Chapter Eight

Ripcord hated recon duty. Especially since everything stayed the same. After the first time he'd already learned their guard rotations. No new developments. No change in the cycles. He'd come to know this base like the back of his hand. As the monotony started to become unbearable, his boredom was finally broken as Heavy Metal tapped him on the shoulder. Ripcord turned his head to notice Heavy Metal holding out his radio's headset. More than likely it was HQ wanting yet another sitrep. What was it about 'nothing' they didn't understand? Ripcord pressed the headset to the side of his face and keyed the microphone. "Jaguar three here, over." Ripcord spoke, trying hard not to let his boredom creep into his voice.
"Ripcord, this is Hawk. I'm not gonna bullshit you son, I've got some bad news." Hawk's voice carried over the headset.
"…Go head sir." Ripcord spoke finally after faultering for a moment, half of him caught off guard by the General's frankness, the other half worried about what bad news constituted.
"Your mission has just changed. You're not just recon anymore; you're a sabotage team. I need you to infiltrate the factory complex, destroy its radar and ADA sites anyway you can. I know your team has wounded and is low on supplies. I also know you have very little demolitions gear. So I'm sure you can understand how hard it is for me to give these orders." There was a long pause. "Can you handle that soldier?"
".....Yes sir." Ripcord said after a long moment.
"Okay, I'm not sure how much of a help this to you but building six on your maps is a armory. Maybe you can find additional supplies in there. Good luck. I mean that. Get your people home in one piece." Ripcord remained prone, still pressing the headset to his face after the transmission had finished and just looked out towards the massive MARS complex. This was insane. He couldn't believe what he'd just been ordered to do. He was supposed to assault one of the most heavily guarded complexes he'd ever seen? He pushed the defeatist thoughts away. He couldn't afford to not be focused on the mission. Especially now. If he was distracted when they went in, he could end up getting the whole team killed. He mentally shook himself free of the thoughts.
"Pack it up Heavy Metal." Ripcord said as he handed the headset back to the tanker.
"We're pulling out?" Heavy Metal said with huge grin on his face.
"Pack it up and follow me." Ripcord responded as he made his way towards the others. As he solemnly walked towards the camp, Heavy Metal finally caught up, his eyes brighter and more of a purposeful gait in his steps than there'd been in the whole mission. He saw Covergirl standing and facing him as he approached. She flashed him a quick smile. Ripcord didn't return it. His slow walk came to a halt just in front of her. After letting out a heavy exhale his gaze panned around his sleeping soldiers. As his sight fell back on Covergirl's face, he spoke. "I need you to go around and wake everyone up."
"Why? What's wro-" She started to say but simply nodded and went around waking up the soldiers. Ripcord watched silently as they packed away their tarps and assembled their gear, some of them still trying to shake off their sleepiness. As they finished everyone walked over to Ripcord and waited for him to speak.
"Everybody sit down." Ripcord said in almost monotone voice. Once everybody had finally plopped down on the ground, Ripcord let out a sigh then started. "I just got word from HQ, our recon mission has been aborted, we'v-"
"Hell yeah! We're going home!" Heavy Metal interjected, cutting Ripcord off. Heavy Metal's joy spread throughout the group, bringing smiles to the faces of nearly all of the soldiers.
"Let me finish," Ripcord started then waited a brief moment before continuing, "We've been redirected to another mission, which involves infiltrating the complex." Ripcord said solemnly.
"What?!?!" Heavy Metal shouted out as he shot to his feet.
"You're totally fuckin' insane Skyboy." Fastdraw shot back. Heavy Metal and Fastdraw continued to keep mumbling negative comments. Covergirl and Zap kept their eyes downplayed. Repeater kept his stoic mask. Finally Zap looked up.
"What's the mission, Ripcord?" he asked in an even voice.
"We've got to take out the radar and ADA emplacements at the complex. Which means that we've got to enter the perimeter fencing, raid their armory for explosives then somehow destroy the radar and ADA sites. In order for us to make it through this we'll need to be very covert. Just like in the jungle when we first got here. Questions?" No one spoke up. Good. "Alright people, let's go."

