Sorry, for such a late update. Life happened and I kinda lost motivation to write. So I'm finishing the arc but then I'm not sure when I'm going to update next. As I said before, I'm going to try to just write stand alone fics about these two. Thank you for all your reviews. I appreciate your support.
I do not own.
Cover Girl looked up with annoyance from the ground where Beach Head had shoved her. But the annoyance melted when she saw the two men grappling. The synthoid, who was stronger, managed to throw Beach Head against the tank. Beach fell to the ground on his hands and knees.
"Beach!" Cover Girl crawled over to him. Clutching him, she pulled him up. "You okay?"
Beach scowled, rubbing his head with one hand. "This thing is tougher than it looks."
"I don't know. It looked pretty tough to me." Cover Girl commented.
Beach Head turned his scowl on Cover Girl. "Whose side are you on?"
Before she could reply, they both saw something fly at them. They parted and an elongated metallic fist rammed in between them..
"Stay away from her!" The synthoid flew at Beach Head. As the synthoid reached him, Beach grabbed its arms. He rolled onto his back, using his legs to vault the fake overhead. The synthoid slid along the dirt, grinding into the ground. Beach Head jumped on top and began pummeling it. One of the synthoid's arm formed into a club and smacked off Beach Head who flew off to the side. The synthoid got up and approached the fallen Ranger. His club grew spikes as he got closer to his target. It raised its weapon but before it could make contact, Cover Girl jumped on its back. She kicked the back of its knees causing it to fall backwards. She jumped out of the way as it fell.
"Beach!" She ran and picked him up. "You're gonna need bigger guns than these." She squeezed his biceps."
He glared at her but knew she was right. "Get to the tank. I'll keep it busy." He told her.
Cover Girl nodded. Beach Head looked up to see the synthoid was already up. Beach pushed her in the direction of the tank before turning his attention to the synthoid. "Come get me, you sorry excuse for a science experiment!" He goaded.
The synthoid roared in anger as it charged.
Meanwhile, Cover Girl had entered the tank. "Okay, now how does this hunk of junk work." She muttered to herself. She pushed a button. The periscope lowered. "That was not it." She pushed another. All the lights began flashing on the control board. "Oh boy." She groaned.
Beach Head and the synthoid circled each other.
"You! You don't deserve her." The synthoid declared as both its arms became swords.
"And you do?" Beach Head spatted. "You're just a copy! And not a very good one either."
"I can give her everything you didn't! You can't even admit you love her!" The synthoid countered.
"I... I don't need a second rate copy telling me what I can or can't do." Beach Head said narrowing his eyes. "I know my reasons. And if you have any decent part of me… you should know why too… You also should know that she'd never accept you!"
"Shut up!" The synthoid swung his deadly blades. Although Beach Head did an admirable job avoiding most of the strikes, the synthoid still managed to cut him several times. The last one left a deep gouge in his arm and leg. Falling over in pain, he found himself at the mercy of the synthoid. But as the synthoid approached, he grabbed a fistful of dirt and threw it into the synthoid's face. The synthoid screamed as the dirt blinded him. Beach Head pulled himself off the ground. Then with his good arm Beach punched its face. The synthoid staggered back. It rubbed the dirt from its eyes. Glaring at Beach Head, it swung wildly. But before it could reach him, an explosion stopped it. It looked in shock for a moment at the hole in its chest. It looked at the tank that was still smoking. The hatched opened and Cover Girl emerged.
The synthoid looked sadly at her. It mouthed I love you, before melting into a pile of goo on the ground. The words stunned Cover Girl for a minute but she shook herself and jumped out of the tank. Running to Beach Head, who had fallen back on the ground, she slid next to him.
"Dear lord, are you okay?" She asked pressing her hand against the leg wound to try to stop the bleeding.
"I've been better." He said holding his arm.
"We need to get you to Doc, now!" She fumbled for her radio before realizing she must have dropped it somewhere. After looking futilely around her for something to help, she untucked her shirt and started unbuttoning it.
"What are you doing?" Beach Head asked alarmed.
