G. I. Joe Fan Fiction ❯ A Snake with a Temper ❯ Chapter 6: Alpha Team Missions ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 6: Alpha Team Missions

Temper sat in the back of the plane with a black bag, strapped in while Scarlett and Snake Eyes prepared to go down.

"We're comin' up to the target," Breaker informed them.

A hatch opened in the middle of the floor and Snake Eyes slid down the rope. Scarlett went next and Heavy Duty leaned out a door in the side of the plane, using heavy artillery to shoot down the enemy.

"Don't make me shoot a woman!" He shouted out to someone Temper could not see. "IN COMING!" he yelled and the plane tilted to the left. Outside the door she saw two blue streaks of light pass them. "Woah!" Heavy Duty put his full body back inside the plane, "put us down!"
The plane descended and Breaker and Heavy Duty got out. Temper came to the edge of the door and looked up to see the Cobra aircraft take off. She grabbed a stake that Hawk gave her out of her bag and followed the two men. She saw a man with blonde hair, darker than hers, pointing a gun at them with one hand, a M.A.R.S. briefcase in the other.

"Pointing your weapons at me doesn't quite make you my friend now does it," he said, making it more of a statement than a question.

"Please hand over the case, sir," Breaker said.

"I don't know you," the man started, the looked up at the sky, "and I sure as hell don't know who they are, and until I find out, I'm not lowering anything and I ain't handing anything over."

"If it weren't for us you'd be out there with the rest of your boys," Heavy Duty pointed out.

"So hand over the case," Scarlett added.

A black man emerged from behind a tree and pointed his gun at them as well. "What's your unit?" the new man asked.

"That's classified," Scarlett answered. Temper stepped forward and put her hands up in surrender.

"Go ahead Temper," Hawk's voice came over on the earpiece she always used on missions.

"Temper get back," Scarlett warned. None of them knowing Hawks command.

"What's your name?" Temper asked.

"Duke," the blonde replied. Temper nodded and knelt to the ground.

"Someone would like to have a word with you," she informed him as she stuck the stake into the ground. Light shot out of the top and built a live, holographic image of General Hawk.

"State your name and rank," Hawk ordered.

"You first," Duke demanded.

"My team just saved your life, son. This is the part where you get to say thank you."

"Those aren't the words that come to mind right now. I wasn't told anything about any support for this mission. So why don't you tell your team to stand down."

"Hey we could turn this into one big turkey shoot," the man behind Duke told them.

"Yep," Duke agreed.

Snake Eyes apparently did not think so as he held his katana against the black man's throat. "Or not," the man said, looking down at the sharp blade.

Cover Girl appeared in the hologram and gave Hawk a file before she disappeared. "Easy Ripcord," Hawk said, looking down at the file.

"How do you know me?" he questioned.

"Expert marksman, second in your battalion, weapon's specialist, jet qualified," Hawk listed.

"I told you," Ripcord said to Duke.

"Not now Rip," Duke warned.

"My name is General Clayton Abernathy," Hawk informed, "perhaps you've heard of me, Duke."

"General Hawk," Duke nodded, "Afghanistan, NATO, forward command."

"Yeah that was my last job, I'm in a whole new outfit now." Breaker went forward, toward the case. Duke positioned his gun at him.

"Hey," Breaker put both hands up, "just need to deactivate the tracking beacon for security."

"Put down that weapons case son and let us deliver those warheads," Hawk demanded.

"No way," Duke shook his head, "I signed for 'em. It's my mission, my package, I carry 'em, I deliver 'em."

"Well that's just fine, but you seem to be a little short of transportation right now," Hawk pointed out, "so my team, Alpha, will deliver you to me."

"Where exactly are you Sir?" Duke asked.

"Come see for yourself." The hologram shut off.

Snake Eyes removed the sword from Ripcord's throat and they all piled on to the plane. Duke kept a hold on the case the entire time. Temper got to work with Snake Eyes on Ripcord, which neither were too thrilled about as they were trying to avoid each other at all cost. Snake Eyes jabbed an IV into Ripcord's right arm at which he let out a small yelp.

"I thought all you special ops guys were tough," Temper stated, trying to distract the man from the pain. Unfortunately for her, Ripcord took it differently.

