Joes quickly made their way back into the ice cave; Ripcord shedding his snow gear as he moved.
Dressed now in his black protective body suit, Ripcord hurried over to a large black jet that was known as a Night Raven and quickly climbed the ladder that would take him to the ship's cockpit. Scarlet followed closely behind.
The door slid open with a hiss and Ripcord quickly hopped inside.
"This is really cool." the black man spoke as he took his seat and began getting situated.
"Yeah..but can you fly it?" Scarlet asked from her place as she stood right outside of the open cockpit.
"I can fly anything." Ripcord assured as he began turning on the jet's controls. "You just find a way to guide me to those warheads."
Scarlet found herself smiling softly, "Right...Ripcord?" The fiery redhead leaned over and quickly planted a kiss on the man's lips. "Good luck."
Ripcord smiled, "Thanks."
Scarlet nodded before she took a step back and made the move to climb down the ladder.
"Hey..." Ripcord quickly called back.
"The redhead looked back over her shoulder, "Yeah?" she asked.
"Save Duke..." he replied, "...and tell Zen Master to save Bella."
Scarlet nodded her head, "You got it..." The redhead glanced over her shoulder to spot the well built ninja helping Breaker unload some equipment from the pods, "...though I'm sure the last part is a given." she promised as she turned away and began climbing back down the ladder.
As Ripcord skillfully powered up the jet and took off into the air, Scarlet, Breaker and Snake Eyes who were all wearing harnesses, ran and jumped into the closest missile shoot and scaled the wall down into the underwater base.
When they reached the bottom, they instantly found themselves looking into an open hatch; a sealed door was on the other side, a good twenty feet or so away.
Studying the floor with knowing eyes, Breaker fixed his two comrades with a grave look.
"The floor is pressure plated and laser protected." he informed.
"Anything larger than a quarter that touches that floor gets fried." Scarlet added.
Behind his mask, a corner of Snake Eyes' mouth turned up in a smile before his visor turned from white back to its usual black color. It was his way of saying to 'leave it to him'.
Punching the access code into the keypad, the cell door slid open with a hiss, allowing the Viper Guard to step inside the small room.
"No funny business, the Doctor wants to..." The Viper's sentence was cut off as he found himself looking at what appeared to be an empty room.
"Hey what the hell?" He swore as he took a few more steps into the room and looked around.
There was no one on the cot, no one standing in either of the two back corners, "Where did she go?"
As if to answer his question, a figure quietly snuck up and hurled herself at him from behind."Wouldn't you like to know!" Isabella announced as she threw her cuffed hands over the Viper's head, allowing the chain to come around his neck before she locked her arms tight and squeezed.
Automatically, the Viper's hands came up to pry the constricting metal off. But he had no luck being that Isabella was attached to said metal in the first place.
Even as he thrashed and powerfully tried to shake Isabella off, the young woman wasn't cutting him any slack.
Tightening her choke hold on him to the point where her muscles were aching, Isabella issued a very simple order. "Drop!"
Whether it was out of obedience or not, the grunting Viper finally struggled to his knees.
Feeling his pulse stagger against her own hands, without yielding Isabella held on for a few more moments.
When it the struggle came to an end, the Viper's head fell forward, limp; his arms lifelessly dropping to his sides.
Moving quickly, Isabella freed her chained wrists from around his neck and the Viper's motionless body toppled to the floor.
Crouching down beside him, Isabella purposefully searched his person, raiding his utility belt till she found what she had been looking for.
The Viper had been carrying a set of cuffs exactly like the ones she was wearing.
"And where's there's cuffs..." Isabella finger's closed around a small ring from which dangled two keys. "Bingo."
Yanking the set of keys off the belt, the young woman went to work on inserting them into the locks on her wrists and giving them a firm twist each as she recalled Duke's final words to her before they were separated.
"I turned the tracking beacon on the case back on...they will find us."
The information sounded too good to be true.
The metals clasps snapped away and Isabella wasted no time throwing the cuffs to the floor while rising to her feet, but not before picking up a closed switch blade that was tucked away in a small pouch on the side of the Viper's belt.
Eyeing the body of the fallen Viper for a final time, the young woman slipped her new found weapon into the back pocket of her jeans and spun around, crossing the floor in a few lengthy strides before pausing momentarily at the open cell's door.
Taking but a second to peak her head out, looking first left, then right and finding the way clear, Isabella stepped out and immediately set off down the hallway.
"Part two was easier than I expected..." Isabella noted to herself, "...I feel like that means bad Ju-Ju is coming up..."
With a practiced balance, Snake Eyes, walking on the pads of his fingers, crossed the plated floor to the other side, stopping only when he reached the sealed door with the security panel on the side.
"Ok Snake..what you must do is rewire the laser panel..." Breaker began as he started listing off instructions.
"I don't have time for that..." the Black Clad ninja thought to himself as he easily shifted his entire weight to one arm, allowing his free hand to pull out a dagger before jamming it into the board. "I need to find Bella..."
The panel sparked for a moment before the sealed door slid open with a hiss.
"Or you can just stab it..." Breaker finished with a typical roll of his eyes.
Scarlet reached a hand up to her ear piece with a smile, "This is Scarlet...we're in." she informed.
