CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: Ragnarok
Cobra Commander arrived on the shores of Fort Sumter in the clear midday sun accompanied by Storm Shadow and a squad of three Red Ninja. A thin mist crawled up the pale shores, a brisk breeze blew through the flags soon to be dismantled and replaced. It felt like a very dramatic play, most of his underlings already secured the island and as each door opened before him, each man saluted as he descended deeper into the fort. This year had progressed rather well, he'd been freed from prison by some of his most loyal supporters and the remnants of his organization had banded together to accomplish Cobra's goal of world domination.
This was the climax; everything he had striven for was practically his – the presidency of the United States, the utter obliteration of the G. I. Joes, and with Storm Shadow's confirmation that both Snake Eyes and Jinx were dead – nothing could stop him. Of course, he would've wanted to witness the deaths himself but Storm Shadow had dealt with that himself in a video and some articles of bloodied clothing. A sealed deal. The end game. Winning.
Cobra grinned. The farther down they walked, the darker the halls became until they fell in with a sizeable force of Cobra soldiers, the ninja taking point as the last door loomed before them. Storm Shadow pulled up his mask in anticipation and eyed his companions warily, Cobra paused. Of the three ninja, the shortest (and apparently the youngest) was fidgeting ever so slightly, hands twitching for the naginata on their back.
"First time?" he rasped.
"Yes," she answered shortly, bowing her head slightly.
"Calm yourself, what we do here today will secure the future from further harm."
"I understand, sir," the ninja murmured.
She lifted her gaze, met his briefly, and then returned to her former position as the doors in front of them began to open. Of course, the only thing missing from this grand finale was the absence of his daughter, but that would change, soon.
Cobra marched boldly into the room of assembled dignitaries, gazing up at the display of computer screens blanketing the walls. Storm Shadow hopped into the centre of the table, drawing his sword and levelling a stern stare at all those present. The ninja flanked the Commander, but waited to draw their weapons, instead analysing their surroundings. More of Cobra's troops filed into the room, blocking off the exits and disarmed the world leaders' entourage.
Zartan spun around on his heels and welcomed the Commander by throwing an arm around his shoulders, smiling cheekily.
"Finally, the man of the century."
"You're too kind, Zartan." Cobra hissed, revelling in the stunned reactions around the table. "Where were we?"
"The Zeus satellites, what happens when I press this Big. Red. Button?"
…perhaps Zartan had a little too much fun playing dress-up…
Cobra shrugged and glided over, pressing said button.
"Observe."
One of the Zeus satellites released a rod from space, and it fell into London with more destructive force than any nuclear weapon imaginable. The earth lurched and cracked like a thunderclap, buildings broke into splinters, metal screeched and stretched into wiry skeletons. In a few seconds, thousands of people were dead and even more would die in the span of five minutes.
A few people in the back fainted, others gagged, but most stood in petrified terror.
"This is the beginning of the Cobra revolution. By pressing that button, I have activated an auto drop sequence, the remaining six satellites have already moved into position over your remaining intact capital cities. And the same button that initiated this, can end it. For a price."
"Which would be?"
"Total allegiance, of course."
What happened next was…surprising. Cobra watched as Storm Shadow leapt back over the table and impale a soldier. Next, the Red Ninja started pulling the dignitaries away from the table, ushering them to safety. Power cut off overhead, and room erupted into panicked yells as a gun fired, a bright orange spark clipping a wall. The few backup lights showed one of the Red Ninja breaking away from the scrambling crowd, pulling his mask off and shouting -
"Roadblock, secure the perimeter."
…what?
Cobra dropped backwards, feeling his army surge around him and protect him. He saw Zartan grit his teeth, recognizing the speaker with the two katana blades.
"Long time no see, Z."
"Oh lovely, you."
A spray of bullets killed the remaining lights.
Zartan swore and spun around, running around the edge of the room and wheedling through the frightened political staff. He knew Storm Shadow was still playing Twister on the table – right hand stab, left hand impale – and he was soon joined by another of the false Red Ninja…He supposed that was Snake Eyes, judging from their synchronicity and the other's black attire.
He slid along the floor like a snake, crawling towards an exit as the Commander ran back the way he came. Firefly (almost going unnoticed) slithered under the table, grabbed the briefcase, and then booked it out of the room. The last Red Ninja vaulted after him, but Zartan was far more concerned with the figures of Erebus and Storm Shadow coming towards him. Snake Eyes was playing babysitter with the figureheads.
Zartan barrelled down a hallway, flying against the wall as a blast rocked the building, the floor beneath him pooled rapidly with water and he sloshed down the corridor, stooping under shuriken. Coming to a corner, he turned and pulled down a stack of crates, forcing sentries behind him.
"Take care of them!" he yelled, disappearing down the darkened passageway.
