GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Duke ran along the edge of a burned-out house, with Short Fuse right behind him, and Heavy Duty bringing up the rear. The team had split up for the moment in the heat of battle, with Gung-Ho and Breaker chasing after the mystery woman, and Shipwreck and Clutch going ahead to meet up with Scarlett and Snake Eyes at the school. Several blocks behind them, they could hear the oncoming flood of federal agents coming to clean up the mess. But in the heart of the town, there was still resistance, although it did seem to be falling apart.

“Duke,” a voice buzzed in his ear. “It's Shipwreck. I've met up with Scarlett.”

“Good, what's the situation?”

“They found an entrance into an underground bunker, but they got separated. We don't know where Snake Eyes went.”

Heavy Duty turned the corner and opened up with his Minigun, spraying down an impenetrable wall of gunfire across an open avenue, making a few Cobra agents duck and run for cover. Duke covered his ears and waited for the deafening barrage to cease.

“Say again,” he replied. “I didn't catch that.”

Scarlett spoke this time. “Snake Eyes went off on his own. But we found some survivors in a lab room of some kind. They're alive but completely unresponsive.”

“You mean members of Cobra?”

“Yes, but they've been drugged or something. I think they might have been the only ones able to resist the brainwashing Cobra used.”

More scattered gunfire echoed across the street, and a few stray bullets smacked into the wall around the corner. Duke looked up and saw Gung-Ho and Breaker down the street, and waved them over. Heavy Duty kneeled behind him, taking a much-needed rest, breathing heavily as he checked the bullet feed inputs on the back of the Minigun. Short Fuse crouched a few steps from the wall, keeping his gaze on the street beyond.

“Okay, can you evacuate them?” Duke asked. “Can you do it safely, I mean? How much resistance are you facing?”

“Very little,” Scarlett replied. “We ran into a few Cobra soldiers when we got here, but nothing since then.”

“She's right,” Shipwreck added. “They seem to have sent all their men out and left this place completely undefended.”

Duke peered out and crept forward as Gung-Ho and Breaker arrived beside him. The five of them moved forward, running across the front yard of the nearest house and making their way across the street. Gung-Ho and Short Fuse went in front, swinging their M-16s in front of them, taking a few shots at retreating Cobra soldiers.

“Alright then,” Duke said. “Get the survivors out of there as fast as you can, and then go after Snake Eyes.”

“Copy that,” Shipwreck said. “We'll keep you informed.”

Gung-Ho ran ahead and fired a few shots between two nearby houses. More gunfire erupted nearby, and he ducked back behind the wall. Short Fuse lobbed a grenade up over the side of the house and it went off with a shuddering thump, sending chunks of dirt into the air. The gunfire stopped, but the team didn't wait to check out the damage. They kept moving along the edge of the houses, making their way down the street. Up ahead, they could see the school just a couple blocks away.

“Sorry, we didn't catch her,” Breaker informed Duke. “We had her cornered, but one of the helicopters came back down and picked her up while we were standing right there. And there was a guy in the helicopter wearing a silver mask.”

Duke looked strangely at him. “What?”

Breaker could only shrug. “I have no idea.”

“We got company!” Gung-Ho shouted.

A dozen Cobra soldiers suddenly appeared from a two-story building directly across the street. Unlike the others wearing plain blue uniforms, these soldiers wore shining black armor and were armed with advanced bullpup assault rifles with short barrels and long rectangular stocks where the magazine was located. They ran out into the front yard and opened fire, with more appearing in the second story windows. Now that the mercenaries led by the mystery woman were gone, Cobra could focus all of its forces against the Joe team.

Gung-Ho and Duke opened fire while the rest of the team took cover. Bullets exploded all around them, cratering the wall and puffing up dirt on the ground. Duke felt one bullet zip by his head before he ducked down and retreated as well.

“Heavy Duty!” he shouted. “They're all yours!”

Heavy Duty strode out into the open like a giant and braced himself, a wide grin on his face. He squeezed the trigger and once more his Minigun roared out a blistering stream of bullets, the smoking casings tumbling around his feet.

The Cobra soldiers scrambled for cover under the onslaught, and Heavy Duty raised the gun to shoot up at the windows. They shattered with a crash as the front of the building was riddled with bullets, the soldiers within diving for safety.

Short Fuse hurled another grenade and it rolled right toward an oncoming Cobra trooper. He went flying through the air like a rag doll when it exploded right under his feet, his gun sailing away in the other direction.

As the team ran around the side of the next house, with Heavy Duty laying down a wide field of cover fire behind them, more metallic black Cobra soldiers appeared ahead of them and opened fire. Windows shattered right above their heads as they ran for cover.

Gung-Ho leaned against the side of the building, wincing as bullets blew apart the siding just inches away. He swung his gun up and fired back, but cried out in pain and fell backwards, clutching his side. Duke instantly ran to him and provided cover, shielding Gung-Ho's body with his own. Short Fuse returned fire, but he couldn't get past their heavy black armor, and they barely even seemed to notice the bullets striking them.