The team had remained motionless for hours, completely hidden in the undergrowth, just inside the tree line. They waited and waited, until at last darkness had set in. Ripcord's eyes gazed out into the night, the light reflecting off of his green eyes as he followed the various headlights and searchlights that swarmed around the factory complex. With all the time that he had spent watching the complex, the timing wasn't a problem. The paratrooper carefully eased up to a knee and narrowed his eyes as they followed a STUN running its orbit pattern. He lifted his left arm while his head continued to track to the Cobra vehicle. The STUN was almost on parallel their positions. They had to go now. Ripcord lunged himself forward into a run, motioning forward he went. Suddenly pieces of the jungle seemed to tear away from the tree line as the team sprinted forward. Ripcord fought the pain flaring up in his torso again, trying to push the pain away, he couldn't allow himself to be slowed down, right now his primary enemy was the clock. His gaze shifted from the distant perimeter fence, focusing on two rapidly approaching points of light in the distance. He was running out of time. 30 meters. Had to hurry. 20 meters. He snapped his eyes towards the approaching STUN. It was getting too close. 10 meters. Have to make it, focus on the fence. 5 meters. With a final dive Ripcord leapt forward, and quickly rolled himself in a small drainage ditch that ran along the perimeter fence. Trying to ignore the extra burst of pain that shot through him when he hit the ground, he focused on the ground under him shake as the oversized ATV rolled past. He didn't dare move. After a small eternity dragged past, the STUN finally rumbled by. He quickly shot up to a knee, his gaze passing quickly over the prone forms in the ditch taking stock of his squad. Good. Nobody had fallen behind. His gaze then panned the area in a quick visual sweep. The Vipers in the guard towers seemed oblivious to his team's intrusion. Everything was going according to plan. Time to get down to business. Ripcord turned and motioned Zap forward, this had to be swift and silent, if anyone even breathed loud they were as good as dead. The Hispanic explosives expert nodded and shot forward, pulling out a small pair of wire cutters as he reached the chain link perimeter fence. Ripcord moved his left hand in circling motion as his eyes focused on the next STUN headed their way. Zap worked frantically to cut a hole open in the fencing, knowing he only had a very small window of time. He wasn't fast enough. Ripcord shot his hand putting a death grip on his friend and very forcefully jerked him back into the ditch before dropping prone himself. Ripcord held his breath as the next STUN rolled by. After another long moment, the enemy vehicle finally passed. Wasting no time Ripcord shoved Zap back up to fence, and shot his gaze into the distance again. The next STUN in the rotation was getting dangerously close. Just as he was about to pull Zap down again, Ripcord felt a tap on his shoulder and spun to see a large section of the chain link missing. The paratrooper quickly leapt from the ditch and climbed through the hole in the massive 12 foot fence. He had to stop for a second as his eyes took in the complex for the first time since he'd gotten close. The buildings seemed almost gigantic from this angle, that and the large amount of flood lights casting eerie shadows across the concrete gave the facility a very ominous presence. Ripcord shook away the thoughts and quickly shrugged off his LC-2 ruck as Fastdraw and Zap followed suit. The two demolitions experts quickly handed most of their token amount of explosives to Fastdraw, who packed the C-4 charges into his ruck. He then signaled for Heavy Metal and Covergirl to follow him. Ripcord watch half of his team run off in the direction of the outdoor storage area and shot Covergirl a quick smile and thumbs up. Ripcord then turned to face Repeater and Zap, nodding to each of them before they disappeared into the shadows around the complex. As they moved from one set of stacked crates to another for cover, Ripcord's thoughts began to wander. He hoped Covergirl and her team could buy him and his team enough time. Covergirl was going to sabotage a few vehicles to divert attention from his raid on the armory to get enough explosives to bring down the radar and ADA sites. How exactly he was going to go about that was still up in the air. He was taking this plan one step at a time.