"We are tough," Ripcord gritted as he glared at Snake Eyes. He turned his attention to her and put on a smile, "But we're also sensitive." Temper looked at him, dumbfounded. Snake Eyes put a hand on Temper's shoulder.

"I got it, thanks," she informed.

Scarlett watched the actions between the grunt and the ninja, but she did not know what was really going on between the two, and how edgy they were around each other. Ripcord kept talking and tried to make a grab for Heavy Duty's hair to which he got his hand slapped. Snake Eyes inspected a knife when he looked to see Duke staring at him.

"What kind of outfit is this anyway?" Duke asked, looking over the team. "It's not regular army, based on all the accents."

Temper got lost in thought when she felt a tap on her on her upper arm.

Ripcord said quietly, "What about you, where you from?" She did not say anything, just smirked. "Not telling?"

"Nope," she replied.

"Where were you born?" Breaker asked Duke.

"Duke wasn't born, he was government issued," Ripcord joked, trying to sit up. Tempter pushed him back down.

"What about you," Duke inquired, nodded over to Snake Eyes.

"He doesn't say," Scarlett replied from her seat opposite to Ripcord.

"Why?" Ripcord asked.

"He doesn't say," Breaker answered.

Temper tensed a little, something only Snake Eyes caught. Temper was once again lost in thought as the rest of the team spoke. She could feel Snake Eyes staring at her, she knew he saw her momentary lapse of control. He can read your body language, she reminded herself, you need to be careful, he's already suspicious after yesterday. Silence overtook the plane.

"Well whoever you are," Duke started, "and whatever this unit is. I want in."

Temper looked at him, surprised. She finished up with Ripcord just as the plane touched base.
Heavy Duty got out first; then Scarlett; Breaker; Duke, who was introduced to General Hawk; Ripcord; then Temper, who was followed by Snake Eyes. They all got onto a platform. Snake Eyes chose to be directly to the side of Temper, silently letting her know he wanting to speak to her. The platform lowered down and Hawk told Ripcord and Duke about G.I. Joe. When the platform elevator stopped they made their way to a circular room with few lights and many computer screens.

"Mister McCullen is standing by sir," a female informed Hawk.

"Patch him through," General Hawk ordered. They all gathered around a moving globe in the center of the room.

"We need to find everything we can about her, Hawk said, directing everybodys attention to a picture of a black haired female, the one that almost took the warheads, knowing is half the battle." A hologram of James McCullen passed through Ripcord, scaring him.

"Gentleman," James McCullen greeted.

"Mr. McCullen," Hawk said, "CEO of M.A.R.S. Industries and the builder of these warheads."
"General, clearly you were the security option I should have chosen." McCullen looked at Hawk. Duke stepped forward, clearly angry.

"What did you just say?" Duke questioned, McCullen turned his head to him, "my team did everything we could out there. And a lot of good men went down."

"Yeah, but not you," McCullen replied. Temper wished he was there in person so she could at least give Duke the satisfactory of knocking McCullen out.

"That mission was classified. So clearly, someone sold us out."

"I spent ten years and thirty billion euros creating these four warheads. Your job, Captain, was to protect them and if it wasn't for General Hawk, you'd have failed." Duke stepped forward, but Ripcord held him back.

"That's not a fair assessment. He followed his orders to the letter," Hawk informed McCullen.

"Well that wasn't enough," McCullen replied.

Hawk glared at him. Temper knew Hawk was remembering the day he brought her to the Joes.
General Flagg stood by as Hawk was chewed out by the one who employed the Joes for the mission. Hawk had lost a lot of men, but that did not matter to the man. Hawk had done what he saw was right, it was her life or the package. She was young, a little inexperienced on her own as she was used to someone having her back. She got knocked into half consciousness and he dragged her out of the building before it blew up, along with the package.

Temper snapped out of the memory, seeing Breaker set the case on the table and McCullen check the warheads.

"Please keep me informed of your progress, General." At that, McCullen was gone.

"My voice analyzer on that guy was going up, down, and sideways," Breaker informed.

"Looks like McCullen's working an angle he don't want us to catch," Heavy Duty said.

The picture of the female the Alpha Team fought was running through a facial recognition software. Temper sat on the ring around the globe with her knees to her chest. Snake Eyes was by her side as he had been since they got off the plane. He isn't going to let this go, she thought to herself. Ripcord stepped forward to Duke.

