GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Chapter Thirty-One

Snake Eyes and Scarlett ran across the open field, crouching down to try to stay concealed among the tall grass. Up ahead of them, there was a row of small buildings along one of the side streets through Springfield. The main street, where the sound of shooting was coming from, was to their left, and it didn't seem like anyone was standing guard at all.

Huge piles of broken wooden pallets and crushed cardboard boxes were stacked up next to some battered dumpsters, and they stopped momentarily to catch their breath, hiding behind the trash.

Snake Eyes cradled a Heckler and Koch UMP45 submachine gun in his hands as he peered down the dusty avenue. Twin Glocks were strapped to his hips, as well as a line of spare clips, and his katana sword was also strapped across his back.

Behind him, Scarlett spoke into her microphone. “Breaker, this is Scarlett,” she whispered in a low voice, touching her hand to her ear. “Where is the team? We can hear gunfire ahead.”

“We're still on the edge of town,” Breaker replied. “They're not shooting at us, they're shooting at a bunch of helicopters that just showed up. We don't know what's going on. Proceed with caution.”

“Copy that,” Scarlett replied. Snake Eye's radio was connected with hers, so she didn't have to relay any information to him.

They crept down the street, keeping along the back of the abandoned homes and buildings, the unmown grass coming up to their waists. They passed a dark, empty convenience store and a church with the front doors barred, and saw a few abandoned trucks parked in the front lot, their tires flat and weeds sprouting up from cracks in the concrete.

Scarlett was not used to sneaking around in the middle of the day, feeling very exposed in this deserted neighborhood, since there were few places to hide and both she and Snake Eyes were sticking out like a sore thumb. Like Snake Eyes, she was wearing her tight black uniform, with a pack around her waist containing smoke grenades and other equipment. Her shuriken blades were concealed in her sleeve, and her mini-crossbow was also hanging over her arm. However, she was currently armed with a more standard Colt 9mm SMG submachine gun, the short stock pressed against her shoulder.

When they approached within a hundred yards of the main street, the sound of constant, uninterrupted gunfire was all around. Scarlett could make out at least four different guns all firing at once, the most recognizable of which was the unmistakable sound of AK-47s, but there was at least one loud gun being fired that she could not identify. They could also hear the pounding thrum of helicopter rotors, although they could see any of them in the air yet.

Snake Eyes skirted the edge of a house on the corner of two side streets and emerged into the open, his gun raised, Scarlett right on his heels.

Up ahead of them, half a dozen soldiers wearing blue uniforms with bright red Cobra symbols on their chests stood around, firing randomly in the other direction. One of them happened to turn around and catch sight of Snake Eyes as he snuck out into the open, and began shouting wildly.

As the others spun around and began to open fire, Snake Eyes crouched steadily and popped off a few shots, hitting two of the Cobra agents and taking them down. Scarlett jumped across the small yard and dove for cover behind the front porch, bracing herself as bullets struck the thick wooden posts and off the railing. Above her, the front windows shattered.

“We are under fire!” she shouted into her mic.

Snake Eyes barely moved, taking careful aim as he returned fire. The Cobra soldiers were not well-trained, and simply waved their guns around as they pulled the trigger, spraying bullets wildly all over the place. Dirt burst up around Snake Eyes' feet and he could hear bullets striking the front of the house behind him.

Scarlett jumped up and opened fire, hitting another Cobra soldier, who went down crying out in pain. The last two Cobra soldiers ran off, leaving their fallen comrades behind, and Snake Eyes immediately ran forward.

Scarlett ran after him, looking apprehensively down the street. She could see dozens more armed, uniformed Cobra troopers lining up and shooting at some other target farther down the street where she couldn't see. The retreating soldiers were yelling and trying to get their attention.

One of the wounded Cobra soldiers was fumbling for the pistol at his hip when Snake Eyes got to him and kicked the gun away, aiming his submachine gun directly down at the man's masked face. Scarlett saw that he had been shot in the leg; he was in a lot of pain, but he would survive. The others lying around were not so lucky.