Erebus and Storm Shadow rushed into the corridor after Zartan, stumbling as the fort rocked and rolled from the battle above ground. Clearly Roadblock was having a little more fun than usual. They found more Cobra soldiers waiting for them, and then fell into a river of floating boxes. Storm Shadow glared at the water, watching for ripples as Erebus turned around and cursed.
"Can you take him?" Erebus growled, shoving a soldier backwards into the water and pushing his foot down on the man's chest.
"What happened?"
"No eyes on the Commander, can I trust you not to disappear?"
"Yes, now go."
Thalia's lungs were burning as she raced after Firefly, her ears ringing with the sound of explosions. Though dust and smoke clouded her vision, it was Firefly's insufferable laughter that guided her down one pathway and into another. Firefly, as told to her by Snake Eyes, was once a G. I. Joe himself before defecting for unknown reasons. A saboteur and skilled marksman, he also very much enjoyed blowing things up.
As they ran towards a wall, she saw him dip a hand into his pocket and fling out a cluster of fireflies that latched onto the wall and detonated it. A forceful hand yanked her backwards and shielded her from the spray of heavy debris, she winced at the sound of rock colliding with her shield. A heavy whoosh of air blew into the fort, cool sunlight lit the tunnel and Thalia stumbled out of Snake Eyes embrace, coughing at the dust and choking. She batted his hands away and gave him the thumbs up.
"M'fine, let's keep going." She started forward and her vision swam, the broken bits of the fireflies lay in tiny heaps on the ground.
Snake Eyes caught her shoulders again, raising one hand to sign but he paused – Thalia could hear the slightest bit of chatter coming from his earpiece. She raised an eyebrow and he relaxed his grip on her, turning backwards.
"Erebus is going after Cobra, he needs backup."
"What about Firefly?"
"Roadblock is apparently meeting him head on."
There was a loud boom and the ceiling rained down dust, the explosion shook the earth and Thalia tumbled forwards, a heavy stream of rocks cascaded down from the ceiling. It was just so loud, so ungodly loud; she crawled backwards blindly, keeping her mouth shut as dust trailed down the side of her nose. Thalia crept out of the fort, and waited until the rumbling stopped before charging back in. The tunnel was completely blocked off and while she could move a few of the rocks, there was no one she could get back to Snake Eyes. Hopefully he'd moved out of the way…
Thalia opened her mouth to call for him but it wasn't as if Snake Eyes could answer. She looked behind her at the hole in the wall, the sea breeze tickling her neck.
"I'm sorry, Snake."
Thalia raced out the opening, glancing around her surroundings before spotting tracks in the gravel path. Some hundred feet away, she could see a motorcycle weaving of the road towards the docks. Growling, Thalia pulled the naginata off her back, she ran straight for the docks. She kept looking back at Firefly, he hadn't noticed her following yet, and she grinned at the figure of Roadblock walking up the hill. He aimed a very large gun at Firefly and let three massive shots fly, the motorcycle careened down the hill and jumped once, twice, before Firefly was bucked off.
Thalia slid down the hill after him, pulling the Red Ninja uniform off her body, before dashing after Firefly on his way to a parked motorboat. A few Cobra soldiers got off the motorboat, and marched towards them, Thalia grimaced and turned slightly as Roadblock shot the closest one. Steeling herself, Thalia dug her naginata's point into the gut of one of the soldiers, hefting him up and throwing him into the water with a scream. Roadblock knocked another man into the water as well, and Firefly roared away from them.
"Are you kidding me?"
"Here!" Roadblock called.
There was a hovercraft nearby and when she got close enough, Roadblock pulled in and started the engine. They bounded across the water, Thalia holding onto Roadblock's shoulders for dear life as they peeled after him. They bounced off the waves, Thalia jammed her naginata against the inner wall and one of her feet, her stomach clenching.
"I suppose we can't just shoot him and have done with it?" She yelled over the engine, eyeing the gun turret.
"No, we need a manual shutdown with that briefcase intact." He followed her gaze. "Here, take the wheel!"
Thalia squeaked as Roadblock pulled her onto his lap, thrusting his arm out and firing at the zigzagging Firefly with a small calibre pistol. Thalia gripped the wheel, it's just like driving a car, right? Thalia bit her lip, trying to remember how Roadblock had done it, and focused on keeping the wheel steady. Roadblock kept firing, Thalia turned just a tad too far and cursed.
"Keep it straight, I almost got him!"
"Then hurry up, Hotshot!"
Thalia turned the craft around, following Firefly's path towards the shore. She kept it straight as best she could, weaving a little, until a bullet must've pierced the fuel tank. Firefly's boat flung itself onto dry land but that meant their boat had to stop as well. Thalia stared down at her feet and glanced at the nonexistent breaks, growling turning the wheel rapidly to one side as they collided with land. Roadblock cut off the power to the engine and held the two of them in place as the boat came to an abrupt stop. Thalia peeled her fingers off the wheel and manoeuvred to one side of the boat, retching over the side as Roadblock passed her.