"Hey," he whispered, "isn't that-"

"Shh," Duke interrupted.

Temper looked to Snake Eyes in confusion to see if he caught it as well. He just shrugged. Temper watched as the two men exchanged words. Hawk came over to Duke and showed him a screen.

"It seems that I've been made official custodian of the warheads," Hawk informed, "looks like your mission is complete here Duke."

"When you move them she's going to come after you. You know that right? And with her intel and toys, she'll find you," Duke replied.

"What's your point?" Hawk asked, looking between Duke and Ripcord.

"You're going after her first," Duke motion to the both them, "and we want in."

"General, it was our team that got wasted out there, we deserve payback," Ripcord said.

"You don't ask to be part of G.I. Joe," Hawk told them, "you get asked."

"You scouted me four years ago, now I'm ready, lets have at it," Duke said.

"Well I've lost men too, Captain. If you want revenge-" Hawk started.

"I know her," Duke interrupted.

"Excuse me?" Everybody on the team and Temper looked at him.

"You said knowing is half the battle right?" Duke reached into his jacket and pulled out a photograph. He held it up for Hawk to see. Hawk took it and examined it. "She was a blonde, her name is Anastasia Cisarovna." Temper tried to control herself from tensing at the name. Luckily for her Snake Eyes' attention was on Duke. "I could tell you everything you need to know about her." You don't know anything, Temper thought bitterly. "Up until the last four years, after that, obviously a lot of things have changed." Hawk nodded, making up his mind.

"Temper," Hawk called, motioning for her to come forward. She got up and walked over to the three men. "I want you to oversee their training. If you don't think they cut it, just say so." Temper nodded in acknowledgment to his request. "Dismissed."

Snake Eyes stood in protest but Breaker and Scarlett stood as well, making it go unnoticed. Snake Eyes was not about to let go of his personal mission so easily. Temper introduced herself to them and led them to the weapons room where Heavy Duty told them about various weapons they would be working with. Next they went through simulations with Scarlett. Ripcord started to flirt with Scarlett which she deflected with the finesse of a lady Joe. Then they went to sparring with Snake Eyes. Duke was the one who stood out most in this exercise. No matter how many times he got hit, he kept going. Eventually, he got frustrated enough to take off the helmet. Stone had warned Duke that he would need it, but he did not pick it back up. Then, he did something that really surprised her. Snake Eyes put at least five hits on Duke that put him on the floor.

"Again!" Duke got up, charged at Snake Eyes, and put his two legs around Snake Eyes waist. Using his momentum, flipped the ninja over and onto the floor. With Duke over him, a fist ready to strike, Stone intervened.

"Stand down."

After that Ripcord and Duke both went through underwater training with Shipwreck. Temper gave Hawk their test scores and her opinion. Even Heavy Duty had to admit, they are Joes.
***
Temper went into the Alpha Team's rec room. A flat screen was on the wall farthest from her, a couch was positioned in front of it, where Breaker was sitting in front of a chess board. Three treadmills, one occupied by Scarlett, were behind the couch, facing the television as well. On her right was a mat, where Snake Eyes was doing a handstand on his swords. I haven't seen that in a long time, Temper reminisced. Heavy Duty was using a speed punching bag. Duke went to weight lifting and Ripcord went to the treadmill to flirt with Scarlett. Temper spotted Duke and watched as Ripcord crashed and burned. Duke moved on to jump rope and laughed silently at Ripcord's fail.

"Attention! Heavy Duty shouted. General on deck."

"At ease," Hawk said. Duke and Ripcord stood shoulder to shoulder in front of Hawk. "Duke, you scored in the top half percent of all the people we've ever tested," Hawk informed. "Rip, if we averaged your scores with Duke's you passed too." The two smiled. "So with your scores and the approval of your overseer you are now Joes. Welcome aboard."

"Thank you sir," Ripcord said and shook Hawk's hand.

"Provisionally of course," Hawk clarified and shook Duke's hand as well.

"Thank you sir," Duke said.

When Hawk left they thanked Temper and Ripcord even hugged her, much to her surprise. They both smiled to each other, they were now Joes.