Chapter 15: Living, Breathing, Leaving
Somewhere in Mississippi…
Roadblock, Lady Jaye, and Flint sat around a small table, eating dinner.
"Zartan's entire focus has been this nuclear summit," Lady Jaye informed, "it has to be the key to whatever he's planning."
"Alright. Well, then that's our target," Roadblock said. The sound of the door moving caught Roadblock's attention.
"Guys, move," he commanded.
They took their guns off the table and got into positions. Two pairs of light footsteps came Lady Jaye and Roadblock's way. When the footsteps came a close enough distance Roadblock moved around the pillar he was behind to meet one of the strangers. Lady Jaye got up from her crouching position to see about the second unknown person. A grunt was heard as Roadblock engaged the man. Things came to a standstill with Lady Jaye pointing a gun at a woman, who had her sword against Lady Jaye's neck. Roadblock had his gun only a foot away from Snake Eyes' head.
"I think I'm faster than you, Snake Eyes," Roadblock told the ninja. Snake Eyes cocked his head and looked down as did Roadblock, to see the gun aimed at the leg, Snake Eyes' finger on the trigger. "Damn ninjas," Roadblock cursed and smiled, "good to see you, brother."
"Jaye," Lady Jaye introduced.
"Jinx," the woman responded and lowered her sword, to which Lady Jaye lowered her gun.
"Back up," Flint ordered, holding a gun to Storm Shadow's head. Tommy had his sword pressed against the man's chest as the two came to view.
"He's with us," Jinx informed.
"I am not with you," Tommy corrected, "but for this once, I am not against you."
"How many of our men has he killed?" Flint questioned. "We're supposed to fight with him?"
Stormed Shadow removed the sword from Flint's chest only to press it against the man's hand and forcefully lower Flint's gun.
"The leader of the world will gather tomorrow. It's a trap," Tommy informed them.
"Storn is the only one who knows Cobra's plan, inside and out. He can help us find a way to stop it," Jinx pointed out, "but we have to work together." Flint and Tommy shared a look, both were not too happy about the work situation.
The three ninjas stayed with the three Joes in the gym and headed for General Colton's house in the morning. Colton took them around the house and opened up various hiding places filled with all sorts of weapons, handguns, rifles, grenade launchers, grenades. One drawer had various knives, which were offered to Tommy by the general, but he declined, showing Colton his sword.
"Nice," Colton complimented. As Tommy and Snake Eyes stayed in the kitchen the rest went exploring.
"I forgot to ask," Tommy said to him, "how are you dealing with her death?"
You mean the death that Cobra caused? The organization you're apart of?
"Don't think for one second I do not mourn her as well. I had no idea she was going to be there. Maybe you should have protected her better." That struck a nerve in Snake Eyes and he pressed a knife to Tommy's throat.
Maybe you should have left her with Arashikage instead of bringing her into Cobra.
"I didn't take her if that's what you mean. The Soft Master did not tell you? He told me to take her." Snake Eyes pressed the knife deeper into Tommy's skin, but not enough to draw blood.
"Snake Eyes if you're planning on killing him, can you wait until after the nuclear summit?!" Roadblock shouted from the other side of the house and Snake Eyes put the knife away.
The morning came quickly and the Joes, ninjas, and a few of General Colton's friends.
"Flint, Jaye, Snake, you guys take the flank," Roadblock informed them, pointing to an area on a map of Fort Sumter laid out on the table. "Jinx and Storm, Trojan Horse. Zartan will be holding the briefcase. Storm will be the closest man to him. But he can't move until we're all in position. Everyone keep your eye on the prize. We secure the football, we secure the war. Snake, how's all that sound?" Snake Eyes just turned his head to Roadblock. "That's what I thought."
"Okay wait, hold on a second. We still have enemy armor here, here, and here," Flint said leaning over with a red pencil and circling points on the map. "Right? These tanks survive, we don't," Flint pointed out.
"Leave the tanks to me," Roadblock assured. "General?"
"Call me Joe," Colton responded.
