GI JOE Porn Story: Magnus 2 Possibilities and Alternatives Chapter 1

I
don’t own G.I. Joe, Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD, Captain America,
X-Men Evolution or anything else that might be involved or mentioned
in this story beyond my own original characters and situations. I
have to dedicate this one to my fiancee, who has always been an
inspiration and has been Athena’s real-life counterpart since the
character was created, even when we were not even friends. While it’s
not neccessary to have read the original “Magnus” story,
it’s advised to have a better understanding of some references and
situations in this one.

“Magnus
2: ‘Possibilities and Alternatives'”

By
J.T. Magnus, “Turbo”

Most
of the time when someone is watching their kids play, they’re not
leaning against a quanoset hut when they do it. The kids are not as
old as the parents. Nor do either parents or children have weapons or
high-tech armor…

Of
course, most families aren’t part of Special Anti-Terrorist Task Unit
Delta, affectionately (by our friends), disgustedly (by our enemies),
and simply called by most ‘G.I. Joe.’

I’m
the father, depending on whether you’re talking to a Joe, an Agent of
SHIELD, members of the superhero community, or those who only know me
as a civilian or regular military, I’m known as Turbo, Dragon, Johnny
Freedom (Something that I still hit Steve upside the head for at
times), or just plain old John Thomas Magnus, Major, United States
Special Forces.

Of
course, most of the troops under my command as G.I. Joe’s Executive
Officer don’t know about me being their father… Actually, only
those under my direct command in the sub-unit known as “Frontline”
know that… It’s hard to keep secrets in a close-knit small group
that spent two years fighting, bleeding and dieing together. When
you’ve got fifteen soldiers who fight against hundreds, you have to
KNOW what your teammates are gonna do, so it gets to the point where
you can see changes in them before they do at times.

The
differences in those two are funny at times…

Skywarp,
that is, John Robert Magnus, named for the Kennedy brothers, is his
mother’s son… Sure, he looks like me, with her hair and eyes
though, but he’s got her “Calm before the storm” type
personality. Like his sister he wears a suit of armor from his time,
however, it looks like it’s from the future like he is…

His
sister, however, is a different story, in a way it seems like some
lunatic sitting at a computer drinking soft drinks and listening to
country music while imagining himself as a hero is behind it all,
since she’s the opposite of her brother, she’s got my eyes and hair
and her mother’s looks, my “When I’m calm, you’re dead”
personality, and where her brother’s armor is futuristic, her’s looks
like it was worn by an eigth century Japanese samurai… if the
samurai was female. Saoirse (pronounced SEER-sha) Kathleen Magnus,
codename Artemis… I almost pity whoever she ends up dating…

They’ve
been here almost four years, but I’ve only really been married to
their mother for two years. I never really paid any attention to this
until recently.

The
reason they’re the same age as their mother and I is because they
came back in time to fix time using a device known as a Dimensional
Tuner…

Ask
any of the Joes, I LOVE to mess around with stuff and learn by doing,
I might be twenty-three years old, but I’m still a kid at heart, I
guess…

Even
things about twenty years beyond my own knowledge.

Yeah,
I just HAD to go messing with the Dimensional Tuner, didn”t I?

Either
way, I did…

The
Dimensional Tuner, for those that don’t know, is a device shaped like
a ping-pong paddle with a spike sticking up from the flat part. Even
after what I went through, I’m still not clear on the details, but
appearantly it works like this: the Tuner causes the molecules in the
bodies of anyone holding or touching it to vibrate at a different
frequency so that they pass through whatever universe or time period
they’re in and into one where the molecules of native matter vibrate
at the same frequency as the Tuner is.

It’s
also made out of a metal that either doesn’t exist yet or that we
haven’t discovered yet.

I
was taking it apart to try and get a sample for Airtight and the
other scientists to analyse completely, something they couldn’t do
with it intact without damaging the Tuner. I wanted to know what it
was and if we could duplicate it.

Thinking
back, I think my big mistake was not putting out a sign or something
to keep others out of the workshop. Normally what gets done in there
is just fabrication for parts to repair our vehicles and weapons,
occasionally a project of one of the Joes, but rarely any work on
anything that’s live -yeah, the Tuner was live, I mean, it was
switched off, but there was still power in it, there was no way to
eliminate that, it had a self-replenishing power source- so we don’t
really have to worry about keeping others out.