"Not bad, rookie, but don't expect me to drive with you ever again."
Thalia was tempted to flip him the bird but as she raised her head, she saw the briefcase lying on the sand. Ignoring Roadblock's yell, she leapt out of the craft and skidded along the beach, wrapping her arms around the case and whipping around just in time for a fist to fly into her face. Her body dropped into the sand but her arms kept hold around the case, she glanced blearily at the man towering above her.
"Hello, love."
He grabbed her arms and shook her around before Thalia screamed, pulling her legs up and kicking his knees. He dropped both her and the case, the latter falling onto her chest hard enough to knock the wind out of her.
"I have no time to play, so I'll be taking that from you." He pulled a gun out from his hip and pointed it at her face. "So sorry."
"Hey!"
Firefly turned as Roadblock tackled him down, Thalia dragged the briefcase away, opening it up and glaring at the keyboard.
"How do I disable it?" she called, wincing as Firefly kicked Roadblock off.
The bigger man growled and landed a fist to Firefly's face, jumping off him and running towards the case.
"Keep him busy." Roadblock called, radioing in to Breaker.
Thalia gaped at him, cursing as her naginata was still on the boat. "I just need a minute." He said.
Going back for her weapon would take too much time, a minute wasn't that long anyway…right? She started walking towards him, searching the ground for stick or a metal bar, something. Firefly started laughing at her, digging into his pocket and releasing a swarm of fireflies. A few clung to her face and neck, burning indiscriminately as she jumped Firefly and wrapped her legs around his waist. With both hands she grabbed the gun he still held, sinking her teeth into his gun arm and grunting as his other hand wrapped around her neck.
She dug her heels into his waist, bit down harder as the blood dripped into her mouth and stopped short of going down her throat. She blew raspberries of blood from the corners of her mouth, her teeth cutting deeper until she felt his radius bone. Could she actually bite through his bone? Probably not.
"Let go, you dumb bitch!"
Firefly finally let go of her neck in order to punch her in the face, Thalia bit down harder and dug her heels into his back with more vigor, pushing his gun arm closer to his chest. She pushed against him until balance was broken, his grip around the gun loosened enough so she could fire a few shots. Firefly swore again, his arm came around her neck and Thalia squeezed her eyes shut, the fireflies on her face converging around her mouth.
"They'll go in there, love, not sure you want that." He wheezed.
She bit down harder, her teeth aching terribly as her vision cut in and out. She tried focusing on closing her mouth, sealing it against Firefly's skin.
And then they heard the countdown.
Thalia used one of her hands to dig into his pocket, passed the squirming fireflies, a few burned the skin on her face. Groaning, she gave a final forceful bite until her teeth were wrapped around his bone, she ripped her arm back out of his jacket and slammed the fireflies into his face. They sparked and crackled against his skin, his let go of the gun completely and she tossed the gun away, pocketing the trigger as the countdown stopped. Thalia finally let go, coughing and coughing out mouthfuls of blood as Roadblock pulled her off Firefly. She passed him the trigger, but he ignored it for beating him senseless. Thalia picked off the fireflies, crushing them in her hands without a second thought. Her mouth ached, her jaw probably wouldn't appreciate this action for years to come. But, she still felt kinda good about it.
Roadblock, after Firefly was decently unconscious, walked over and kneeled in front of her. Thalia grinned, wincing at the peculiar tingling in her mouth, as he cupped her bruised face with a sour look.
"Were you trying to bite off his arm?" he grumbled, helping her stand up.
"Distinct possibility, made it to bone." She rubbed her jaw. "Took you long enough."
"You had it under control, we'll be calling you Fenris now, won't we?"
"Haha."
Snake Eyes stared at the rocks blocking the tunnel with a frown, placing one hand on a relatively smooth stone and pulling. Once it came out, more rocks tumbled downwards and the ninja clenched his fists in aggravation. Removing the stones would only take up more time, time they didn't exactly have; Thalia would run into Roadblock, so she was fine. She had to be.
Snake Eyes turned back down the tunnel and caught the flashing of swords whipping up the stairs, immediately dashing up after it and colliding with a pair of soldiers. They grabbed each of his arms and shoved Snake Eyes into the wall, each pulling out a knife and slicing into his sides. Snake Eyes growled, lifting his legs off the ground and sticking each of his feet into their chest, kicking them off. With blind precision, he lodged one man's head in the wall, blocking a knife jab and breaking the other's wrist. The soldier crumpled to the floor and Snake Eyes ducked down, retrieved his swords and beheaded him.