Marklov grinded his eyes. Ever since Croc Master and Sniper Wolf had been medievaced out of the complex, he'd been order to personally see to the security of this base. Which meant that he'd been practically living in the control center for two days. It had been just as long since anything had been reported or any unit had failed to report in. Maybe this team had finally gotten smart and had left the area. He shook his head and took another sip of the bitter coffee Cobra issued. It tasted like shit but at least it had enough caffeine to keep you awake for hours on end. He let his eyes wander around the room, taking in the same Televipers, Technovipers, and computers that he'd been looking at for hours. He tried to focus on the various reports coming through the speakers but he couldn't. Besides it was the same thing 'all clear', 'no sig-
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Marklov's body jumped, causing him to spill some of the rancid coffee on himself as the blood curdling scream tore through the airwaves. He shot to his feet, letting the coffee mug drop to the floor, shattering into hundreds of pieces.
"Where the hell did that come from!?!?" Marklov shouted out.
"Guard Four-Three, a lone Crimson Guardsman in one of the guard towers," The Televiper faltered for a moment not believing his own words, coming out more as a question than a statement, "inside the perimeter?"
"Try to reestablish contact!" Marklov barked out.
"Guard Four-Three, respond with situation, over." The Televiper spoke into his microphone in a shaky voice. No answer came back. Marklov spit out a curse in Russian before scooping up his yellow visored helmet and locking it down on his black and red uniform.
"Signal the alert. Order all personnel to battle stations." Marklov spat out in a swift sentence, as he jabbed a finger in the direction of the nearest Televiper.


Ripcord cursed to himself as he withdrew his knife from the chest of the Crimson Guardsman. His scream was too loud. He was sure someone in area heard it. He would have preferred to just pass by the enemy soldier as he'd been doing for most of their dangerous trek, slipping from shadow to shadow, but he had to kill this one. He'd noticed him aiming his weapon, a scoped SVD rifle out towards the outdoor storage area. Ripcord knew the sniper had to be aiming at his team. He began to climb back down the ladder when it happened. In hindsight Ripcord would have prefer if just the people close to the sniper had heard him. Suddenly the blaring of an alarm and blinking red lights brought the complex to life.
"All personnel, All personnel, intruder alert, intruder alert, battle stations, intruders are inside the complex, I say again intruders are inside the complex." A voice crackled over a PA system.
"Shit!" Ripcord hissed aloud. There goes any advantage they had. He quickly swung his hands and feet to the outside of the ladder slid down it rather that waste valuable time climbing. As he hit the ground, he stumbled backwards a few steps cursing under his breath after the impact had jarred his already damaged ribs. He quickly reoriented himself, seeing Zap and Repeater who were waving him forward frantically. Ripcord quickly started to sprint over towards his teammates but spun as he heard additional foot steps behind him. Two more Crimson Guardsmen. The paratrooper quickly rose the captured G-41 and fired bursts at the approaching enemies. Between Ripcord and his teams' fire the two Cobras fell backwards as sprays of crimson that matched their uniforms flew into the air. The paratrooper immediately spun to his original direction. He and his teams broke into a dead run for the armory. Damnit! Two guards. Three more running towards it. Ripcord winced as he dove prone and raised his weapon towards the closest armory guard. He heard Repeater's big M-60 open up as he sighted and fired a burst, rewarded with several eruptions of blood from the nearest Crimson Guardsman before he fell backwards. He then saw the second guard fall a split second after the first. A cursory glance out to his side showed three Vipers sprawled out on the ground nearby. Ripcord ignored the pain in his torso as best he could and he struggled to his feet. He sprinted the rest of the way to the personnel door of the armory with Zap and Repeater hot on his heels. He slid to stop on a knee and quickly pulled out some of the little remaining C-4 composition he had left. Behind him he heard Zap's M-16 and Repeater's M-60 open up. He couldn't look back, he had to focus on the door. Ignoring the two bodies of the Crimson Guardsmen, he quickly pressed the gray putty-like