What
happened next, I don’t know, probably never will. It’s like a car
accident, you can remember what you did before impact, you can
remember after the impact, but the impact itself and anything you
were thinking when it happened are unrecallable. I know, I’ve been in
a few wrecks myself, and not all of them have been Joe-issue
vehicles…

Next
thing I know, I’m waking up in the middle of the Pit’s Parade Grounds
with Beachhead, Law, Shockwave, and some guy I didn’t recognize in
green pants, a tan shirt, and black flak jacket with grey armor pads
and black full-face helmet pointing guns at me and Sergeant Major
Jessica Parker, known to all as “Athena”, known to some as
Jessica Magnus, my wife, and the Joe team’s CSM, who had opened the
door just before everything went to shit and was now still
unconscious and laying beside me.

“Now
I know how ‘Warp and them felt…” I muttered, only
half-conscious myself.

“Who
the hell is Warp?” The voice I heard speak jolted me to full
awakeness, because it was MY voice…

The
fourth figure pulled off his helmet to reveal my own face, it was
lacking the scar over my right eye that I had received from
Devastator in one of our confrontations, the cheeks were a little
thinner, but it was definately me.

And
there was only one thing I could say, “…oooh, boy…”

And
standing above me, my doppelganger looked down and commented, “No
shit, Sam.”

Beside
me, a voice muttered, “Even when you’re not you, you’re still a
smart-ass…”

Throughout
this, Beachhead and the other two Joes had been looking on in
confusion until Law finally broke their silence, “Mi dios, if it
were anyone other than Turbo, I’d have a hard time believing it…”

—-

“So…
no brothers?”

“Nope.”

“Father’s
not military, in fact he’s a jackass?”

“Yep.”

“Never
a ‘Frontline’ team?”

“Never.”

“No
sweetheart?”

“From
what you told me, girls named Erin Townsend are the same, no matter
what reality you’re in.”

“And
you’re a Steel Brigade Commander, Staff Sergeant?”

“Not
exactly. I guess our Brigade is different from your’s. Technically,
I’m not even regular military. Basically I’m a G.I. Joe Reservist,
except the rules are a little bent in my case since I’m on the base
most of the time. The only reason I even HAVE a rank is because of
something Hawk and Beachhead pulled a while back.”

“Doesn’t
that cause trouble?”

“Not
really, I usually wind up pulling shifts of whatever to free up other
Joes, not that I don’t see combat, I’m the primary operator of the
‘Arma-deuce’, after all, but, well, Joes look after our own, what
else is there to say?”

“Not
a thing.”

We
sat in silence for a moment, neither of us knowing what to say.

“So
who’s the dame?”

“Huh?”

“The
redhead.”

I
paused for a minute to gather my thoughts, I mean, how do you tell
yourself, except he’s a you that hasn’t entirely gotten over his
past, that you’re married to a teammate’s daughter who’s also a
teammate herself and directly under you in the Chain of Command to
boot?

Lifeline’s
voice crackled over the other Turbo’s Gauntlet, “Lifeline to
Turbo, could you please come to the Infirmary? …BOTH Turbos, now,
or else.”

I
shook my head and looked over at my counterpart, “Doctors are
all the same, aren’t they?”

“You’re
a pain to check out too, then?”

“I’m
the executive officer… There’s only one Joe in my world that’s a
bigger one than me, and that’s the Tomahawk.”

“Lifeline
to Turbo, now means NOW!”

We
looked at each other when Lifeline’s voice sounded again, speaking in
unison, “How do doctors DO that?”

—-

General
Hawk had that look on his face that I’d seen Tomahawk get when he had
no clue what was going on and knew it was probably better that way…

Mainframe,
for that matter, was wondering what he was doing there.

“Turbo…
or rather Major Turbo, you check out fine, you have several genetic
traits different from our Staff Sergeant Turbo, but you said that
they’re normal for you, so that doesn’t bother me… But do you know
what I found when I ran tests on a blood sample from Athena?”
Lifeline asked, one of those questions where they know the answer but
they want you to make them say it.

I
didn’t make him say it, “You found, Lifeline, someone who has
traces of mutated DNA similar to my own, but the important thing you
found is the DNA passed on from Athena’s parents… Sgt. Blaine
Parker, codename: ‘Mainframe’,” and here I paused to glance over
at Mainframe, the look in his eyes had me wondering about whether
there was a Jessica Parker in this universe, “and the Dreadnok
Zarana.”