“You'll never defeat us!” he grunted through clenched teeth, clutching at his wounded leg with his other hand, blood seeping in between his fingers. “We are on the side of truth!”

“Shut up!” Scarlett snapped. “Who are you taking orders from? Tell us where we can find him!”

“I'm not telling you anything! Go ahead and kill me!”

Snake Eyes swung his gun around and struck down with the stock, right between the man's eyes. He flopped against the ground and went limp.

Scarlett grabbed Snake Eyes' arm and pulled him away as more troopers saw them and began shooting. They darted in between two more small houses as bullets sprayed across the yard and house.

“We are under heavy fire!” Scarlett cried. “We need back up right now!”

“We're on our way!” Breaker promised. “I have you on the GPS, just keep going in that direction. Most of the resistance is behind you.”

Snake Eyes turned around and opened fire as he ran backwards, and the Cobra troops coming after them ducked for cover. Scarlett ran to a nearby wooden fence and vaulted over it, throwing a concussion grenade over her shoulder as Snake Eyes dropped down beside her. They took off across an adjacent yard as the grenade went off, followed by screams of pain by the Cobra troops who got caught in the blast.

Stray bullets struck nearby walls and windows as they bolted across the tall grass, in between long-abandoned homes. They ran out into the next street, seeing more Cobra troops down at the end of the block, still engaged in combat with their other enemy.

“Have you figured out who they're fighting with?” Scarlett asked as she and Snake Eyes ran across the street to the empty parking lot on the other side.

“No, we have no idea. Some kind of private mercenary force,” Breaker replied.

Duke's voice clicked on. “Scarlett, there's a large building down at the end of the block, just west of where you are right now. Do you see it?”

“Hold on,” she replied.

As they ran down a dirty alley behind a row of businesses, more Cobra soldiers came at them. Scarlett ran forward and opened fire, a bright muzzle flash bursting from the barrel. Gunfire came from all around, and she dropped down inside a shallow doorway, taking cover as bullets blasted across the peeling paint of the back wall. She stuck her arm out and returned fire but could not see what she was shooting at.

Snake Eyes let go of his Heckler and Koch when it clicked empty, letting it swing down from the strap around his shoulder, and immediately raised one of the Glock18s holstered at his hip. The small pistol roared out a blast of constant gunfire, a stream of bullet casings sailing to the side. Two of the Cobra agents went down screaming, and the others instinctively ducked for cover.

When the gun was empty, Snake Eyes ran at Scarlett and slammed his foot into the door, breaking open the frame and knocking the door open. More gunfire blew across the doorway as they both rushed inside.

The inside of the building was dark, since there was no electricity, but light shone in the front windows, giving them enough light to see by. They raced through the empty building as Cobra soldiers fired through the doorway. Scarlett tossed down another concussion grenade to block their escape.

They reached another door and Snake Eyes barely slowed down as he slammed his way through, bringing them back outside. The grenade inside detonated, blowing out all the windows in a roaring spray of glass. Two Cobra soldiers standing nearby ducked down as the windows shattered, giving Scarlett time to swing up her crossbow and shoot them. One of them managed to fire his gun before he collapsed, but the bullets went wide.

They ran down the alley and back out to the street, taking a few seconds to reload their guns. Snake Eyes popped a new clip into the Heckler and Koch and Scarlett did the same for her Colt.

“We see the building,” Scarlett said. “It looks like a school or something.”

“See if you can get inside,” Duke said, “We think that's their base of operations. It will be heavily guarded, so don't take any chances. We'll be there as fast as we can.”

“Yes, sir,” Scarlett said.

They ran across more empty yards and past a few abandoned homes, and reached the front of the school. There didn't seem to be any guards there at all, since most of the Cobra agents were still engaged in combat farther down the street.

