Recoiled

Part 2

Ghost in the Machine

By Nick Maro

Jetta yawned as she walked into the dining room. Roxy was at the table eating her morning cereal. Jetta glanced at the box and made a disgusted sound. Roxy looked up with a mouthful of cereal. "Whut?" she asked around her half chewed mouthful.

Pouring her morning coffee Jetta yawned again. "You're eatin' that bloody sugar coated cereal again. It's bloody disgustin'. All that sugar and junk." She took a sip of her coffee and started to wake up. "Gonna go straight to your thighs, it is."

"Oh shut up and let me eat in peace." Roxy ate another spoonful. "Still pissed about last night?" She picked up the bowl and drank some of the milk.

Jetta sat across from her roommate and sipped her coffee again. "Nah, it was the New Year's countdown. People were drinkin' and not thinkin' clearly. Plus I shouldn't have been standin' so close to the pool. Although now that I think about it. It was Hitomi's idea to push me in, wasn't it?"

Roxy smiled wickedly while she washed out her bowl and put it in the washing machine. "Actually it was my idea. Hitomi was just in the right place at the right time for me to use as a pawn." Jetta slowly stood from her seat and walked toward The Misfits' bassist. Roxy backed up and hit the sink. She reached in and grabbed the handle of something. "Now Sheila, it was just a joke. Come on. Don't make me use this!" She pulled her arm from behind her back and pointed the object at her roommate.

"A spatula?" Jetta asked with a bewildered look on her face. Roxy looked at the spatula in confusion as well. "You're gonna take care of me with a bloody spatula?"

"Yeah," Roxy said slowly while she tried to think of a way out of the situation. "Just watch." She moved quickly to the right and slapped Jetta on the butt with the flat end of the spatula. She yelped in surprise and Roxy ran out of the kitchen into the living room.

While rubbing her bottom Jetta chased after Roxy. She tackled her onto the floor and wrestled for control of the utensil. Roxy slipped off of Jetta but didn't have the spatula anymore. Jetta stood waving it from side to side. She chased after Roxy again grinning like a child. Roxy ran to the front door, quickly unlocked the handle, opened it and began to run out. She stopped short of running into the twin men in business suits. One had his finger on the doorbell ready to press it. The twin with the scar spoke in an accent that Roxy couldn't identify. It sounded like it was from an eastern European country. "Ms. Roxanne Pelligrini?"

"Yes, I am." Feeling suddenly underdressed she closed her robe a bit. Jetta came up behind her and made a surprised sound. "What can I do for you gentlemen?"

"My name is Xamot and this is my brother Tomax," the man with scar introduced himself. "We're from…"

"…Extensive Enterprises," Tomax finished for his brother. Roxy blinked in momentary confused and shared a glance with Jetta. "We've come to present you with the check from the government. Our company…"

"…had been contracted to perform the delivery," Xamot finished for his twin. He pulled out a check out of his pocket and some legal documents. "This is the check and if you could be so kind and sign these papers. They just say…"

"…you have received the check," Tomax again finished for his brother.

Roxy took the pen that Tomax offered her and quickly read the forms learning from past mistakes. When she finished reading she signed her name. "It's New Year's Day. Why aren't you guys at home resting?" She handed Xamot the papers and Tomax the pen.

Xamot looked at her signature and put the papers inside his sports jacket pocket. "Thank you, Ms. Pelligrini. As for your question, business never…"

"…takes a holiday. You two lovely ladies have a good day and enjoy that money." Tomax and Xamot each gave a slight bow of the head and walked to their car.

"I think I've reached my weirdness quota for the day, luv," Jetta whispered quietly into Roxy's ear.

Roxy nodded and began closing the door as she watched the two strange men drive away. "Weird doesn't even begin to describe that." She then looked at the amount on the check and sighed somewhat disappointed. "Well it's not much but at least its compensation. It's only fifteen thousand dollars. But it's better than nothing."

"Yeah, that's true. Good spendin' money for the tour. Oh by the way, you're it." Jetta hit Roxy on the bottom with the spatula and ran away. Roxy yelped in surprise, put the check in her robe pocket and chased after her best friend.

A few days after New Year's Day, David and The Misfits returned to the complex under Techrat's lab. They were moving out the clothing and any belongings they had left there. Kimber went along to see the place that everyone had told her about. She found it even more amazing to see it with her own eyes. Each person was in their old quarters cleaning it out. Kimber helped David in his old room. "This place is amazing. It has so much stuff and it's so big. Any idea who built this? What it is? Or what?"