Mainframe
looked at me for a minute, then looked at Athena, then back at me,
“You were the one working on the Dimensional Tuner?”

Looking
back, I should have know I was in trouble by how calm he was… but
my brains were addled from the trip, so I guess I had an excuse for
what I said.

I
said, “Yeah…”

Mainframe
stepped back and punched me, knocking me to the ground before
storming out of the Infirmary…

In
a voice barely above a whisper, General Hawk said, “His
daughter’s dead…”

The
two sergeants and I looked at each other, then Sergeant Turbo replied
to our unasked question, “Come with me, I’ll fill you in…”

—-

Cobra
had never been defeated, so Zandar and Zarana had never abandoned the
Dreadnoks. Zarana had never abandoned the Dreadnoks, so her and
Mainframe’s daughter went on living with Mainframe’s parents.

G.I.
Joe had never been disbanded, so Frontline had never been formed, so
Daniel Maxwell went on as a civilian until Zanya came along…

And
Zanya still seduced him to the Dreadnoks…

But
here, he killed Jessica after he was done with her.

You
know, it doesn’t matter if you don’t get along well, or in this case
they’re in a different reality, family is family and I’m from an OLD
school when it comes to family…

Mess
with me all you like, but go near my family and I’ll come down on you
like the hammer of God.

Interesting
thing about being outnumbered more than thirty to one for six years,
you learn how to both enjoy those odds and emerge victorious, and for
what I was thinking, I needed me, myself, and Athena on one side,
possibly Zarana and Mainframe, and on the other would be Zanya and
Devastator…

The
odds actually being in our favor for a change, if it wasn’t personal,
I’d almost feel sorry for them.

But
I was too busy feeling pissed instead.

—-

“Johnnie…
In the four years that I’ve known you, you’ve come up with some
absolutely screwy plots, but this goes beyond anything that you’ve
come up with before,” Athena commented, dressed in civilian
clothes of the same kind as the night… the night… well, I’m
pretty sure you can guess what I mean… or for this reality, the
night her counterpart was killed.

“I
don’t know,” Mainframe muttered, garbed like me and Sergeant
Turbo in black pants and a black flak jacket, “The Sergeant’s
come up with some that would give this a run for its money, like the
time he, Roadblock, and Gung-Ho went to Japan to challenge the Iron
Chefs…”

I
shook my head and looked at my enlisted self, “He’s right, you
have come up with crazier stunts than I have… Besides,” I
looked at each of them in turn, “Any of you know a better way to
scare a couple of Dreads than for two of a guy that there should only
be one and someone who’s ‘dead’ to be kicking their asses?”

Sergeant
Turbo blinked, “…You’re psychotic.”

“Thank
you.”

“So,
let me get this straight… You called my mother, or rather, this
reality’s Zarana,” Athena corrected herself, “and Zandar to
tell them that you knew what had happened to me, the other me, and
for them to bring Devastator and Zanya to a certain place near
Phoenix – the same place that Devastator killed the other me – and
you plan to have me act like I’m this Jessica and I didn’t die to get
them to admit that they plotted to…”

I
rested a hand on her shoulder, “You don’t have to say it.”

“…and
then what? Arrest them? …You’ve got that look on your face
again…”

‘That
look’ is something that everyone tells me they see when I’m about to
do something crazy, personally, I’ve never seen it in a mirror or
anything and I HAVE looked for it, so I don’t know…

“I
was actually wanting to see how Zanya’s beloved aunt and uncle would
react to that information, what do you all think?”

Sergeant
Turbo gave a look that I think might be what others are always
talking about and smiled, “Let me get a cam-cube from Scoop.”

—-

The
four of us were using an ancient technique known as ‘Shut up and
don’t move’… ancient as in WWII, at the least, my great-uncle’s the
one who taught it to me, to remain hidden in the darkness. The
outfits us three males wore made it easy, Athena, however, had to
wear a cloak draped over her more visible outfit.

“So,
why’d you bring us all the way out here, Auntie Z?”

Zanya.

I
nodded for Athena to go ahead, she stood up, dropping the cloak, and
stepped out of the woods. At the same time, Sergeant Turbo and I
moved around quietly to flank them.

