Recoiled

Part 1

Rage Against the Machine

By Nick Maro

Serpentor walked down the hall of the Cobra helicarrier with an intense purpose. His personal guards formed around him in a protective pattern. Cobra Commander, Destro and Dr. Mindbender followed a few steps behind their leader. Serpentor barked orders to the Vipers lined along the walls that were awaiting his commands. "I want you to take your squadron out and check on the progress of the new B.A.T.s. This I command!" The Vipers saluted quickly and vanished down the hallway.

"If he says that one more time I'm going to strangle the son of a bitch," Cobra Commander said just loud enough for Destro to hear.

"What did you say, Commander?"

Cobra Commander looked up startled. He had underestimated Serpentor's hearing. "Nothing, my Emperor, I was just complaining that my feet itched. It might be a fungus or a boot rash. It's nothing that should concern one who will lead the mighty Cobra Empire to victory." The Commander gave a slight bow of respect.

Serpentor nodded as he eyed Cobra Commander suspiciously. "Yes, you just remember that it was I who shall lead Cobra to victory. I am after all made from history's greatest conquerors." He turned back around with a flourish of his green cape. He began to take a step when a rear guardsman pulled a knife quickly, grabbed the Cobra Emperor's head from behind and swiped the knife across Serpentor's throat. Blood sprayed against the walls, painting them red.

The assassin let go of Serpentor's head as he spun around, clutching his throat. He pointed an accusing finger at the guard. "W-who would attack me in such a cowardly fashion?" He fell to his knees trying to hold the wound close.

The guard removed his mask letting a maroon hood tumble out from underneath. Piercing green eyes stared at Serpentor. "Know that it was I, Zartan, who took your life, Serpentor." Zartan's voice echoed eerily through the silence of the hall.

"Mighty Serpentor!" Dr. Mindbender rushed towards his creation. A blast from a pistol at his feet stopped him in his tracks. He turned to see Cobra Commander and Destro pointing their weapons at him. "Guards! Destroy these assassins!"

The Commander and Destro both laughed at some private joke. "The guards are under our command and completely loyal to Cobra Commander, my dear Doctor. I would choose my next few words wisely." Destro laughed deeply again as the blood rushed from Dr. Mindbender's face.

Dr. Mindbender looked around in panic and desperation. The remaining guards began to point their guns at him. He backed up to where the Commander stood. He put his arms out with his palms up with a pleading look. "I was just momentarily concerned for my creation. I see now who truly the stronger side is."

"Excellent choice, Doctor." Cobra Commander turned his gun on the dying Serpentor. "Now, Mighty Serpentor, you will die. This I command!" He laughed in his high pitched cackle that echoed up and down the halls.

"Traitors! Cowards! Mindbender, you are the biggest traitor of them all!" Serpentor tried to stand, but his legs and arms wouldn't work. He voice was thick with blood as he spat it on the floor in front of him. "I cannot die like this. I am Serpentor. I am—"

"—assassinated," Zartan finished for him. He then knelt and cut the dying man's throat the rest of the way. He continued sawing through the former leader's throat with ease, cutting off Serpentor's head. He picked it up and presented it to Cobra Commander. "The coup is a success, Commander. You are the one true leader once more. Congratulations."

Cobra Commander turned to a shocked Tele-Viper who had walked in on the scene. He froze in place as he watched the grisly event take place. He noisily gulped when the Commander spoke to him next. "You there, Tele-Viper! Go send out a Cobra wide message that Serpentor has been assassinated and your beloved leader, Cobra Commander, is once again in command. The reign of Serpentor is over!" The Tele-Viper regained his composure, saluted and ran off talking into his headset. Cobra Commander pointed to one of Serpentor's former guards. "Dispose of this trash."

"I-I'll do it, Commander."

"No! I don't want you near it, Doctor. Try to remove his body from the disposal unit and you shall join him."

Dr. Mindbender wiped the sweat from his bald head. "Y-yes, sir. If you'll excuse me, I'll be going to my quarters now." He bowed politely to Cobra Commander.