"Anything I missed?"
"No. Rock solid. My orders?"
"The President."
"Brenda's with my team," Colton stated.
"Roger that." Lady Jaye looked up in surprise then to Colton.
"Does Brenda get a vote?" she questioned.
"Negative," Roadblock answered.
"You need a pen?" Jaye asked sarcastically.
"I need your help," Colton replied.
"Alright. Let's kick that ass! Hoo-ah!" Roadblock shouted.
"Hoo-ah!" they all shouted in unison and got to work on preparing to leave.
"So this was your team?" Flint asked Colton.
"Not all of it. Hawk was also with us for a time and there was also a woman called Elvira," Colton answered.
"Female Joe?" Jaye questioned.
"The first," Colton added.
When they were all suited up they head to their assigned destinations to carry out their orders. Many important men and women gathered inside the museum. Cobra agents posing as military soldiers milled around, watching to make sure nothing disturbed the summit.
"I'll say it again, the world is safer with a nuclear presence. I'm sure you electorate will be happy by our final proposal. Fifty percent reduction by 2016," the Russian representative spoke. Zartan, looking like President Pryce, leaned forward in chair.
"There are a lot of leaders in this room," he started, "but only one leader of the free world. And he, I, stay with me," Zartan joked, "asked you here with the goal of universal disarmament. Nuclear zero. Now, I was prepared to cajole to get what I want. I'm now at threaten. Each of you will clear out his nuclear closet immediately," he demanded, standing up. Failure to participate will be considered an act of war."
"You're joking of course," the representative of India called a bluff.
"This summit is over," the representative of Russia stood to leave.
"This is it, boys," Zartan threatened.
A man brought forth the briefcase which controlled the U.S.'s nuclear weapons. The case was set on the table and opened. "This country is at war. With you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and you," Zartan mocked pointing at them. "The U.S. nuclear arsenal is capable of destroying each of your countries 14 times over. Fifteen, in the case of North Korea, just to be sure. And all-" Zartan pushed a card into a slot, putting all nuclear warheads online, "at the push… of a button." Zartan hit the launch button which made all of the world leaders go into panic. "Yeah, I pressed it."
"You have lost your mind!" a man shouted.
"It's all relative. You got three minutes to decide," Zartan replied, sitting down and playing Angry Birds on his phone.
"We cannot, we will not leave a legacy of acquiescence!" a man yelled. More briefcases were brought onto the table.
"Don't do this! There can be no winners!" a man shouted.
"Ooh. High score!" Zartan announced as the leader board popped up on his device.
"Let history record who was responsible for this madness," one of the leaders said, launching more nuclear warheads. Other countries followed suit and pushed the launch button. They all watched the screen as nuclear threats became very real.
"Well, the good new is, no global warming summit next month," Zartan joked. "Unless, one of us cared enough about his place in history, to unilaterally disable his warheads. Hmm? You know, in the name of the children. Any volunteers? No? Fine. Me." Zartan pushed another button in his briefcase, making this warhead break apart in the sky. "Call your people to confirm."
"You're a complete lunatic," the Indian representative stood in outrage.
"Says the man about to destroy Asia," Zartan retorted. "Come on, who's going to follow suit, huh? Are you really going to stand by and watch as Earth is destroyed?" All of the leaders self-destructed their warheads.
"Gentlemen. Welcome to a nuclear-free world." Armed guards made their way down the stairs, confusion and shock from the current events washed over the people in the room. "I want to direct your attention to live images of your homelands."
Footage showed on the various screens around the room of monuments and well known cities. A man took the briefcase off of the President's table while another replaced it with a black one. A white Cobra symbol was placed in the middle. When opened, two panels came out and positioned themselves on either side, one acted as screens showing some of the cities, the other showing a global map.