David threw some clothes into a duffel bag. "No, no and no. Popular theory between us is that some multi-millionaire built this as a survivalist shelter or something. I dunno. There's just something about it that makes me think it was much more than that. It's too organized for a survivalist group. Too sterile, too militaristic, too uniform. Each bedroom is designed the same. But that could be written off as construction ease. But why the planning room? Why the training room? Why the ops center?" He stopped packing his clothing and turned toward the doorway. "Did you hear something?"

"Nope, but this place is still amazing. Maybe we should make this a private get away." Kimber helped him with a second bag of clothing. "Geez, hon. How much clothes did you need?" She tilted her head to listen to a sound outside of the room. "Now I heard something."

"Wait here." Kimber gave David a stubborn look. "Okay come on then. Just stay close to me." David slung his bag over his shoulder and Kimber picked up his other bag. He peeked his head out of the doorway. He didn't see anything in either direction. They walked quietly to the room Stormer had used. He got her attention and whispered. "Mary, did you hear something just now? Like a lot of people running?"

Stormer finished packing her clothing and thought for a moment. "Yeah, but I thought it was just us being loud." A look of fear crossed her face. "W-why? D-do you th-think someone else is h-here? My h-head hurts ag-again. Ma-maybe I sh-should see a d-doctor."

David smiled and put his hand on her shoulder trying to comfort her. "I'll make an appointment when I get back to Misfits Music. What we heard was probably just echoes of us moving around and everything. Still I think we should hurry up and get the hell out. Kimber will wait here with you while I round up the others." Stormer nodded and Kimber helped her with a few remaining items that needed packing.

He went as quickly as possible to the other rooms. Each of The Misfits also had heard the sound and agreed to leave as quickly as they could. David finally went back to Stormer's room and motioned for the two women to follow him. The Misfits and Kimber followed David down the hall. He looked over his shoulder periodically to see if anyone was following them. They finally reached the end of the hall that led to the garage area. David was about to walk through the open door when he stopped suddenly. Outside the doorway on the floor he saw the faint shadow of a rifle barrel.

Slowly waving his friends back, David kept his eyes trained on the shadow. It started to move. "Run," he whispered. The Misfits and Kimber didn't question him they just ran in the direction they had just come. David saw the form of a soldier come through the doorway. He was dressed in all blue with a matching helmet. A piece of black cloth covered his nose and mouth. The red stylized cobra from the complex walls was on the front of his chest. David felt a drop of sweat fall off of his forehead. The owners of this facility had come home.

The soldier pointed with an outstretched finger at the six fleeing people and yelled. "Cobra! Attack!"

Inside Synergy's room the lights and power came on the hologram computer the Azure Blades had built. Aja wiped the Styrofoam bits from her hands. "Let's give it a moment to boot and warm up, Jerrica. It's been off for quite a bit and will need a system diagnosis. I'm hungry anyway." Aja and Jerrica left through the hologram wall.

Synergy made a solid light hologram of her standard image in the room and walked up to the mysterious, new machine. She felt a sort of kinship with this new computer. Humans wouldn't understand how she felt towards it. "Greetings, Synergy," the computer said startling her and causing her to step back.

"You know who I am?" the stunned hologram asked.

"Yes. I know all about you and Jem and The Holograms." The tone of the machine wasn't menacing, just unsettling that it knew who she and her friends were.

Dissipating her solid light form, Synergy retreated back inside her computer shell. Her face appeared on the monitor. "Who are you?"

A black screen appeared on the other computer. A green line ran across the middle. It spoke again, but the green line shook and spiked when it did. "Not who, but what. What I am is aware." If Synergy could step back in fear, she would have.

Pizzazz led her friends down the hall to the training room. A blast exploded over her head. Don't look back, Phyllis. Just don't look back and keep running. Pizzazz thought as the doors to the room opened up. "This way, there's an armory back here." They turned down another hallway and went through another set of doors as they opened. Taking a quick look around, Pizzazz turned to Jetta. "Okay, this is your department."

Jetta looked around in awe. All four walls were covered in guns and rifles of every kind. "Okaaay," she started slowly, "this is a bit out of me league here but all guns run on the same basic mechanisms." She pulled a rifle off the rack and spoke mostly to herself. "Never seen one like this before. Can't find where the magazine would go. Looks to be like an energy rifle of some sort. No matter. You just point and squeeze the trigger." She handed everyone a rifle. "I set them on the lowest setting. At least, I think I did. They won't kill, but they'll stun. I hope."