"Shut up! I'm trying to save you." She snapped. Beach looked away uncomfortably as she ripped the bottom off to use as a bandage. She tied a strip around his leg tightly to try to stop the bleeding, then using another to bandage his arm. She put the remaining mangled shirt back on before helping Beach Head up. "Lean on me. Don't put any weight on the bad leg." She instructed as she put his arm around her shoulder.
As they slowly limped forward, Beach Head perked up.
"Wait, you hear that?" He asked.
"I don't hear anything." Cover Girl grunted under his weight.
"Exactly. The battle must be over." He said.
Cover Girl stopped and listened. "Who do you think won?" She asked apprehensively.
From the distance, a Cobra tank rolled towards them.
"Uh oh, I don't like the looks of that." Cover Girl muttered.
"I ain't going down without a fight." Beach Head declared.
"Well, it's going to be a short one, if it's between you and a tank." She observed.
But they didn't need to worry because the tank stopped and Flint came out.
"Happy to see me?" He grinned.
"Only if you have a stretcher." Cover Girl replied.
"Hmph, I think you're rubbing off on her." Flint said to Beach Head.
"Okay, there's a lot of explaining to do. But first, we need help." Cover Girl said. "He's heavy."
"If you think I'm heavy, you haven't been hitting the dumbbells hard enough." He snorted.
"How about I hit you? That count?" She snapped.
Flint rolled his eyes. "That's going to be some relationship." He said under his breath.
0o0
Dusty watched with immense satisfaction as the remaining Cobra tanks limped away followed by Ace and a few other pilots. But when he turned to look at the base, his smile faded.
"Medic!" He yelled jumping out of the tank. He ran to help several injured Joes.
Hawk surveyed the damage grimly. He crouched down to check on an injured soldier.
"Hang in there, son. Help is on the way." He told the man.
The young green shirt nodded and tried to smile but grimaced from the pain. Hawk stayed until a stretcher came. Then he got up and continued his assessment of the damages.
During the battle, Doc and Lifeline stayed at the medical ward, helping the casualties that were coming in. Lady Jaye and Polly had brought in an unconscious Shipwreck during the battle. Then Lady Jaye ran out to see how she could help. Polly stayed with his owner. Shipwreck came to pretty quickly. When he found out what was happening, Doc had a hard time making him stay in his bed. Eventually, Shipwreck was able to sneak out and join the fight.
It took a while before there was some semblance of normal. After Doc had finished patching up all the Joes, Hawk called a meeting.
"Did we recover the data?" He inquired Mainframe. He looked around the table that included Beach Head, Cover Girl, Flint, Duke, Lady Jaye, Dusty, Lifeline, and Mainframe.
Mainframe nodded. "We found a SD card in the remains of the synthoid, Cover Girl and Beach Head had destroyed. Hard Drive is checking it out now but it looks like the data is all there and none of it left the base."
"Good." Hawk nodded satisfied. "And where are the remains of the synthoids?"
"They're locked up tight." Lifeline replied.
"I want our lab boys to see if there's anything they can learn from those things." Hawk leaned back in his chair.
As the Joes took turns telling their sides of the story, Hawk listened to them silently. Flint had been mistaken for a Cobra soldier and was able to get close enough to the enemy tanks to start doing damage. By the time Bludd realized his mistake, it was too late.
"Knocked him out in one shot." Flint said rubbing his bruised knuckle. "It felt good." Lady Jaye gave an approving smile. She told them that after she saved Polly from the synthoid, she went with him to help Shipwreck who was injured by the fake.
"He's recovering now." She reported. "No permanent damage."
"Thank goodness." Cover Girl sighed with relief.
Beach Head shot her a look but said nothing.
Dusty went on to tell how he kept the snakes at bay until the Joes could regroup.
"Can't tell you how much longer I could have held them off." He said frankly. Turning to Flint, he added, "You came in the nick of time."
Flint nodded. "Yeah, but Duke was the one who managed to get everyone back on track."
Duke shrugged. "All in a days work." He said modestly.
Duke had assessed the situation in a matter of seconds and sprang into action, getting whatever artillery was left to fend off the attack.