“Actually…
cousin… that would be me.”

“You!
It can’t be!”

It’s
almost scary how well you can predict people sometimes, I knew
SOMEONE was going to say that, in fact, it was the cue for Sergeant
Turbo and I to make our own move. Unlike Athena, we didn’t say a
word. Like her, however, we stepped out of the woods, boxing Zanya
and Devastator in…

Dark
beings with death on our faces stepping out of the shadows…

For
the moment, Athena was ignoring Zanya. Shit may roll downhill, but in
this case we were going with chop off the legs and the head will
fall.

“What
has it been, Daniel? Three years? How have you been living with
yourself all this time? I need to know. How can you go on knowing
that you raped and killed me? And now… now you’re sleeping with my
cousin…”

Now
for Zanya…

“But
of course, she IS the one that told you to do that, now isn’t she? So
it obviously doesn’t bother her in the least.”

Zarana
was still in shock from the sight of her dead daughter standing there
before her, but I could see Zandar’s eyes narrow as he quietly
slipped two of his knives out of their sheaths.

“Is
this true?” He asked in a dangerous whisper.

“Look,
I don’t know what kind of trick this is,” Devastator yelled,
“but-“

“BUT!
This is no trick, this is JUDGEMENT, Maxwell,” I said in the
booming voice that back in my own reality was normally associated
with my shield-slinging, blue flak-vest with the big white target on
it wearing alter ego of Johnny Freedom. It got the attention of the
four people in the center of the overlook, “For the crimes of
Rape and Murder. And for you, Zanya, the crimes of Conspiracy to
Commit both Rape and Murder.”

“Look,
I don’t know who you think you are-“

Sergeant
Turbo did pretty good for his first time using that voice, “BE
SILENT… or be silenced…”

Though
I still wish I knew where I had heard that before…

Mainframe
stepped out of the woods now, further disturbing the victims. Before
we left, I HAD to get a copy of the cam-cube recording of this from
Sergeant Turbo…

“They
say,” I began, “‘His judgement cometh’, but not what form
it will take: Daniel Maxwell, Zanya, daughter of Zartan, this is
yours, and your judges shall be those you have wronged the worst; a
girl cut down before her time, parents who lost their only child, a
young man denied the chance to ever love again,” I pointed at
Athena, Mainframe and Zarana, and Sergeant Turbo in turn. “THESE
shall be your judges and jury.”

My
finger moved to Zandar, “And when it is reached, he will carry
out the sentence…”

“Then
what does that make you, Bastard?” Zanya snapped.

Technically,
I am a bastard, but that’s none of her business, “I may believe
in God, but tonight my help comes from the Devil. After all, who
better than the Great Accuser to help me… as your prosecuter.”

Devastator
looked around, “This is illegal, you can’t do this!”

Athena
leveled a look at him that I’ve seen make hardened drill sergeants
flinch. I might not have gotten along with her well when the team had
been fully reinstated, but there was one thing I did know, and that
was that I wanted her as the Top Sergeant for a reason: She was
pissed and she had a personal reason to kick Cobra and the Dreadnoks’
asses all across the world, and I couldn’t think of anything better
to have in our highest ranking enlisted member.

The
words she spoke were calm, and she takes after her father in that
area, remember what happened to me when he said something calmly?

“And
Rape, Murder, and Conspiracy are?”

I
nodded, “Perhaps we CAN’T…” I slid one hand up the other
forearm, pulling back my jacket sleeve and drawing a knife from the
sheath under it, “Perhaps you’d rather we go straight to having
you DISEMBOWELED…?” I lowered the blade and pointed it at him,
giving an idea of where I’d start. Here’s a hint, Gilbert and
Sullivan once wrote a song called ‘Let The Punishment Fit The Crime’,
“Now get over there,” I motioned with my other hand to
where Zanya was standing. As Devastator moved at knifepoint, I
overheard the whisper of Zarana to Mainframe, asking what was going
on and his response for her to just watch. With the two guilty
parties surrounded, I looked around, meeting the eyes of each person
in the clearing in turn, lingering on Athena’s a second longer than
the others, then I began my statement.