"Of course not, Doctor. Guards, escort Dr. Mindbender to his quarters. See he is not harmed or disturbed in anyway." Two guards saluted and each one walked next to Dr. Mindbender. Cobra Commander signaled for Destro and Zartan to follow him. He stopped a guard from leaving. "Have someone clean those walls. It's disgusting." The guard bowed then saluted. "Now, gentlemen shall we do something about this, what was his name again? Ah yes, David Gabor and his Misfits?" He noticed that Zartan still carried Serpentor's head, which stared blankly at them. "Will you get rid of that?"

Zartan smirked while studying the face. "I was thinking that my Dreadnoks might get a good use out of it as a kickball."

Cobra Commander stopped in midstride. "A kickball!" He laughed hard and loud, and then thrust both arms in the air with his fists clenched and shouted in triumph, "Cobra!" His cackling laugh echoed once again through the hallway.

"Why won't this damn dress stay on straight?" Kimber muttered to herself as she tried adjusting it again but it still didn't fit right. "Shana! What's wrong with this?"

Shana looked up from fitting Hitomi's dress and spoke around the pins that were between her lips. "I'll be there in a second, Kimber." She pinned a spot on Hitomi's dress and walked up to Kimber. She carefully studied the dress. "Ah, dammit! I stitched the wrong spot. I'll have it fixed by tomorrow."

Kimber took the dress off and handed it Shana. "Either way it looks great. Thanks again, Shana." She slipped her jeans back on.

"Thank me when it's finished, Kimber." Shana laid the dress on her sewing machine and went back to finishing up Hitomi's dress.

"I can't believe that Kyoko gave David her engagement ring to give to you. That was so sweet of her."

"Hitomi stand still. I can't make these adjustments with you moving about." Shana tugged firmly on the dress to make her point.

Hitomi blushed. "Sorry Shana. You know that it's hard for me to stand in one place for long periods."

"Just five more minutes and then you can run free." Shana completed her final adjustments on the dress. "Okay there you go, let's see how it looks." Hitomi walked to the full length mirror. "How does it feel?"

"Wow. It's beautiful!" Hitomi spun around to look at the back. "What's even more impressive is that you made me look good in the back." She walked back to where Shana was waiting and removed her dress.

Shana took the dress and laid it on top of Kimber's. "I'm sorry that it took so long to get them done. I wanted to get them done by Christmas Eve but I totally botched Jem's dress. I accidentally used Aja's measurements and not hers." Shana put the extra pins down and opened her door. "Okay, you two get out and send in Eiji and Ken."

Kimber and Hitomi hurried out of the room and ran down the stairs to the living room of the Starlight Mansion. Hitomi smirked at her friend and brother. "Next fashion victims."

"I heard that, Hitomi!" Shana yelled from the second floor causing laughter in the living room.

"We better get going. Don't wanna be late." Kimber pulled her fiancée, David, to his feet.

"We sure don't, The Misfits are waiting at the new mansion. You know how Roxy gets when she has to wait for her food." David and Kimber said their farewells and left to have dinner with his family.

The giant wooden crate sat on the front lawn of the home of Stormer, Kimber and David. They each walked around it looking for any identification. Only marking was the shipping label with no return address on it. "I swear by all that I hold sacred, David. If there's some new enemy in there, I'll kill you myself."

"Not if I beat you to it, Mary." Kimber glanced at David, who was peeking through the spaces between the wooden planks. "Can you make anything out?"

David stepped back and rubbed his eyes. "No. Looks like the only way we'll find out what it is, is by opening this up. Mary, hand me the pry bar." His half sister handed him the metal bar. "Thanks." He jammed the metal bar between a plank of wood that ran along the top and began pulling the wooden plank free. "Stand back." David did the same to the bottom plank. Once it was gone, the whole wall fell towards them.

A wall of Styrofoam stood before them and Stormer gave her two friends a confused look. They shared her look of confusion as well. David pulled a chunk of the Styrofoam off to find that it was hollow for a few inches. He peeked inside but it was too dark. He turned on the flashlight on his phone and illuminated the interior. Inside was a machine he'd only seen in two places in his life; Starlight Mansion and the Azure Blades base in Egypt. It was a hologram machine.