material up against the door's lock and jammed a small blasting cap into the C-4. Still ignoring the sound of firefight behind him he leaned away from the lock and pressed a button on the detonator. The small bang sound of the explosive was lost over the noise of the raging gunfire. Ripcord shot to his feet and landed a kick into door, which swung open and sent bits of metal flying from the destroyed lock. "Move!" He yelled to his teammates, seeing the outlines of five Vipers crouching down behind a stack of crates. Ripcord stepped clear of the door frame sprayed the Viper's positions with gunfire as Repeater and Zap and slipped inside. As he heard the horrible sound of the bolt dry firing, Ripcord ran through the door as well. "Dog it Zap!" He yelled as he stepped inside and slid clear of the door. He saw Zap begin to strain to move a crate in front of the door before Ripcord's gaze took in the insides of the armory. They were in a central hallway. Sliding metal doors lined the hallway, each marked with a number and name stenciled onto it. Judging from the names on the doors he assumed each room held different type of weapon. He gaze fell on a door marked 'DEMOLITION COMPOSITIONS' further door the corridor. He immediately took off in that direction. He heard someone, most likely Repeater hot on his heels as he ran door the hallway. Suddenly one of the doors directly beside Ripcord marked 'ASSAULT RIFLES' slid back and four Crimson Guardsmen ran into the hallway. Ripcord spun to face the on coming guards, seeing one of the Crimson Guardsmen thrown sideways as heavy shells from Repeater's M-60 slammed into the Cobra's body. Ripcord raised his weapon and pulled the trigger. He had completely forgotten it had just ran empty. The Crimson Guardsman thrust the bayonet attached to his FN-FAL rifle towards Ripcord. The Joe immediately slid away from the thrust and dropped his rifle, it wouldn't help any until the magazine was changed. The enemy then thrust the bayonet to the opposite side. Ripcord again slid away at the last breath of a moment. Ripcord was about to flash out a kick at the enemy when the Crimson Guardsman brought the butt of his rifle down against the side of Ripcord's kevlar. The unexpected blow sent Ripcord sprawling backwards onto the ground. As he saw the Cobra start to dive forward the paratrooper immediately reached down and started to withdraw his knife. The Cobra landed on Ripcord before the knife was free. The paratrooper fought for air, both the enemy's dive and his rifle against Ripcord's throat weren't making the task easy at all. The paratrooper finally freed the knife and jabbed it upwards as his left arm swung over the top the enemy's head. The blade went into and through the enemy's neck. Ripcord ignored the sickening gurgling sound and the blood dropping onto his chest as pulled the knife to his right while his left elbow slammed in the side of Cobra's helmet, causing the knife to tear free from the side of the Cobra's neck. He quickly slammed his knee into the corpse, freeing himself from under the body. He looked up in time to see another Crimson Guardsman gunned down, this time by Zap. He also saw a Crimson Guardsman try to bat Repeater's M-60 away, only to be have Repeater grab the Cobra by his neck and fling him forcefully against the opposite wall. Ripcord heard an audible snap as the enemy soldier slammed in the wall beside him head first. The paratrooper turned his head to the left and right, visually scanning the area. Four hostiles down, Zap had blocked the door, and everyone seemed fine. Good. Ripcord didn't need another monkey wrench thrown into the works. He painfully got to his feet after scooping up his weapon and taking a moment to change the magazine. He was about to head for the explosives room again when a voice stopped him.
"Don't shoot, I'm coming out. I'm unarmed." Called out a voice with a slight Southwestern drawl to it. The three soldiers moved to cover the doorway the Crimson Guardsmen had burst from and tensed as a fifth one walked out, his arms above his head. Before anyone could say anything, the Crimson Guardsman spoke again. "I'm Agent Scott Wolfe, I'm with the C.I.A, I'm a deep cover operative that was assigned infiltrate Cobra." The man spoke.
"Bullshit. Prove it." Ripcord hissed.
"Well Specialist Wallace A. 'Wally' Weems, U.S. Army from Columbus, Ohio AKA Ripcord," the man began, "I don't know if they taught you anything during your six years in the Army with the 82nd Airborne Division about undercover work but it's not exactly like we get to carry C.I.A. credentials around with us during deep cover operations."