“Terrorism,
which no one gathered here is a fool, we all know that the core
Dreadnoks are little more than terrorists like the organization they
work for, is a crime, yes, but it’s minor compared to another crime
that was committed on this very spot five years ago. Yes, rape,
murder, even terrorism can all be considered small crimes when
weighed against Betrayal. Even in the Dreadnoks, scum if I know any –
and I know lawyers and politicians personally – have a code of which
part is not betraying a fellow Dreadnok… But that obviously doesn’t
apply to blood relations, does it, Zanya?”

“I
don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“They
never do, so sterotypical. What’s the other half of the exchange? Oh,
yes, ‘Then let me refresh your memory.’ Jessica was older than you by
nine months, which meant that even though she was just Zarana’s
daughter while you were Zartan’s, if she ever chose to join the
Dreadnoks you’d suddenly lose your position as their future leader.
The two of you were raised differently, so even though she had no
intention of joining the Dreadnoks, you still wanted to make sure
that no one could stand in your way.”

I
shifted to Devastator for my next blow, “All the training in the
world means nothing if it goes against the person inside. In an
otherworld I have seen you trained as one of my own, Daniel Maxwell.
You were Sabre, a Frontliner, a member of the best team of G.I. Joes
in small-unit operations, a fighter for the side of good…”

Mutters
from almost everyone except the other three Joes rippled through the
clearing.

“…But
I’ve also see that inside you are nothing but evil to the core. An
evil person can have all the training for good that exists, but they
will always show what they really are eventually. That evil person
needs very little convincing to do evil things.”

I
changed targets again, “What did it take, Zanya? Money? Power? A
promise of a leadership position in the Dreadnoks? Your own body?
What did it take to convince him to join you in this? “

“HAH!
Very little, actually! I was the one who asked HER to let me help!”

“YOU
DID!”

With
Athena’s enraged shout, several things happened in quick sucession, a
knife found it’s way into her hand, she threw it, I ran forward,
taking the knife in my arm, then grabbed her wrist to keep her from
throwing another one.

“Truaill
an inonga, piscn. Gheobhaidh s a gan mhoill go leor”
I said in Celtic Gaelic, ‘Sheath the claws, kitten. He’ll get his
soon enough.’

Her
response came in the same language, “Cn fth do
rinn stadann t me?” ‘Why did you stop me?’

“Muid
ta nior as seo domhan. A bas riachtanas tar o duine igin…
ce is… go bi trthil,” I answered, ‘We are not
of this world. His death must come from someone… who is… to be
appropriate.’

Then
I heard a nearby comment, “His arm…”

I
looked down and saw the knife still in my arm, “Oh.” I took
hold of the grip of the knife with the hand that wasn’t holding
Athena’s wrist and pulled it out with a half-yell of discomfort. Just
because I heal quickly doesn’t mean things don’t hurt. I handed the
knife back to Athena with a joking, “I believe this is yours'”
before I walked back to where Devastator stood.

Leaning
close enough for him to hear my whisper, I commented, “That was
your freebie. Next time you antagonize her, I won’t be saving your
pitiful life… I’ll be helping her take it.”

This
was something I didn’t know. I had always assumed that Zanya had
seduced Devastator to her side, but the thought that he had
intentions of this sort for Athe- No, at the time she was still just
Jessica, the entire time… It made me mad, not even ‘in a rage’ mad,
but ‘in full control of my facilities and if I could just direct my
anger through the air itself I could destroy something very big’ mad.

I
knew myself well enough to know that I wouldn’t be able to keep
myself under control if I didn’t end this now, “I don’t think I
need to say more. The prosecution rests.”

I
could see in the eyes of everyone present, excluding the two
surrounded, what was in my own eyes, that death was the verdict. And
Zanya and Devastator might have been idiots, but they weren’t
suicidal, they tried to escape.

Mainframe,
the Sergeant, and I all went for our guns, Zandar, Zarana, and Athena
went for their knives…

And
Zartan pulled the same trick the Sergeant and I had pulled earlier,
stepping out of the shadows, pulled his own knife from the sheath on
his chest, and let Devastator run right into it, impaling himself.
Then as quickly as he had appeared, he pulled it out of Devastator
and slashed his own daughter’s throat.

Okay,
so I was expecting Zandar to be the one to take their lives, I didn’t
even know Zartan was there, I’m good, but I’m not perfect.

“‘Blood,'”
Zartan whispered, “‘Cries out for blood.'”