"Now you're looking at an advanced weapons system we call Project Zeus. There are seven Zeus satellites orbiting Earth. Each satellite contains ten hollow platinum tubes filled with a tungsten rod. Now, to direct a rod to its target, we don't launch it or fire it-"
"We drop it," a deep, Darth Vader-like voice (A/N: I have no idea how to describe the CC's voice, to me it sounds like a deeper version of Darth Vader). Everybody looked to see the Cobra Commander, being known only to the Joes nobody really knew who he was. Behind him were Firefly, Storm Shadow, Jinx, three of the Crimson Guardsmen, two men in suits, and more Cobra soldiers. "Gravity does the rest. Observe," he commanded and Zartan pushed a small red button.
"A rod touches down eight times faster than a bullet," Zartan informed, "and with a force significantly greater than a nuclear warhead." On screen was the targeting system of the rod, it's course set for London. "None of the fallout… all of the fun."
A live video showed next. The rod was lost in the middle of the large city, but the devastation was not lost on people viewing. Smoke spread out like a large cloud as a ripple went through the earth; buildings moved like waves and crumbled. Everybody could feel their heart plummet to their stomach, the lives lost because of this one man in front of them and all of his followers.
"You will have to answer for this," the French leader threatened, "to your Congress, your courts."
"Correction, they will have to answer to me," the Commander stated.
"What is it you want?" the Indian leader asked.
"I want it all," he replied menacingly. "The Cobra revolution has begun." Storm Shadow walked around the inside of the circle of table, tapping his sword in front of the leaders. "By pressing that button, Zartan initiated an auto-drop sequence." Again the sword hit the table. "My Zeus satellites are moving into position over your six remaining countries." Storm Shadow swung his sword down to the table in front of the Russian leader, but stopped just before it hit the surface. "The same button that begins this, can end it, but I only press it for a price. Total allegiance."
At this Storm Shadow made his move. Turning he swung his sword and took out one of the Crimson Guardsman and a Cobra soldier. Everything happened so fast, but Tommy, being trained, saw everything; two people dropped from the ceiling taking out more of the soldiers. Snake Eyes came in shooting at the enemy to make them run for cover. Jinx gave the cue to Roadblock to start with his part of the mission. One by one each Cobra soldier went down, dead or injured. The Cobra Commander ran, giving one last command. Firefly ran for the briefcase, took it, and fled.
"Firefly has the case!" Jinx yelled. Snake Eyes fought his way down the stairs. "Head for the door, now! Go, go!" Jinx shouted.
All of world leaders and their company kept their heads down and made a dash for the only safe exit. Storm Shadow threw his sword to a tech panel on the wall, cutting the power to the building. Tommy, Snake Eyes, and one of the two unknown men that dropped from the ceiling charged to meet a group of Cobra agents. The three moved in unison, working together to injure and take down the enemy. The last Crimson Guardsmen fell, leaving no one else to stand in their way. The two sword brothers turned to the man to see him masked, his companion coming up to join him. The two men unmasked themselves, the first revealing to be Duke, giving Snake Eyes a warm smile, the next made both brother's hearts stop. The man was not a man at all, but a woman.
"Temper!" Jinx cried out, a surprised grin broke out.
Snake Eyes moved to her, but she turned to Tommy who was watching Zartan escape. Storm Shadow pulled out his gun and shot, but they proved useless, not hitting their mark. Just as he was about to follow, Snake Eyes snapped out of his shock and hurt, stopping him with the blade of his sword, the same thing Temper did. The two turned their swords around, offering Tommy the hilt.
"You don't expect to win without a weapon do you?" Temper questioned. Tommy now realizing he used all of his weapons took both of the swords and pursued his target. Snake Eyes looked to Temper who was already conversing with Duke.
"We need to go," Temper said making her way to one of the doors.
Snake Eyes, Jinx, and Duke followed her outside. Snake Eyes was filled with a longing he had never felt this strongly. It was not something he had expected, happiness that she was alive, maybe, but not longing. All he wanted to do was to hold her, touch her, have her speak to him, he wanted to know that she was in fact there, not a body in the Indus Valley, 'taken care of' by the government. It was even more frustrating that he could not satiate this longing, this need. It would have to wait.