"What are you doing here?" Ripcord asked, still keeping his G-41 trained on the man.
"I had orders by both the C.I.A. and G.I. Joe to infiltrate various facilities and report back to them. How do you think Hawk knew this particular building was an armory?" Wolfe asked. He continued before any of the Joes could answer.
"But the important thing is that I have information you need to know. First off both the ADA sites and the radar can be taken offline by destroying both the power generator and its backup which are in the second basement of the command and control building. Secondly your NCOIC, Hotseat, was taken captive and is being held in the first basement of the same building." The thought of Hotseat being alive perked up all of the Joes. But anything else meant to be said was cut short. Suddenly gunfire erupted from the opposite end of the hallway. In their haste to get inside and find the explosives, they'd forgotten to block the door at the other end of the building. An assortment of various Cobra soldiers were pouring through. The Joes all instantly dropped prone and began to fire at the Cobras. Wolfe dropped prone as well and picked up one of the dead Crimson Guardsmen's FN-FAL rifles.
"Well Agent Wolfe it looks like I've got no choice but to trust you!" Ripcord shot back over the noise of gunfire, without taking his eyes away from lining up and firing on the Cobras.
"Good answer! You and Zap move up to get the explosives! Me and Repeater will cover you! I know a way to get us out of this building and to the generators once you get back!" Wolfe shot back as he began to pick off Cobras that popped out from under Repeater's field of suppressive fire.


Anger raced through her. They had to be out of their minds. They wanted them to take out radar and ADA... couldn't they maybe have mentioned this when they first got there? Instead they leave them in the jungle for what... five, six days? She lost count a while back. Then when almost all supplies were exhausted, after they lost their Sergeant, after Fast Draw got shot, after Ripcord was getting worse, then they decide to have them... She shook her head. Negative thinking would get them no where. It didn't matter. He called the shots, Ripcord. Walked them through, by the numbers...
"We've got to take out the radar and ADA emplacements at the complex. Which means that we've got to enter the perimeter fencing, raid their armory for explosives then somehow destroy the radar and ADA sites. In order for us to make it through this we'll need to be very covert. Just like in the jungle when we first got here. Questions?" No one spoke up. "Alright people, let's go." She had to smile. 'alright people,' it was something Hotseat would've said. Two teams, she was on cover with Fast Draw and Heavy Metal. Outdoor storage area. Create distraction. She kept her head down while he spoke, not making eye contact, not wanting to see what was written on his face. Even the thumbs up and smile he shot her before the two teams broke off brought little comfort, but she returned them both just the same.
“We got a lot going for us….” Fast Draw commented, as the three low crawled towards the large lot. She could tell he was trying to keep his mind off the pain.
“First, it's a large complex… we're a small team.”
“Great.” Heavy Metal retorted. “That means that we're outnumbered.”
“And second….” He continued, ignoring the comment. “This place was built like a vault, meant to keep people out, not in.”
“People get locked inside of vaults, then they're both trapped and running out of air...”
“Would you both just…” Out of nowhere, sirens, alarms started blaring....
"All personnel, All personnel, intruder alert, intruder alert, battle stations, intruders are inside the complex, I say again intruders are inside the complex." A voice crackled over a PA system.
"What the fuck happened?" Heavy Metal yelled above the din. The three took fast cover by the side of one of the Stingers, Fast Draw taking a second to set a charge. She strained to see through the darkness, something must've happened. The other team must've been spotted, they must've... "Focus, Babe!" Fast Draw told her, pulling her into the side of the vehicle. "Remember? Focus." She shook her head. He was right. The other team would be fine. They would be fine. Searchlights began flooding the area, causing a barrage of curses from both Heavy Metal and Fast Draw. Fast Draw barked out directions, commands of which way to go to avoid the lights, knowing their luck couldn't hold out. "Go, Go, Go!" he yelled, pushing them further into the rows of vehicles for cover. Sporadically, he'd remove a C-4 from his pack, arming it and placing it by the vehicle's clutch. Covergirl covered as Fast Draw made the rounds, while Heavy Metal readied a HiSS for cover, just in case. They made nearly an entire sweep of the lot, before one of the search lights fell directly on the two. Gunshots from behind made them change direction, before hitting the ground for cover. Fast Draw yelped as the force of hitting the ground strained his already aggravated wound. Covergirl grabbed his ALICE and half-dragged him the rest of the way behind a Stinger, as he lay cursing on the ground. She dropped him with an audible thud as she saw the three Crimson Guardsmen raise their weapons, raising hers in defense. 'One shot' didn't even get a chance to play in her head as she pulled the trigger, hitting the center guard dead in the chest. The other two guards dove for cover as did she and Fast Draw, who could still be heard cursing. This was definitely not good.