His footfalls sounded too loud as he rounded the corner like a vengeful wind, hacking at anything that dared cross in front of him. It was still dark within the halls and Cobra's troops were equipped with night vision, not that it helped much. Snake Eyes leant up against a wall and breathed out slowly, tapping his fingers against his thigh as the suit blended in with the wall. Sure, the troops could see in the dark, didn't help if Snake Eyes was the wall.
After evading several more search parties, Snake Eyes finally found himself in one of the inner most chambers, in complete silence -
"Storm Shadow, are you there?"
It was Erebus, he sounded…off. Snake Eyes eased himself further into the room, the ceiling above him rumbling ominously.
"Yes. Zartan is dead." Storm Shadow replied stonily.
Inhale.
"…Bring up the body, Ripcord's waiting on the beach, don't be late."
Exhale.
"Snake Eyes?"
Snake Eyes paused and brought his left arm up, flipping open a small console and tapping out a reply in Morse.
*I'm here*
"Are you alright?" Storm Shadow pressed, concern coloured his tone.
*Was separated*
Erebus cursed. "Whereabouts?"
*Roadblock should be with her* Snake Eyes tapped, slipping off the wall he hadn't realized he'd leaned into.
Snake Eyes drowned out the rest of the conversation as something padded up behind him, almost inaudible, if it wasn't for the other person. The ninja looked over his shoulder, and sheathed one of his blades as Whisper glided up beside him.
"I'm with Snake Eyes, we're coming after you, Erebus." Whisper smirked, eyeing the sleek brown timber wolf that nudged Snake Eyes's leg affectionately. A rifle was slung over her shoulder but she had a few extra knives tucked into her belt, Snake Eyes shrugged and gestured for her to lead.
"So…that was a bit of lie." She began. "Erebus is outside –"
"The Commander's still inside."
Whisper raised an eyebrow. "Yes, how do you figure though?"
Snake Eyes walked ahead of her towards the wolf who disappeared around the corner, it obediently sat down in front of a few small blood droplets.
"Looks like he was running, judging by the patterns," Whisper noted. "I'd hate to think Erebus missed him."
"He sounded strange just now."
Whisper groaned.
"Always getting in trouble, isn't he?"
The wolf led the pair back outside, the trail of blood got lost in the sands and the sun was blotted out by thick gray clouds. Tall towers of black smoke punctured the sky, there were a few scattered fires and most everyone had moved to the other side of the island. Snake Eyes and Whisper faced the near open sea and saw two flecks of black brawling in the water. Whisper lifted the rifle's scope to her good eye and frowned.
"That's them alright, I'll cover you guys. Tundra, go with Snake Eyes."
The ninja nodded and sprinted forward, the wolf overtaking him and speeding for the Commander's unguarded legs. Once he got closer, Snake Eyes understood the strange tone in Erebus's voice.
Erebus was propped up against one wall, sword stuck in the sand, and missing his right arm. Whisper fired a shot into Cobra's leg, and Tundra clamped her powerful jaws around Cobra's arm. Erebus groaned and finally slid down the wall, forgoing his sword to clasp his shoulder, Snake Eyes dove under him and held him up.
Another shot went off and Tundra whined, the bullet ripped through the metallic mask Cobra wore, two piercing green eyes glared out at the ninja as he swatted the wolf aside. He started towards them, raising an arm to shoot when Whisper fired again – right through the Commander's wrist. A strangled cry issued from his mouth, garbled with static as he whipped around in search of his shooter.
"Taking the high ground, Viper? So unlike you – " that earned a bullet through his other leg. "And you keep missing your target," he sneered, baiting her.
Snake Eyes traded a look with Erebus who was so pale and practically falling asleep on his shoulder. Snake Eyes whistled for Tundra, the wolf nuzzled in between Erebus and the wall, licking his face to keep him awake. The chatter in his earpiece started again, reinforcements were coming and Whisper was stalking down the beach with a shining dagger in each of her hands.
Cobra tore his gaze away from his daughter, a haughty look in his eyes as he raised his arm, shifting his gun underneath his chin. Snake Eyes moved and grabbed Whisper, pulling her away as Cobra fired the shot.
Both jolted at the sight of blackish liquid exploding from the top of the Commander's head, Whisper ripped away from the ninja and yanked the helmet of Cobra's head as his corpse fell backwards. Cobra's bare face sparked into flames in the open air, Whisper used one of her daggers to poke at the skin, peeling it away.
Within was a metal endoskeleton with glass green eyes endlessly rolling around as garbled laughter played out of the crooked jaw. Whisper jerked away and stared at the fort.
"But the blood trail led outside…" She pivoted and stared at Erebus, rushing over and slapping his face. "Where did he go? Erebus!"
"We need medical assistance now!"