GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Chapter Twenty-Four

Snake Eyes lowered himself down the dark elevator shaft, hanging from a rope secured above him, where Duke and Scarlett looked down as he descended into darkness. They had tried to repair the elevator controls, but couldn’t get it to work, so they had to go down the hard way. Shining a tiny handheld flashlight into the gloom below him, Snake Eyes descended until he reached the bottom of the shaft, and then unhooked the line from his harness.

He flipped off the flashlight and stashed it in a pocket, and pried the elevator doors open a few inches. There was nothing to see beyond the doors; everything was in pitch darkness. So Snake Eyes lowered a pair of night vision goggles over his mask and turned them on.

Most night vision equipment works by enhancing tiny amounts of available light, but since there was no light at all at the bottom of the shaft, normal goggles would be useless. Snake Eyes’ goggles shined an invisible beam of infrared light, which it then picked up to produce an image.

Through the door, all he could see was a bare hallway leading forward. There was no one there, waiting in the dark to ambush them. They didn’t really expect anyone, but were taking no chances. Snake Eyes flipped the goggles back up and turned his flash light back on, shining it up the shaft.

“Is it okay to come down?” Scarlett called down to him.

Snake Eyes waved his hand, signaling yes. He set the flashlight down so it shined down the hallway, and then pulled the elevator doors all the way open. He lifted himself up and climbed into the hallway, and shined the flashlight around to look for a switch on the wall.

A few minutes later, Scarlett, Duke, and Shipwreck joined him. Duke adjusted his radio headset and said quietly into the mike, “Can you hear me, Breaker?”

“Loud and clear,” Breaker said. All of the headsets were connected, so everyone could hear him.

“Okay,” Duke said. “I guess it’s time to look around.”

Shipwreck hefted a machine gun and squinted, trying to make out any movement down the hall. All of them had flashlights strapped to the ends of their guns, and the competing beams of light reflected off the metal walls, creating shadows that appeared to move.

The four of them walked carefully down the hall, looking around but not seeing anything. They reached an intersection in the hallway, and Scarlett said, “Do we want to split up?”

“Yes,” Duke said. “You and Snake Eyes go that way, Shipwreck and I will go the other way. Keep in radio contact.”

As Snake Eyes and Scarlett walked off around a corner, Duke and Shipwreck continued down the other way. There was no light except for the wavering beams from their flashlights; they had found switches on the wall, but none of them seemed to work. Duke hunched his shoulders up nervously, uncomfortable in the almost complete darkness. He kept his breathing steady though. It would not help his reputation with the team if they knew he was scared.

“We haven’t seen anything,” he said into his microphone. “Wait, there’s a few doors up ahead.”

He and Shipwreck cautiously approached the doorway on the right side of the hall, shining their lights inside. It was a large empty room, with some long tables and random wires and electronic components scattered around on the floor. Shipwreck walked inside and shined his light on the uneven rows of hospital cots at the other end of the room.

“That’s kinda strange,” he said. “Was this some kind of medical infirmary?”

“Who knows?” Duke said. “Let’s keep going.”

They continued their search for a few more minutes, finding two more large rooms, that although they were currently empty, showed signs that they had been in use not too long ago. There was no dust on the floor that they could see, and leftover objects lying around seemed as if they had been used recently. They even found some bottles of soda in a small supply room that were well within their use-by date.

“Scarlett, have you found anything?” Duke asked into the mike.

“No, nothing but empty rooms. I think this place is deserted.”

“Alright then. Breaker, let General Hawk know. We can send the rest of the team down here as well, and have them bring extra lights.”

“Sure thing, Duke.”

Scarlett didn’t mind the darkness much at all. She enjoyed exploring caves and spelunking in her free time, so this felt like a normal activity for her. The only difference was the sounds. Most caves had ambient noises like animals scratching or water dripping, but the only sounds here in the underground complex was the distant rumble of traffic above them. She kept her light aimed at the floor most of the time; the metal floor reflected the light up anyway and diffused it, providing enough to make out her surroundings.

Snake Eyes hovered nearby, his black outfit making him even more invisible in the darkness. Scarlett listened very carefully, but Snake Eyes was completely silent, slipping through the blackness like a shade. In his free time, Scarlett guessed that Snake Eyes practiced being quiet, because he was very good at it.

Suddenly, the lights blinked on, and Scarlett immediately shielded her eyes from the unexpected brightness. She looked around to see Snake Eyes behind her, aiming his gun down the hallway although there was nothing there.

Breaker’s voice came over the radio. “Got the lights working.”

“Yes, we noticed,” Scarlett said, her eyes adjusting to the light..

“Good work, Breaker,” Duke said.

“We’re sending the rest of the team down now,” Breaker said.

“Okay, I’ll meet them at the elevator.”

“Do you want us to meet you there?” Scarlett asked.

“No, keep looking around for now,” Duke said. “We’ll meet up with you in a little bit.”

“Okay.”

Snake Eyes lowered his assault rifle, looked around for a few moments, assuring himself that they were not in any danger, and then slung the rifle over his shoulder. He drew one of his automatic pistols, however, and kept it in his hand as he and Scarlett continued down the hall and further into the complex.

A few minutes later, they came upon several more rooms. Scarlett carefully went inside and looked around as Snake Eyes went off on his own to examine the others rooms. Like all the others, the rooms were empty, only a few scraps and random items left behind. Disappointed that there was so little evidence of what had gone on, Scarlett wandered back into the hallway and to the set of rooms that Snake Eyes was checking.

She looked inside to see Snake Eyes standing in the center of the small room, his head tilted down as he looked at something. The room was very small, perhaps only ten feet square. Like the others, it was empty except for a few random sheets of paper on the floor, and there was a tiny sink in the corner.

Snake Eyes did not move when Scarlett came up beside him. She saw that he was looking at an item in his hand, a tiny scrap of paper with a design scratched on it in red ink. He remained completely motionless, the tiny piece of paper taking all his concentration.

Scarlett looked at it and saw that it was the design she had seen earlier on the two swords: a series of six red lines with two of them dashed.

“That same design is on your sword,” she said quietly. “I saw it this morning. The same mark was on that other ninja’s sword as well.”

Snake Eyes let out a slow breath and nodded.

“That symbol must be from the school you were trained at, isn’t it?”

Again, Snake Eyes nodded, but signed nothing. He seemed lost in thought.

Scarlett pressed further. “You know who he is, don’t you?”

Finally, Snake Eyes glanced at her, and then looked back down at the piece of paper. He shook his head regrettably and lowered his arm. The scrap of paper fluttered to the floor.

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