If you recognise it… I don't own it.

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"GI: Joe & BTVS" – Middle (But near start)

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"Sensei!" Storm Shadow looked up as he heard the faint word spoken.

Jinx was perched on the window ledge, clearly beaten up and with several serious wounds. Storm Shadow only just managed to reach her, before she fell forward onto the floor in an almost dead heap.

"Lifeline!" Storm Shadow yelled, as he started to assess his younger cousin's injuries. He started to pale under his mask as he realized how serious the situation was.

As a ninja he was used to death in all its forms, as well as the fragility of human life… But he never quite expected to be present when his baby cousin died… Mainly because he always believed he would die first.

"Storm?" Scarlett was first into the room, "What is it?… Jinx? Lifeline! Move it!"

Lifeline charged into the room, quickly followed by Lady Jayne.

"How did this happen?" Lifeline sank to the floor to assess injuries.

"I don't know." Storm Shadow shrugged, "She just came through the window."

"Carry her to a bed." Lifeline ordered, "She's been badly injured."

Jinx seemed to come round a little, as Storm Shadow lifted her up. She slowly reached for her belt and removed a small radio. She held it out to Scarlett.

"Call…" Jinx managed to murmur, before she passed out again.

"Call who?" Scarlett muttered looking at the radio, "This is Cobra tech."

Snake-Eyes frowned at the remark, the group having just walked into the room he was sharpening his weapons in. Reaching out he claimed the radio. With careful hands he separated the front casing from the thing.

He nodded slightly as he looked at the inside of the casing. Then he held it out to the others present.

'Yo Joe' was scrawled in marker pen on the inside. It was also clear that the radio had been jammed so that it would only broadcast on one channel.

"Someone sent her." Storm Shadow realized, "That would explain a lot."

"What do you mean?" Scarlett asked, confused.

*The dagger is not hers.* Snake-Eyes signed, *And she appears to have run away from something. It is not in her nature to flee without cause.*

"Also," Storm Shadow pointed at Jinx's neck, "Jinx does not wear a cross. And she is not wearing her gloves."

"And that means?" Stalker frowned.

"I don't know." Storm Shadow shrugged, "But there will be a reason."

"Let's see who's on the other end of this." Scarlett declared, claiming the radio back, "This is the Joes. Do you read me? Over."

"Joes," A voice came back quickly, "Nice to hear from you. This is Knight Company. I take it Jinx reached you? Over."

"Confirmed. Knight Company? What is your allegiance? Over."

"We're your Greenshirts." A new voice came over the radio, "Sorry, about that ma'am. We're on our way to the rendezvous. Most of us are still alive. How is Jinx? Over."

"She's with Lifeline. She should make it. Where's Beachhead? Over." Scarlett paled slightly, as she realized the implications of a Greenshirt contacting her instead of the gruff sergeant.

"He's still alive," Scarlett breathed a sigh of relief at the remark, "But he's pretty out of it. Between the concussion and his blood loss… Well… He hasn't been yelling at us. Over."

"Who am I talking to? Over."

"Specialist Harris, ma'am. Over."

"Harris? Harris?" Scarlett murmured, trying to remember the man.

*Eyepatch.* Snake-Eyes signed as a prompt. He easily remembered the most distinctive feature about the soldier.

It worked. Scarlett remembered the Greenshirt now. Beachhead had given him the unfortunate temporary code-name 'Zeppo'. Surprisingly the soldier hadn't once tried to object to it. Merely shrugged and moved on.

He was also the only Greenshirt in the newest batch who hadn't automatically assumed that she would be easy to take in a fight because she was a woman… As well as the only Greenshirt who hadn't scoffed at the idea of ninja.

Add in the fact that he was unusually competent in weaponry, not just counting the usual guns. He wasn't as good as the ninja with swords, but he was better than any of the other Joes, apart from maybe Scarlett. Even then it was a close run thing. And the fact that according to the ninja most of the other Greenshirts deferred to him, out of respect not fear Scarlett had been assured, despite his new status… He was generally considered to be a bit odd. Even by Joe standards.

"I'm sorry we sent Jinx to you. But she stood the best chance at getting to you quickly. Over." Harris declared.

"Harris, what is going on? Over." Scarlett wasn't going to use the nickname 'Zeppo' if she could help it. She wasn't above physically degrading a man, but using unnecessary insults on a subordinate when she didn't need to was below her.

"I have to go, ma'am." Harris spoke hurriedly, "We're about to be attacked again. I'm handing you back to O'Brian. Over."

"Sorry about that, ma'am." The first speaker came back, "But we're not doing too well out here. Over."

"What is your status? Over." Scarlett frowned.

"Well, apart from the sergeant, all of our wounded are still walking. The dead are dead. We've only lost four so far. Over."

"Then you should have kept Jinx with you. Over." Scarlett reprimanded.

"That went against Knight's orders." O'Brian retorted, "We needed to re-establish communication. We need to tell you what we're up against here. Over."

"You know what they are? Over." Storm Shadow snatched the radio.

"I was part of a top secret project a few years ago, sir." O'Brian replied, "We were investigating Hostile Sub-Terrestrials. Or HSTs. We are currently facing one type of HSTs… Possibly more, but we've only identified the one type. Over."

"You studied them? How do we beat them? Over."

"Affirmative. Or at least we helped the scientists. As for killing them… Fire or decapitation. Bullets only annoy them. Tracers might work though. Over."

"If you know so much, why aren't you leading your team? Over." Storm Shadow frowned.

"Knight knows more." O'Brian stated, "He's been fighting them a lot longer than I have. And he's a hell of a lot better. He's kept us alive this far. Over."

"What is your ETA? Over." Storm Shadow demanded.

"Two days." O'Brian replied, "We can't carry the stretcher any faster. Over."

"I want to speak to Beachhead. Over."

"Sure thing, sir. I'll poke him awake."

That more than anything said how bad the situation with Beachhead was. He had the Greenshirts so scared they usually didn't so much as breathe without his permission.

"What?" Beachhead's voice was more heavily accented than normal, and very slurred.

"Beach?" Storm Shadow whispered in shock, desperately trying to get a read on the Sergeant through the limited output of the radio. But the radio wasn't designed to allow the 'ear-that-sees' to hear the other end.

"Goddamn spook," Beachhead murmured, "Leave me 'lone. Do hundred push-ups."

"Sorry, sir." O'Brian came back on, "He's not been making much sense. We'll keep him alive though. Gotta go. Over and out."

The radio went dead.

"Do you think they'll survive that long?" Scarlett breathed.

"Do you think we will?" The Lifeline whispered.

"We know how to kill them now." Storm Shadow grinned evilly.

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