"shit," David said softly. He turned around and backed Kimber and Stormer away.

Stormer began to protest. "David, what is it? Come on I want to see!"

"It's, uh, it's nothing. I meant for it to be shipped to the Starlight Mansion. I must've accidentally used our address as the shipping address." David felt guilty for lying to his friends. But once he got it to the Starlight Mansion he was going to have to face up to them. At least the secret of Jem and Synergy would be safe there. "Mary, do me a huge favor and call Aja. Tell her to rent a moving truck and give her my credit card number to pay for it." Once Stormer was inside the house, David gestured Kimber over. "Um, when you look in there, it's not what you think. Look at it with an open mind."

Kimber looked at him very confused with an arched eyebrow. "It is some new enemy, isn't it?" she said smirking only to have the smirk fade when she looked inside. "Oh you better have a damn good explanation, Ikari. Because if you don't, you can pack your stuff and get the hell out." She turned back to face him with hurt and rage on her face. "I'm waiting."

David started nailing the boards back on the crate. "I'll explain everything at the Starlight Mansion. Jerrica and the rest deserve to hear it the first time."

"David! I can't find your card!"

"It's in my wallet." David ran up to Stormer gave her the credit card. When he walked back to the crate Kimber was still glaring at him. "Just trust me on this. I was shocked to see it myself the first time." He went back to nailing the boards up.

"The first time? The first time?! What the fuck do you mean by the first time?" Kimber stopped him from hammering and poked him in the chest. "This better be real fucking good because if it isn't, then good bye forever."

David ran his hand through his hair. "Don't worry. I can explain it all. Just trust me."

Kimber rolled her eyes and leaned against the giant crate. "Oh I'm so sick of hearing that."

Stormer came back out and handed David his credit card. She immediately picked up on the tension between the young lovers. "I-I'll go wait inside. Aja said she'll be here shortly." She quickly ran back indoors while David and Kimber waited the next hour for Aja in tense silence.

Pizzazz, Roxy and Jetta still couldn't get over at how much the new mansion looked like the old one. "I can't believe that my mother built an exact replica of the old place." Pizzazz ran her hand along a wall. "Amazing."

"I'm still a bit annoyed that Eiji and Ken stayed in our house, Sheila. I know they said that they didn't move anything that didn't need it, but still. I feel kinda violated or something." Roxy sipped her can of beer.

Jetta handed a cold can to Pizzazz. "It's not like we own anythin' incriminatin', Rox. I just hope they didn't mess with me drums. I paid some good money for those." Jetta popped her can open and sat next to Roxy on the couch. She found the remote and turned on the television. The news came on.

"Boring!" Roxy yelled as Jetta handed her the remote. She was about to change the channel when a news segment caught her attention.

"Today in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; a middle aged couple was arrested on charges of defrauding the government for ten years. Hal and Ester Pelligrini had defrauded the federal government for ten years by keeping foster care money for themselves and not using it for their niece Roxanne Pelligrini. They were reported to officials by an unnamed source within the federal government. Ms. Pelligrini will receive an undisclosed amount of money." The news anchor shuffled some papers and looked at his female co-anchor. "I'm sure Ms. Pelligrini is a happy woman tonight knowing that justice has been served in her favor."

The three women sat in silence then let out a loud cheer. Roxy gave the image of her aunt and uncle the middle finger. "Take that Uncle Hal and Aunt Ester!" She then took a long drink of her beer. "I need to call up Mary and David. Tonight we're partying!" She picked up the phone and dialed Stormer's number.

Throughout the conversation, Roxy's facial expressions ranged from excited to disappointment to confusion. She finally hung up the phone. Pizzazz and Jetta shared the same confused look. "Mary said that they found a giant wooden crate on the lawn this morning. David opened it and something inside freaked him out. He sent her to go call Aja so they she could pick up and take it to the Starlight Mansion. Apparently David told a pretty thin lie to cover it. Anyway, when she came back after calling Aja, Kimber and David weren't talking to each other. They stayed like that until Aja picked them up. But she will be over as soon as she can."