"Good thinking, Jetta. Our goal is to simply to get the hell outta here." Pizzazz put the rifle strap over her shoulder. "But in order to do that we're gonna need a diversion. David and Jetta, you're the diversion. Roxy, you're with me, Stormer and Kimber. We're gonna find a way out. I'm just glad Techrat is away with Clash this weekend." She looked out of the doorway and made sure the way was clear. "Good luck David, Jetta."

Kimber kissed David quickly. David and Jetta went out first listening and watching for the soldiers. Jetta watched the other four women rush by out of the corner of her eye. They disappeared down a corridor, she turned back to David. "Ready?" He just nodded silently. "Let's do it then." Together they rushed through the training rooms doors. It was empty. Jetta put her finger on her lips to signal silence. Together they walked along the wall to the exit.

The doors opened to reveal ten soldiers waiting with their rifles pointing at the doors. "Get them!" the lead trooper yelled. David and Jetta stepped back to the far wall and started firing at the soldiers as they rushed at them. Soldiers fell one by one stunned on the metal floor. It took several shots to stun a few of them.

Once Jetta was satisfied they were safe, she led David out of the room and up the flight of stairs to the sleeping quarters. Before reaching the top, she stopped and listened. Not satisfied, she pulled out a small compact mirror she had in her pocket. Jetta held it up so she could see around the corner. There were four soldiers waiting with their backs against the wall next to the quarters they had used. Jetta held up four fingers to David and pressed her back against the wall to let him know where they stood. He nodded that he understood.

Jetta silently showed David their plan. He agreed to it by nodding and giving thumbs up when he was ready. David ran up the stairs to the opposite wall. Jetta came up a second later, but stayed at the top of the stairs. She fired at the closest soldier opposite of her. David fired at the one closest to Jetta but opposite of him. Their shots crisscrossed to the two remaining ones. A trooper came out of the room near Jetta. David stunned him before he could act. They checked the other rooms to make sure that they were cleared.

David and Jetta were heading back to the stairs when a group of soldiers in red uniforms attacked. These troops looked and acted different. They wore red suits with silver embroidering and a silver cobra symbol on their chest. Their helmets were red and they had formed black plastic masks covering their faces. One grabbed Jetta and attempted to subdue her. She fought him off by elbowing his gut and stomping his foot. David shot one that was starting to come toward him and then turned to run. There was another group coming up behind him. Jetta and David shared a look of hopelessness.

Pressed back to back Jetta and David fought off the soldiers. They were outnumbered. "Sheila, it's been great knowing and working with you. You're a wonderful woman."

Jetta kicked a red soldier in the gut and laughed at David. "Don't count us out yet, luv. We've been in tighter spots. We'll pull through." She was caught unaware and was punched in the jaw by a soldier. She stumbled back but didn't fall. Jetta hit her attacker in the chest with the stock of her rifle and sent him to the ground.

A soldier kicked David in the face, dazing him as he fell to his knees. The soldier loomed over him ready to hit him in the back of the head with the stock of his rifle. David looked up to see the soldier fall from a shot to the chest. He then heard a battle cry. "Yo Joe!" David began to stand. He saw another group of men attacking the troops around himself and Jetta. A smile spread across his lips. Jetta was right again.

After a brief struggle, the remaining blue and red soldiers retreated by running down the hall shouting for reinforcements. The soldier in the lead, the one who had shot David's attacker approached David and Jetta. He was a tall man with short cut blonde hair and blue eyes. He shook David's hand. "I'm Sergeant Hauser, codename Duke. I'm the field commander for G.I. Joe. You two must be David and Jetta. We ran into your friends on the way in. Now if you'll follow the redhead back there she'll get you out to safety."

David and Jetta's faces both brightened when they saw the redhead. "Akai!" They both shouted at the same time.

Akai turned around and smiled back. "David! Jetta! You're all right! And it's not Akai anymore. It's Scarlett." She led them quickly out of the base to where Kimber and the other three Misfits were waiting. David and Jetta noticed that there were more members of the G.I. Joe team outside. Scarlett smiled again. "Now, just what the devil were you two doing in there? Didn't you know it was a Cobra base?"

Each of The Misfits looked at her confused. "No, we didn't know what it was. It's connected to Techrat's lab and home. Even he didn't know the whole thing was there. Just who the hell is Cobra? And why were they trying to kill us?" Pizzazz regained her composure and stepped back to stand with the other Misfits.

"Are you serious? You've never heard of Cobra?" Scarlett asked shocked by the news. All six shook their heads no. "Unbelievable. Cobra is a terrorist organization bent on global domination. What you were just in was a secret Cobra base. We had just learned that their leader was assassinated by their previous leader before him. The previous leader is back in charge again. So now we've upped the surveillance on all Cobra bases active or not. Thankfully we were watching this one when they stormed in. Any other questions?"