“I'm gonna draw their fire. If you can get to Heavy Metal, you can use the turret….”
“Whoa, slow down, Babe. You aren't going to draw fire….”
“I'm faster. Don't be getting all tough guy on me now, Hotshot!”
“I'm calling the shots, I draw fire. You drive, he shoots….”
“Listen, we probably have about 30 seconds before those two guards become 20…” The realization set in as he started to ready himself for the run. Those two guards would be 20. 20 with access to vehicles, lots of them. She took a deep breath in, gave Fast Draw a quick blow to the back by his exit wound, causing him to curse and hit the deck. Before giving him the chance to recover, she took off, making her way between vehicles, drawing closer to the guards. Each time she would advance, the guards would fire, Fast Draw would back closer to the HiSS. Gunshots ripped into the vehicle behind her which she used for cover, causing her to draw forward once more. She was getting too close, running low on ammo… what the hell was taking Fast Draw so long… maybe he was hit, maybe they realized she was just a decoy. At least she hadn't promised Ripcord… she thought. She hadn't promised him…. The sound of the twin heavy machine guns made her breathe a sigh of relief. Fast Draw had made it. An explosion to her left made her dive for cover, but afforded her a clear shot at the two stunned Crimson Guard soldiers. A second and third explosion let her know more soldiers had reached the compound. She knew they didn't trap every vehicle, she only hoped fear would keep the rest from trying. She opened the door to the Stinger closest to her, but froze… they all looked a like. Checking to make sure there was no C-4 device, she hopped inside. It looked actually a lot like the VAMP MKII, the controls being situated in the same area. The 8 horses under the hood didn't give it the same low rumble as the VAMP, but the vehicle itself did appear to be shorter, lighter. She didn't have much time to admire Cobra's craftsmanship, the STUNs which had been patrolling the outer perimeter started advancing. Two missiles were all she got off before they fired in return. Another explosion to the far right, they were still trying the vehicles. She cursed as she drove around two more unoccupied HiSS APCs to get a better run at the STUNs. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the HiSS driven by Heavy Metal finally start to move. She shook her head. Plans said it handled like an Abrams. What the hell was this guy's deal? Missiles down. She patted the dashboard a quick thanks before abandoning the vehicle for a fresh one. Fast Draw and Heavy Metal, now in full control of the HiSS were keeping most of the troops at bay, but the stragglers getting through now started heading towards the APCs… they hadn't tagged many of the APCs. She cursed softly as she lined up the HiSS vehicles methodically, launching one missile after the next. The explosions prevented her from hearing the engine start up on the second Stinger, the one brave Cobra who made it through, finding an untagged vehicle. She saw the missile launched, no weapons left, no time to bail. Things seemed like they were happening in slow motion She closed her eyes and pulled hard on the wheel, accelerating at the same time. “Don't be tagged, don't be tagged, don't be tagged….” She whispered out loud as her Stinger slammed into another parked vehicle, causing it to flip over on its side. Two Cobra rockets whistled overhead. Still not breathing, she climbed out of the vehicle and jumped, seconds before the third Stinger missile slammed into the crippled vehicle. At least they were serving their purpose, she thought to herself. They were bringing a lot of attention to the area. Now all they had to do was hold them off, until Ripcord and his boys came through on their end.

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