They ran around the side of the building, staying far away from the front doors, and entered through a broken window on the south side. Inside was an empty classroom, with a few dusty desks stacked in a corner and the smell of mildew in the air.

They made their way out of the room and down the long hallway. Scarlett said quietly into her mic, “Duke, we're in the school, and there doesn't seem to be anything here.”

“Copy,” Duke said.

Almost as soon as she spoke, two Cobra troopers suddenly ran out from around the corner, their heavy boots clomping loudly on the wooden floor. Unlike the other Cobra soldiers with blue uniforms, these soldiers wore metallic black body armor complete with shoulder attachments like medieval pauldrons, and heavy thigh and shin armor as well. Their helmets were sloped forward like a right triangle, leaving a narrow gap of reflective black plastic serving as their visor.

Scarlett dove into another classroom as the booming echo of gunfire erupted across the hallway, the shockwave from the muzzle flash knocking dust off the walls. The Cobra soldiers used a bullpup assault rifle similar to a Steyr AUG, and flashes burst from the short barrels, the guns blasting loudly in the confined hallway. The door frame exploded in a whirlwind of splinters, and Scarlett turned to the side as the shrapnel whipped past her face.

Snake Eyes moved in a blur, running forward as the wall behind him exploded with bullet impacts, sending splinters of wood and fragments of plaster flying at him like hail. He squeezed off a burst of gunfire, striking the first Cobra soldier in the center of the chest, knocking him backwards but not harming him.

In one impossibly fluid motion, he let his machine gun drop down and flip underneath his arm, while spinning around and grabbing the handle of his katana blade with the other hand, pulling the long blade free of the sheath strapped across his back, and continued his forward momentum to swing the blade out, diving toward the armored soldier like a mounted knight wielding a lance.

The tip of the blade struck right in the center of the soldier's black visor and stabbed right through. The other soldier turned awkwardly to the side, continuing his constant barrage of gunfire, as Snake Eyes let go of his sword and grabbed the now limp body, turning it in front of him like a human shield.

Scarlett came out of the classroom and opened fire, her bullets rattling off the soldier's armor like rubber bands bouncing off a tin can. He stumbled to the side and swung his gun up to shoot back at her, but just as he aimed, the gun ran out of bullets. He slammed the gun down on Snake Eyes, who fell to the ground with the dead soldier landing on top of him, the sword still sticking out of the visor.

The other soldier pulled out a pistol and aimed at Snake Eyes, but Scarlett ran at him with her finger on the trigger and shot the gun right out of his hand. Before he had time to get out of her way, she jumped at him and landed a kick right to the front of his helmet, snapping his head back and knocking him completely off-balance.

Even as he crashed to the floor, he immediately grabbed for the other assault rifle dropped by his dead companion. Scarlett regained her footing and aimed her rifle down at the soldier at almost point-blank range.

“Don't do it!” she shouted, her hair hanging down on front of her face.

The soldier grabbed the gun and tried to aim it at her, but Scarlett pulled the trigger and put a three-round burst right into his visor. The soldier slumped down flat on his back, his arms falling to his sides. His head slipped to the side and blood dripped from the jagged hole in the visor.

Snake Eyes got up, yanked his sword free, and glanced down at the two dead soldiers for just a moment before heading off. Scarlett sighed and brushed her hair out of her face, shaking her head. She snapped a new clip into her gun before following him

Anyone in their right mind would have surrendered if they had a gun to their face. But the soldier had still tried to grab a gun to defeat them, even though there was no chance. Scarlett had him dead to rights, but he still went for the gun even though he knew it meant certain death. The man had literally thrown his life away rather than surrender.

Scarlett knew that cults could bend the minds and will of the people sucked into them, but she had the feeling that Cobra was far more than just a simple cult. They had expected resistance, but nothing on this scale. And knowing what they did about the work of men like Dr. Bogdanovich, the reality of the situation became more clear.

Not far down the hall, Snake Eyes discovered a stairwell leading underground. Scarlett followed him down.

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