"We need eyes on Firefly and Cobra ASAP," Roadblock demanded over the comm link. Both Snake Eyes and Jinx were expecting a fight from more Cobra soldiers outside, but they were met with more people dressed like Duke and Temper, who joined the group in searching for the two targets. Duke, Jinx, Temper, and Snake Eyes went one way while the other ninjas went in the opposite direction. Flint hopped down one of the brick stairs.
"I think a new group joined our party!" Flint exclaimed, "Duke, Temper!"
"Good to see you too," Duke chuckled. Temper smiled warmly, yet another thing that filled Snake Eyes with ache, she was practically ignoring him.
"Courtyard is clear sir, no sign of them," Flint informed. Duke nodded and they kept running toward the sound of a helicopter. Anybody with a firearm took aim, but the aircraft kept ascending and left their range.
"Block, Cobra Commander's buggin out," Flint called on his earpiece, "no sign of Firefly."
"We gotta sweep the area and make sure any Cobra soldiers are dealt with," Duke ordered. Temper reached up to her earpiece.
"All of my team has secured the world leaders and are escorting them off the island," she informed.
They devised a plan and split up. The island was not large, but had many hiding places. By the time the neared the other side of the island any Cobra agents were incapacitated.
"This side is clear," Jinx told them, Snake Eyes and Flint nodded in confirmation.
"Same here," Duke replied. A small explosion sounded from the beach. As they rushed to the sound they saw Roadblock packing up Cobra's briefcase.
"The President?" Temper questioned.
"The real President is safe," Roadblock assured, "the threat has been terminated."
Storm Shadow made his way to the growing party as Temper's group came to merge with the Joes. Tommy held out the sword Snake Eyes had given him to Jinx, who took it. Part of Temper's team turned out to be Hawk, Scarlett, Ripcord, Breaker, Heavy Duty, Ana, two women who they did not know, and three other men.
"The Pit?" Roadblock questioned.
"Many of the Pit's residence did not make it, but the majority are okay," Hawk answered.
"The attack on the Pit was just minutes after they attacked your location," Breaker informed them. Roadblock and Flint talked with the ex-Alpha team members and Hawk. Temper's friends huddled together. Jinx joined Flint and Roadblock. Tommy, Temper and Snake Eyes were off to the side.
"I believe this is yours," Tommy stated, handing her sword. She took it and he left. Snake Eyes watched as his sword brother turned his back and then grabbed both of Temper's upper arms. She reached up to hold both sides off his face. Never before had he hated the mask so much as right then. Nothing was going to placate him.
Are you going to come with us? Snake Eyes asked. Temper looked down to the ground.
"No," she said shakily. That one word knocked the wind right out of him. "Those people over there-" she said, pointing to the people who came with her, he recognized one of them to be Alyssa, "-they're part of my mother's clan. The older woman with black hair, that's my mom." Snake Eyes listened intently as she described the situation. She would be staying with them for a while until she got answers, then she would arrange transportation with Hawk to go to the new G.I. Joe base. His temple throbbed.
You have no clue how much I've missed you, he signed to her, putting a hand on her cheek. She smiled sadly at him.
"I'll see you soon," she promised.
"Temper we're going!" Ana yelled to her.
Temper looked to her best friend and nodded. Saying their goodbyes, Temper's clan member, Ana, and Tommy left. General Colton had contacted them and told them where to meet. Just as Temper was about to leave she turned back, watching as the Alpha team was leaving.
"Don't worry, you'll move on," her mother told her. Tears swelled in Temper's icy blue eyes.
"I won't see him again will I?" she questioned.
"No." Temper could already feel the heartache. "Remember what I said, this is for the best." She nodded and walked behind her mother, knowing she would not be able to do everything her mother asked of her. Many events had separated Temper from her mother, but Temper would not change a thing. The people she has lost made her who she is, as much as their deaths pained her. Her mother was family by blood, the Joes were her family, through blood, sweat, and tears; her family that she would die for. The family that she would sacrifice blood-family ties for. If she had to leave her mother she would, but not before getting something that she needed.