Kimber, David and The Misfits stood there quietly. They were questioned by various G.I. Joe soldiers for an hour then were sent home. After The Misfits, David and Kimber had left Lady Jaye turned to Flint. "So did we save the world again?"

Flint felt his shoulders slump and he let out a sigh. "We only captured a few Cobra troops. That's hardly saving the world. The rest got away with God knows what kind of equipment. I dunno, Jaye. This seems like a different Cobra. We may be in for a challenge this time."

"Don't worry, Flint. Everything will be just fine. We'll beat those snakes like we always do." Her smile faded when saw the look of concern on his face. They got back into the VAMP Jeep and drove to their temporary base.

The Tele-Viper rushed through the command center doors. He stopped in front of Cobra Commander and gave a quick salute. He stood at attention and waited for the Commander's signal to speak. "Sir, Garden Snake Team has just reported in."

Cobra Commander looked up from the plans that Destro had laid out for him. "Proceed, Tele-Viper." He went back to studying the plans.

The Tele-Viper cleared his throat. "Garden Snake reports that the mission was an overall success. The machine has been recaptured with as little possible hassle. They will return to Cobra Island within two hours time." He stood at attention once more.

"'Overall success?'" Cobra Commander asked now turning to face the Tele-Viper. "What else happened? What are you leaving out?"

"Garden Snake encountered five young women and a young man. One of the women and the man fought back while the four others escaped. A G.I. Joe team arrived within moments. It's unclear what the six individuals were after. A few Cobra agents were captured in the process."

Cobra Commander watched the Tele-Viper carefully then nodded. "Understood. Tell Team Garden Snake I wish to speak with them once they return. Have the machine put into the top security laboratory. Dr. Mindbender is not allowed access. Dismissed." The Commander once again went back to planning with Destro. The Tele-Viper was sending the message as he ran out of the room.

Destro looked at the Commander. "What are you going to do with the six witnesses? Surely they know about the machine."

"Of course they know about it. But they don't know it's gone. Otherwise when the Joe team had rescued them they would have mentioned it. Since the Joes didn't pursue Garden Snake we can assume that they didn't know." Cobra Commander straightened up and began to leave the room. "Besides, we'll deal with those six in due time. It's all a part of the plan."

Aja and Stormer exited the car. Stormer shielded her eyes from the morning sun and looked up at the blank building. "A-are you sure want to do this?" Stormer asked squinting at her friend.

"There's no turning back now, Mary. The guard already alerted the warden that we're here for the appointment. So let's go." Aja checked that she had her original birth certificate. She and Stormer walked up to the building and waited to be buzzed in. Once they were, the two young women entered the building. Aja went to the reception desk and was handed two clipboards. They both filled them out quickly and handed them back.

They were let in after a series of checks that took a half hour. Aja waited patiently in the warden's reception room while Stormer flipped through a magazine that was two years out of date. The door to the warden's office opened up, a guard and a prisoner in handcuffs walked out first. "If you have anymore problems, just let me know," the deep, but friendly voice said from somewhere inside the office. A man in his early fifties appeared in the doorway. He glanced at a clipboard, then at Aja. He smiled warmly at her. "Ms. Leith, I'm Warden Spencer. Sorry about the wait. Won't you and your friend come into my office?"

Aja gave Warden Spencer a friendly handshake. Stormer followed her into the room and smiled as she sat next to her friend. "Warden, this is my friend Mary Phillips. She came along to make sure I didn't chicken out." Aja laughed and smiled slightly nervously.

"I was the one who started to turn chicken in the parking lot." Stormer smiled and went silent again.

"Now Ms. Leith about your parents, I'm afraid they're no longer incarcerated here. They were paroled on good behavior about five years ago." Warden Spencer pulled a drawer open and laid a folder in front of him. He opened it and read something quickly. "Here we go. I have their current address. Now I'm normally not allowed to give it out but seeing you are family I can make an exception. May I see your birth certificate first?"

Aja reached inside her jacket and pulled out the folded paper. "Here you are. This is my original certificate." She pulled out a second paper. "And this is my certificate with my adopted name on it."

Warden Spencer looked over both papers carefully, then folded the papers up and handed them back to Aja. "Thank you. Just a procedure is all. My daughters are Jem and The Hologram fans and would have my hide if I didn't know who you and Ms. Phillips were. Lately it's all I hear about. Misfits aren't dead. Jem sang with Pizzazz and so on." Stormer and Aja both looked at each other and giggled. The warden handed Aja a sheet of paper. "That's the address your parents are at, Ms. Leith."