"David and Kimber will work things out. They always do. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Although I am curious as to what could be in the crate to make my brother lie and Kimber and he fight." Pizzazz ran her hand through her hair then looked at her hand afterwards. "Great, now I'm picking up his habits."

"Come on, we're gonna party. We do have somethin' to celebrate after all." The two other women agreed with Jetta. She picked up the phone and started making phone calls.

Dial-Tone ran down the hallway in search of his commanding officer, General Hawk. The papers he held in his hand were considered top priority. He ran past the cafeteria when he heard Hawk's voice. Dial-Tone stopped running but slid along the slick floor. He ran into the room and saluted out of breath. "General Hawk, I just received this broadcast on the monitoring channel for Cobra. I thought you'd want to see it right away."

Hawk put his coffee mug down and looked over the papers. He read them a second time to make sure he read everything correctly the first time. "Good work, son. How long ago did you receive this broadcast?"

"About twenty minutes ago, sir. I spent ten of those minutes searching for you then another arguing with Beach Head. He insisted that he be the one to report this but since I was the one who recorded the broadcast and printed it out. I know the details better than he doe—"

"I get the idea," Hawk said putting a halt to Dial-Tone's rambling. "Keep a lid on this and tell Beach Head to do the same." Dial-Tone saluted again and began to leave. "Good job, son. You did the right thing bringing this to me right away. Dismissed."

Dial-Tone thanked the General and ran back to the communications room. Scarlett arched an eyebrow at Hawk. "So what is it, General?"

Hawk let the young redhead read the papers. "Cobra Commander is back in charge. I don't know if I should be relieved or very afraid." Scarlett finished reading the report and sat back with concern on her own face. He took the sheets of paper from her and finished his coffee. "Find Duke and Flint, have them meet me in my office." Scarlett saluted and left in search of the officers. Hawk went back to his office to read the report again.

Jerrica waited until the van with the Starlight Girls was gone. Mrs. Bailey agreed to take them to the movies for the afternoon. David played fetch with the girl's dog Karma. He was about five months old and the size of a medium dog. Jerrica took the ball as David was ready to throw. "Okay the girls are gone. What's in the crate? And why is my sister ready to call everything off with you?"

"Before I open this crate you must promise to hear me out first." David asked starting to pry the boards off the crate. Jerrica, The Holograms and Rio all agreed. David nodded and paused in opening the crate. "Okay, remember you agreed." He pried the last board off and the side fell with a soft thump. It was on the side with the Styrofoam hole. He tore a bigger chunk out of the wall. "Take a look. I can explain where it came from."

Jerrica and Rio looked first. What they saw took their breath away. Rio turned and glared at David, Jerrica barely held him back from attacking him. Part of her wanted to let Rio go and let him deal with David. Aja and Raya looked next. They looked at him for a moment and then stood next to Jerrica, Rio and Kimber. Aja slapped David on her way past him. Shana just avoided him altogether.

David opened his mouth to speak when Jerrica cut him off. "You betrayed our trust. You said you'd keep our secret and now we find out that another Synergy exists? Now explain yourself."

"I didn't tell anyone. Not The Misfits, not anyone." David sat on the grass and Karma lay down next to him. He absentmindedly scratched behind the dog's ear. "When we were in Egypt, The Misfits and I found a group called the Azure Blades. Kimber knows the name but she never met the real group. The real Azure Blades are information brokers and they're led by a man called Radamun. He told me they have people everywhere around the world. I asked him how they disguised their base as a sand dune. I figured it was going to be a trick using mirrors or something like that. Not quite so.

"One of their contacts had discovered the blueprints and schematics to Synergy. I don't know how he did. My theory is that he discovered your father's lab at some point and somehow made copies of the journal and blueprints. But Radamun showed me this projector and said that it was mine. I thought he meant it was mine to have there that I would be in charge somehow. I never expected for him to ship it to my home." David stood and brushed some grass off of his pants. "I can't keep it because it's unfair to your father's memory and I can't let The Misfits discover it. I haven't betrayed your secret, Jerrica. I only discovered that someone else knows it. I'm sorry."