Everyone turned to Cover Girl and Beach Head. Cover Girl summed up her story succinctly before turning it over to Beach Head. He was even briefer. It did not escape her notice that he left out some details. When he was done, Hawk leaned forward.
"This has been a long few months, boys and girls." He began. "It seems that Cobra isn't pulling any punches and neither can we. We are going to have to come up with new protocol to make sure this doesn't happen again. I expect reports on my desk in 24 hours. I need to see the uppers about this. Meanwhile, Flint, Duke, Beach Head… I need you to work on that protocol. Dismissed."
Everyone got up to leave.
"Beach Head, I need a word with you." Hawk said suddenly.
Beach Head paused and turned back. Cover Girl looked curiously but filed out with the rest.
"Sir?" He asked.
Hawk tapped his pen a moment before replying.
"I'm assigning you to permanently work with Cover Girl." He announced.
"What?" Beach Head nearly yelled but managed to strangle it into a squeak.
"You two worked well together, managed to unearth a whole Cobra plot… I think, your strengths complement each other." Hawk said.
"But… but… " Beach Head sputtered. He hesitated before saying, "Permission to speak frankly, sir."
"Permission granted." Hawk inclined his head.
"I… I can't… I don't know if I can keep things… professional." He lowered his eyes in embarrassment.
When his superior said nothing, he thought he had doomed his career. But when he looked up, Hawk was smiling with amusement.
"Oh, I know that." He told the stunned drill instructor. "Oh, don't give me that look. I'm not blind." He snorted. "Look, Beach Head, when I see something that works, I'd be a fool to break that up. Now, that's not an endorsement mind you. But if I know anything, I know you can be discreet." He paused and narrowed his eyes. "You can be discreet, can't you?"
"Sir, yes, sir!" He said out of habit.
"Good. Then it's settled. After that report and some rest, I want both of you in my office for your next assignment."
"I… but… this…" Beach Head wasn't sure what he wanted to say.
Hawk got up from his chair. He put a reassuring hand on Beach Head's shoulder. "Look, son, I know how dearly you hold to the rules. But the rules were made so that things will run in an orderly fashion. So as long as you adhere to the spirit of those rules, I can overlook other things." Hawk said in his easy manner. Letting go of his shoulder he walked to the door. Beach Head was left alone in the room.
As Hawk stepped down the hall, Flint came from the opposite direction.
"Sir, is Beach Head still around? I want to set up our first meeting to work on the protocol." Flint saluted.
Hawk pointed to the meeting room. "Still in there." Flint nodded and walked to the room.
"Flint?" Hawk's voice made Flint turn around. "Beach Head will be busy in the next few weeks. You better make the meeting tomorrow."
"Yes, sir." Flint saluted again as Hawk disappeared down the hall. Flint scratched his head, unsure as to what had happened.
Flint found Beach Head still standing in the exact spot Hawk had left him.
"Beach Head? Duke and I were planning to meet next week but Hawk says you'll be busy so I guess we're going to have to meet earlier. How does tomorrow at 1400 hours in Duke's office sound?" Flint trailed off when Beach Head was not responding. "Hey, Beach, you okay?"
Beach Head slowly turned his head to look at Flint. "I heard, ya." He snapped. "Fine, by me." He moved to leave the room. But before leaving, he spun around. "And for the record, I still don't like you." The door slid closed and he was gone.
A confused Flint stood in the middle of the room. "Um, okay? I don't like you either?" Flint said to the empty room.
0o0
"I can't believe, I couldn't tell it wasn't Flint." Lady Jaye said guiltily.
"It's okay. He had everyone fooled." Cover Girl said.
"But I'm not everyone!" Lady Jaye said angrily. "I'm supposed to know him."
"And you do." Cover Girl insisted. The two women walked together to their rooms. Cover Girl had been comforting her friend.
"Well, I did notice he has been distant but I chalked that up to all the work he had lately." She ran her hand through her hair.
"And you have been away on all those missions. You guys haven't really seen each other in weeks." Cover Girl reminded her.