Breaker kneeled down and took careful aim as bullets kicked up dirt at his feet. He squeezed off a single shot, and one of the Cobra soldiers jerked his head back, his black visor breaking apart with a crack. He flopped to the ground and the other soldier took cover behind the next house.

Duke and Short Fuse pulled Gung-Ho to safety as he swore angrily, gripping his bloody side. He pulled his hands away and blood seeped through his jacket and over his hands. He grimaced and grumbled a curse. The bullet had struck him just outside the edge of his kevlar body armor, between his ribs and his hip.

“How bad is it?” Duke asked.

“Ain't nothing!” Gung-Ho snapped. “Damn, it ain't like I never been shot before!”

“Doesn't look like nothing to me,” Breaker said, glancing down at him.

“Just clipped me,” Gung-Ho said, containing his anger, but still wincing in pain. “I'll be fine.”

“Can you walk?” Duke asked, concerned.

Gung-Ho nodded gruffly and tried to get to his feet. “Well, I sure as hell ain't staying here.”

“Let's go then,” Duke said. “We have to find a better position. It's too easy to get pinned in here, we have to get back to the street.”

The other Cobra soldier appeared and fired at them again. But before they could return fire, the roar of a Minigun boomed out and the soldier went flailing to the side as bullets swarmed him. His armor was not able to protect him from that.

Heavy Duty showed up ahead of them, slowly moving his huge weapon back and forth, smoke streaming from the end of the rotating barrels.

“Come on!” he shouted. “The coast is clear up here, man!”

Breaker and Short Fuse helped Gung-Ho stand up, but he waved them off and insisted that he was fine to walk on his own. After a few steps, however, he allowed Short Fuse to help him. Despite the blood smeared on his hands and soaked into his jacket, the wound did not seem to be bleeding too much, but Gung-Ho kept one hand pressed over the wound just to be safe. He dropped his assault rifle, unable to wield it in one hand, and instead pulled out a pistol with his free hand.

The team emerged out into a wide grassy yard with a tall wooden fence on one side and a pair of rusted out cars parked in the driveway. Across the street was a parking lot for a small plaza with several empty storefronts. On the corner was a larger building that appeared to be a church, and down the street from that was the school where Scarlett, Snake Eyes, Shipwreck, and Clutch were.

About twenty blue-uniformed Cobra troopers were down the street, taking defensive positions inside houses and behind porches. As they opened fire, more of the black-armored troops came from the opposite corner and opened fire as well.

“I'm almost out of ammo,” Heavy Duty grunted, leaning against the wall. “You want me to use up the rest of it on those guys?”

Bullets rained down on their position, clattering against the sides of the houses like hail. “Go ahead,” Duke said. “It might make them think twice about rushing us. Let's give you some covering fire first.”

Duke and Breaker popped out into the open and sprayed some bullets in each direction. Breaker fired at the regular Cobra troopers, who ducked down instinctively, giving Heavy Duty time to step out and get his aim. Duke fired at the heavy-armored soldiers, who barely even reacted. They fired back, bullets blowing apart the wooden porch railing right over Duke's head.

They jumped back, however, when Heavy Duty opened up his Minigun at them. They scattered momentarily, shooting over their shoulders as they ran for cover. After only a few seconds, the Minigun went empty, the barrels spinning with a loud whine, as if the gun was frustrated that it was out of bullets.

Duke swung around and joined up with Breaker as they fired at the regular Cobra soldiers. Several of them went down, but there were still many left who returned fire enthusiastically, the wild shots going over Duke's and Breaker's heads.

“Those guys can't aim worth a crap,” Breaker muttered.

“Are you complaining?” Duke replied.

Heavy Duty unbuckled the Minigun frame around his waist and let the weapon drop to the ground along with the empty belt feed attachment. He rubbed his shoulder and picked up the M-16 that Gung-Ho had dropped. Compared to the huge Minigun, the assault rifle looked like a toy in Heavy Duty's hands.

“What do we do now?” Short Fuse asked from behind them. “We're like sitting ducks here. We're low on ammo and Gung-Ho needs medical attention.”

“Didn't you guys call the cavalry?” Heavy Duty asked.

“Yeah,” Duke said. “And there they are.”

From down the block, a small army of federal agents stampeded into the street, wearing body armor with FBI written on the front in large yellow letters. Armed with shotguns and assault rifles, they swarmed around the Cobra soldiers. The ones that didn't immediately drop their weapons and surrender were fired upon, and within seconds, the entire group was disarmed and nuetralized.

More FBI agents appeared from the other street, and the second group of Cobra soldiers backed away and retreated as more than three dozen agents came after them.

Duke breathed a sigh of relief and stood up as their reinforcements surrounded the entire block. Gung-Ho, leaning heavily on Short Fuse for support, walked out to get treatment by one of the agents carrying a medical kit.

“You gonna be okay, big guy?” Heavy Duty asked.

Gung-Ho waved off the comment. “Don't worry about me, I'll be up and kicking butt in no time at all.”

Duke gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder as the agent led him away. He turned to the rest of the team and loaded a new clip into his rifle. “Come on team, let's join up with Shipwreck and the others. It's time to finish this.”

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