Jerrica and the others turned their backs from him and discussed what to do. They finally turned back around and Jerrica walked forward, grabbed David on both of sides by his arms and kissed him on the cheek. She looked him in the eye and gave him a small smile. "That was for keeping my secret safe and apologizing for doubting you. But I am disappointed that you didn't tell us sooner that someone else had a machine like Synergy. But Kimber said it probably slipped your mind with all the excitement. Anyway, thank you for giving it to us. We just now need to find a place for it."

"Maybe we can put it in Synergy's room. It looks like the same modular design as her. We can carry the pieces up before the girl's get home." Rio suggested while he and Aja removed more of the protective Styrofoam.

"Yeah, that will do for now." Jerrica started picking up the Styrofoam pieces. "Come on and help, David. Afterwards I'll let you name it."

David smiled and went to help his friends unpack the super computer.

It was an hour before midnight on New Year's Eve, David and The Misfits were discussing an idea in the study of the Gabor Estate. Kimber and Kyoko waited in the room, listening to the discussion. David sat behind the desk and wrote on a sheet of paper. "Now here are the dates I think we should tour with. I will have to call the arenas to reschedule the dates and I really don't expect to get them all. But I do think most will take us. Any suggestions or questions?"

"Are you going to fake our performances, too? I mean, we've faked our deaths, why not that also?" Roxy teased David while leaning back in an office chair.

"I'll take that as a no. Okay let's get back out there. My mother isn't throwing this party for nothing." David took Kimber's arm in his and led her out of the office. He caught up with his sister. "So, Richard Xanthos is your date?"

Pizzazz laughed as she grabbed a drink. "Yeah, I figured why not ask him to this. He's a nice guy."

"Nice and rich. Right, Pizzazz?" Pizzazz glared at her friend and Jetta winced. "Just kiddin', Phyllis, he does seem like a decent guy all around."

"Don't worry about it. And why didn't you ask anyone, hmmm?" Pizzazz arched her eyebrow in Jetta's direction.

Jetta's eyes quickly flicked to Roxy who was talking to Ken. They came to the party together as friends. She looked back at Pizzazz. "The person I had in mind was already goin' with someone."

"Well, maybe you'll meet someone tonight." Pizzazz grinned at her friend. "There's Richard. See you at the countdown." Pizzazz ran up to him and was introduced to a business friend of his. Jetta blended into the crowd without another word, looking somewhat rejected.

Kimber and David watched their friends while going up the stairs. "You've got to see this view. You can see the ocean from up there. I really didn't think my mother built this mansion that close to the coast." He took Kimber's hand in his as they stood on the terrace. The party was bigger in the backyard.

"Wow. This is great! Evelyn knew what she was doing." She kissed him on the cheek and continued taking in the view. They talked until five minutes till midnight where joined their friends for the countdown. David grabbed two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter. He handed a glass to Kimber and watched the countdown with her.

The waiter turned around and watched David, Kimber and Pizzazz celebrate. He adjusted a pin on his jacket and set his tray of champagne down. A woman also dressed as a waitress set her tray next to the first waiters and watched Roxy, Jetta and Stormer celebrate. She adjusted a similar pin on her jacket. The waiter and waitress smiled at each other.

It was a little after two in the morning on Cobra Island. Cobra Commander watched as David and The Misfits celebrated in the New Year. Beneath his dark blue cloth hood he smiled. "Excellent. The fools think they're safe. Little do they know that Zartan and Zarana are spying on them at this very moment."

"Commander, why are you toying with these people? You could flat out destroy them." The exotic woman known as the Baroness asked softly as she sat on the couch with her lover Destro.

"Because, my dear Baroness, I want to make them feel safe. We'll strike in a way they'll least expect. But I also have a plan to take care of G.I. Joe and take over America all at the same time. All it requires is some patience. Something that pompous ass Serpentor lacked." The Commander stood and began to exit his communications room. He turned back to Destro and the Baroness. "Oh and Happy New Year to you both, it will be a most happy one for Cobra!" He laughed high and loud. The doors closed but the echo of his laughter remained in the room.

TO BE CONTINUED IN "GHOST IN THE MACHINE"

PART 2 OF RECOILED