"But still…" She lamented.
"Hey, there's no reason to beat yourself up over it. Those Synthoids are pretty believable. I mean Shipwreck didn't even notice that Polly was switched."
"But you knew it wasn't Beach Head." Lady Jaye pointed out.
"Well, not at first… but then he… said things." Cover Girl stopped. She wasn't ready to talk about it yet. She shook herself. "I'm sure that if you spent more time, you would know it wasn't Flint. In fact, I'm sure that's probably why he avoided you."
"I guess." Lady Jaye said uncertainly.
"Well, I know." She said firmly.
"Thanks." Lady Jaye said gratefully.
"No problem. Now we better get those reports in." Cover Girl grinned.
"Ugh, don't remind me." Lady Jaye groaned.
They laughed as they entered the female soldier's barracks.
"Cover Girl!" They both turned around to see Beach Head jogging up behind them.
"I'll catch up." Cover Girl told Lady Jaye who gave her a knowing look. She squeezed Cover Girl's hand as if to wish her luck and left.
Cover Gril took a deep breath before facing Beach Head.
"What do you want?" She tried to sound disinterested but it came off abrupt.
"I just want to talk." He said trying not to wince at her tone.
"Then talk."
"Not here. Can we go to the shooting range?" He said.
Cover Girl raised an eye brow.
0o0
It was a quick walk and when they arrived, it was empty, just as Beach Head had hoped.
"Okay, we're here. What do you want to talk about?" Cover Girl had her arms folded, glaring at him.
To her surprise, he took off his balaclava. His hair was a mess but it made him even more charming in Cover Girl's eyes. She cursed herself for being so weak.
"I'm sorry." He mumbled.
"Excuse me? I thought you just said…"
"I did!" He snapped. "Look, I know I've been a jackass. I just don't want to come off like some hypocrite… I'm always telling people to follow the rules and suddenly, I can't even… it's not right, especially, with that no account uppity…" Beach Head was rambling.
"Is this about Flint? Because if it is, I'm leaving." Cover Girl said.
"No! It's not about him… or just him." He added. He started pacing. As he walked back and forth, he started talking. "I don't know what to do. Hawk put us together for missions and I told him I can't…"
"Woah, woah, woah…" Cover Girl stopped him. "Go back, what do you mean he put us together?"
Beach Head sighed. "Hawk said we worked so well he wants to keep us together."
"He did? Did you tell him how we fight all the time?" She asked.
"That's not the point. We still get the job done." Beach Head stopped pacing. Something dawned on him. "We do. We always get the job done."
"Yeah, of course, we get the job done." Cover Girl snapped. "I'm not some rookie…" She was cut off in mid sentence when he pressed his lips against hers.
Now Cover Girl was not the type to over romanticize things. She was very realistic and down to earth. Her years as a model had left her jaded about relationships. But when he kissed her, she could have sworn she heard fireworks go off. When he released her, she was in a complete daze.
"What the heck?" She mumbled.
"We always get the job done, no matter what. It doesn't matter if we're fighting or together or whatever. That's what Hawk meant." He said.
"Um, you're not making any sense." Cover Girl complained.
"It means that it's okay for us to be… us." Beach Head explained.
"Yeah, still not getting it." Cover Girl said.
"Well, stop being so dense."
"Well, you stop being so cryptic."
"I love you." He said. "And Hawk pretty much said that was okay… as long as we get our jobs done."
"Are you sure?" Cover Girl was floored by the admission. Then she narrowed her eyes. "And how do I know you're the real Beach Head?"
"What?" He looked at her incredulously.
"You know the synthoid told me the same thing." She said.
"It did? I'm going to break into that cell, reanimate it, just so I can kick its butt again." He growled.
Cover Girl laughed. "Technically, I kicked its butt. As I recall, you were just being thrown around."
"I was not! I was keeping it busy." He snapped.
"Yeah, you're Beach Head." She put her arms around his neck. "And I love you too."
His scowl vanished. He wrapped his arms around her waist. Dipping his head, he kissed her again. She pulled him in tighter and they stayed like that for a very long time.