"Thank you, Warden. If there's anything I could do to pay you back?"

"Actually there is something you and Ms. Phillips both could do. Could I get an autograph for both of my daughters? It would really make their day." The warden put a blank sheet of paper in front of the two women and offered them each a pen. The two artists happily signed their names on the paper in front of them then switched papers.

Stormer and Aja handed him his pens back. Aja shook the warden's hand again. "Thank you so much, Warden Spencer. I really appreciate this."

Warden Spencer thanked Aja and Stormer for the autographs and wished her luck in meeting her parents. The two friends left the prison in silence. A couple of prisoners recognized them while doing landscaping detail and they yelled and waved to them. Momentarily startled, Aja and Stormer waved back and smiled. Getting back into the car, Aja started the engine and drove off of the prison grounds.

Merging to traffic Stormer looked at the sheet of paper that the warden gave Aja. "So are we going there now or waiting for another day?" She gave the sheet back to Aja.

"Yeah, it's close by. It's maybe a half hour to forty-five minutes away depending on traffic. I should do this while I still have the courage." Aja checked the address again and got on the highway. After being stuck in traffic for an hour they arrived at the correct address. Aja parked in front of the small house, shut off the engine and looked nervously at the front door.

"I'll go up there with you."

Aja took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "No, Mary, you wait here. This is something I have to do by myself." Stormer nodded and hugged her friend for luck. Aja exited the car and walked up the steps to the front door. Taking another deep breath she rang the doorbell and waited while chewing the inside of her cheek.

The door opened after a few minutes when a Chinese man about her height stood before her. He was starting to lose his hair and go gray. He pushed his glasses up on his and frowned a little. "May I help you?"

"I hope so," Aja said smiling a little. "Does a Mr. Che-Kwon Li and Mrs. Xianling Li live here?"

The man nodded. "I'm Che-Kwon."

Aja tried to hide her nervousness and swallowed hard. She looked at the car and Stormer gave her thumbs up and a big smile. "I really don't know how to say this but I'm your daughter. Aja Li. But now I'm known as Aja Leith. I kept my adopted name. I-I have my birth certificates with me to prove who I am."

Che-Kwon put his hand up and cut her off. "I know who you are, Aja. Xianling and I choose not to find you after we got out of prison. We felt it would be better on the three of us. We've followed your career as a musician. We're proud of the fact you didn't turn out like we did. Now please I'd like it if you left. We were never parents to you when you were a baby. We're too old to start now. So just go home and know that we're proud of you."

Before Aja could say anything Che-Kwon shut the door and bolted it. She stood there stunned. Slowly she walked back to the car unaware of the tears that had started to form and fall down her cheeks. She got into the car, sat down and shut the door. She didn't start the engine. Stormer looked at her puzzled. "What happened out there?"

"They don't want to know me, Mary," she said quietly. She looked Stormer. "I don't understand. I'm their daughter."

Stormer hugged Aja tightly. "It's okay, Aja, everything will be okay." Stormer got out of the car and let Aja move to the passenger seat. Stormer drove back to her place where she and Aja talked through the day.

The Misfits and Suzaku sat in David's office. David sat next to Kimber and smiled at his friends. The morning sun was shining through the window. "Well after all the crap we've gone through we start our tour next week. It's not going be that long of a tour. We're only hitting major cities. The first show will be here in Los Angeles. Any questions?"

Roxy raised her and hand and spoke without being called on. "Are we going to fa—"

"The joke is old, Roxy. Give it a rest a rest, luv," Jetta said elbowing her friend.

Since no one had any questions David called the meeting to a close. Stormer and Hitomi walked to the elevator together. Stormer pinched the bridge of her nose and moaned slightly. "Are you okay, Mary?" Hitomi asked concerned.

"Just a migraine, I have some pills the G.I. Joe medic Doc gave me at home. They help out a bit. Not much, but enough." She smiled to help Hitomi's concern. "Don't worry I'll be fine. You'll see."

"Status report on the machine," Cobra Commander asked the scientist as he watched the preparations impatiently.

The scientist saluted and relaxed. "The machine is fully operational. We can commence with Operation: Doppleganger anytime you're ready, sir."

Cobra Commander's eyes showed his smile. "Excellent. You've done well and have made me proud. You and your team may have tonight and tomorrow off. Report back Monday and we shall begin our revenge."

TO BE CONTINUED IN "A TRAITOR AMONG US!"

PART 3 OF RECOILED