GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Chapter Thirty-Two

All around them, the battle raged. The air was a deadly minefield of flying bullets, the ground and walls pockmarked and cratered with the evidence of constant gunfire. The small town of Springfield, once a silent, abandoned dot on a map, had turned into a war zone.

On one end of town, an army of blue-uniformed soldiers filled the streets, frantic and inexperienced, with more of them pouring out of nearby buildings every minute. At the other end of town, a smaller team of black-clad mercenaries with body armor and advanced weapons, heavily outnumbered but pushing their way down the bullet-riddled streets.

And stuck right in the middle of it, a small, elite team of military operatives pinned down by both sides.

Duke pressed his back into a crumbling storefront wall, taking a deep breath as he felt a wave of bullet impacts strike right around the corner. He squinted against the dust hanging in the air and peered across the street.

“Heavy Duty,” he called into his microphone, “We need some back up over here.”

“I'm coming,” came the reply.

“Okay then,” Duke said, getting into a crouch, pressing the stock of his HK416 firmly into his shoulder. “Short Fuse, move forward. Do me a favor and take out some of their positions. Clutch and Breaker, you two protect the rear.”

A few feet away, kneeling behind a short stone wall, Shipwreck looked over at Duke and nodded, pointing up over the wall. Duke nodded back and leaned out from around the corner to open fire. He didn't hit anything he was aiming at, but the suppressing fire was enough to stop the Cobra soldiers in their tracks momentarily.

Shipwreck flipped himself over the wall and darted forward, spraying bullets across the street. As soon as he hit the pavement, Gung-Ho stood up and opened fire with a shout, his M-16 joining the sound of Duke's HK416. Cobra agents ran for cover, ducking behind doorways and down behind junk cars parked all around.

Two of the soldiers with black body armor appeared at the end of a parking lot farther down the street. Duke saw them and shouted to Gung-Ho, who ducked back down before they could open fire. But surprisingly, they did not shoot at Gung-Ho or Shipwreck, who was still out in the open. The soldiers hauled themselves across the nearest yard and kicked in a door to take cover inside an abandoned house.

Duke kept shooting as Shipwreck reached the other side of the street. He whipped out a grenade in each hand and tossed them around the corner. Duke shielded himself against the wall, clapping his hands over his ears as the concussion grenades went off with a trembling thud.

He glanced up to see Heavy Duty came out into the open from around the side of the next building. The huge machine gunner was like a cyborg out of the future, with the huge XM250C gattling gun strapped to his waist like a metal brace connected to his torso. He turned and squeezed the trigger, and a massive ripple of flame emerged from the spinning barrels.

“Oh yeah!” Heavy Duty roared, his voice barely audible over the sound of the gun.

A tremendous stream of bullets rampaged across the street, pouring from the rotating barrels at over 2,000 rounds a minute. Heavy Duty tilted the fixture attached to his metal brace and swept the gun back and forth, as a never-ending stream of empty bullet casings rained down around his feet. Thick belts hanging over his shoulders fed rounds into the gun, and the spinning barrels fired them toward the retreating Cobra troops at more than thirty per second.

One of the junk cars parked along the sidewalk blew apart when the gun tore into it, the bullets ripping through the rusted metal doors and riddling the Cobra soldiers hiding behind it. They collapsed to the ground as their teammates ran for cover.

Heavy Duty finally let his finger off the trigger and let out a deep breath, the gun now letting out nothing but a high-pitched whine as the barrels continued to spin. He walked out from a pile of smoking shell casings and made his way down the sidewalk, walking slowly because the gun was so heavy.

“Good shooting,” Duke called out.

“Naw, man,” Heavy Duty chuckled wearily, sweat dotting his forehead. “That was great shooting.”

Duke spoke into his microphone again, “Short Fuse, where is our support?”

“Right behind you,” Short Fuse said.

With a pop and a scream, Duke flinched as a rocket shot down across the open street and exploded with a deafening boom at the front steps of a nearby building. Short Fuse came into view, hauling a Jav2 missile system propped up on his shoulder.

“That's cheating, man,” Heavy Duty said.

Short Fuse gave him a funny look. “What are you talking about? This thing is just as heavy as your Minigun, and I only get two shots with it.”

He kneeled down, taking careful aim, and pressed the firing button on the front of the console. The rocket shot from the barrel with a flash and a cloud of smoke, and screamed down the avenue, blowing another car to pieces. The smoldering hulk crashed back down onto the street, spewing flame and black smoke.

“Let's go, team,” Duke said. “We've got work to do. Snake Eyes and Scarlett are under heavy fire and we've got to reach them as soon as possible.”

They ran down the now-empty street, passing by the dead bodies of numerous Cobra troops, giving them momentary glances, but trying not to focus on the death surrounding them. Duke knew that in the back of their minds, each member of the team knew that the people they were shooting at were not real members of an enemy army. Even though they were part of a terrorist organization like Cobra, they could not shake the fact that these people were American citizens.

As they approached the next intersection, more gunfire burst out around them, and they had to run for cover. Shipwreck and Gung-Ho took point and laid down a field of suppressing fire, giving Heavy Duty time to get to safety.

“Man, this thing is heavy,” he grunted.

“It's got your name all over it,” Short Fuse quipped.

Gung-Ho lowered his gun and pointed down the intersecting street as a group of soldiers came into view. “Hey Duke!” he shouted. “Somebody look familiar?”

Duke glanced out and saw that they were more of the soldiers in black body armor, except that the figure out in front was a woman with long brown hair and a skintight leather outfit. She stalked down the sidewalk as if she was immune to the bullets flying through the air, and effortlessly raised an Uzi submachine gun, spraying bullets at more retreating Cobra troopers.

“Well,” Duke said, “I guess we know who the guys in black are.” He called Breaker to relay the information as well.

Shipwreck ducked down behind another bullet-riddled wall and opened fire sporadically as more and more Cobra troops ran out into the street. The sound of gunfire was constant in the air, and Duke and the rest of the team had to take cover as the Cobra agents completely outnumbered them. They returned fire and held their positions, but the Cobra soldiers just kept coming.

“Jesus!” Shipwreck cried out, “How many more of these guys are there?”

“That's a good question,” Gung-Ho answered. “I don't think we brought enough ammo with us. We shoot one, and five more spring up and take his place.”

“Breaker,” Duke said, “We can't hold them all back. We've cleared the edge of the town, so tell the FBI that they are clear to enter. We could use the back up.”

“Copy that,” Breaker replied.

“We will hold position as long as possible.”

As the Cobra soldiers flooded into the open, the black-armored mercenaries returned fire as well. Duke realized that they were apparently fighting against Cobra only, as none of the mercenaries opened fire on the Joe team.

“What do we do about them?” Gung-Ho asked.

“As long as they don't fire on us, just leave them alone for now,” Duke said. “We're here to stop Cobra. If they want to help us out, we could use the help.”

Heavy Duty stomped out into the open and opened fire with his Minigun again, wreaking a trail of havoc along the avenue. Shipwreck and Gung-Ho added to the firepower, and then Duke and Short Fuse opened fire as well. The barrage of gunfire stopped Cobra and forced them back to safety, as more and more of them went down under the onslaught. Bodies fell to the street, left behind as their compatriots ran for cover.

"Let's go!” Duke called out. “Move forward!”

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