“Huh,”
Sergeant Turbo commented, “I never figured you to be one for the
classics, Zartan.”

“There’s
a lot of things you’d never realize, Turbo,” He turned to go.

“Wait,
no fight, no demands, no nothing?” Sergeant Turbo asked.

Zartan
paused, “You want a demand? Ok… Brother, Sister, do not return
to the Dreadnoks,” He turned to Mainframe, “I won’t stand
between the two of you any longer,” then he turned to Zandar,
“And I know that you would choose to go with her, Brother.”

He
turned around and walked away.

—-

“So,
you’re gone?”

I
nodded at my counterpart, “Yeah, I just hope I can figure this
thing out before we get killed.”

“Aw,
come on, Major, that’s half the fun of the job; risking life and limb
for no pay, just the chance to blow shit up.”

We
shared a chuckle, “I’m gonna have to remember that one when I
get home.”

He
looked over to where Mainframe and Zarana were both hugging Athena
goodbye, “It must be hard for them to lose their daughter a
second time, especially after seeing how well she’s turned out.”

“Maybe
not.”

I
don’t think Pietro Maximoff, a mutant I met during a visit to the
Xavier Institute who had super-speed, could have turned his head any
faster, “What?”

I
reached into my shirt, my military dog tags might have been hanging
below my bandanna in plain view, despite regulations, but more
important to me was what was on the second chain that hung out of
sight. I pulled out a medallion with an American flag emblazoned on
it and a small clear tube containing several strands of fire-red
hair. Unfastening the chain, I slipped the tube off and handed it to
the Sergeant before refastening and replacing the chain under my
shirt.

“The
teammates that know me well often joke that I’m a sentimental,
romantic fool… they’re right… I collect these from Athena’s
pillow every morning after she leaves to go back to her own
quarters,” I had already explained earlier how we slipped back
and forth between each others’ quarters while the other Joes were
asleep so they wouldn’t learn about our relationship. Since the rules
are usually lax in G.I. Joe, I really doubted they’d care, but we
didn’t want to push it, “You said that Destro is on your Joes’
side. He might be able to use this to recreate her… If luck and God
are with you, it should bring your world’s Jessica back to life.”

He
tried to hand the tube back to me, “These are your’s, we can’t-“

I
closed his hand around the tube, stopping him, “There’ll always
be more strands on her pillow, J.T.,” I referred to him by his
real name instead of his codename to further reinforce my point, “The
three of you don’t have to use them, but you’ll at least have the
option open.”

The
Sergeant pulled his hand, “Three of us?”

I
nodded and pointed to Mainframe and Zarana, “Her mother, her
father,” then my finger traveled around to poke him in the
chest, right between the twin chest holsters, “And if you’re
really me, her lover.”

The
tube made its way into one of the pouches of his belt, “I don’t
know if I can be you, we’re nothing alike except in name.”

“If
you’re willing to give up that easily, you’re right. It’s one thing
to be sad, cry, then let the fire back in your eyes to dry things up,
but if all you’re planning on doing is blubbering like a certain
soldier I knew during the Sicily campaign, I’m gonna do the same
thing to you as I did him…”

“What,
slap me?”

“Damn
right, and this time there’s no doctors and nurses around to stop me
from pulling out my sidearm…” After a moment, I shook my head,
“Look, I’m sorry, I forgot that your Erin probably dumped you
differently than mi- than the one I was involved with did me.”

“How?”

I
closed my eyes and recalled what, at that time, had been considered
the worst moment of my life; before Devastator’s betrayal, before the
Reunion, before people that I had served with died and were wounded
like they were shields for me and my damned X-Gene powered self,
before I nearly lost Athena…

Before
I learned what life as a member of G.I. Joe was REALLY like, in other
words…

—-

If
you sat the R.A.M. II and a R.A.M. I together in a room, it might
take you a few minutes, but you’d start to see how the low-riding
black one evolved from the larger less-compact green one. The seating
area hadn’t changed in shape much, the exhaust pipes still flanked
the rear wheel on both sides, but the R.A.M. II was smaller, more
compact, with more modern technology used in it’s creation…

And
it was my ‘command vehicle’.

One
of the other similarities between the two versions was that the
side-mounted gun could be removed.

That’s
how it was then, being driven by me in my black and grey “G.I.
Joe” dress uniform, there was a lull in the hidden war against
Cobra and I was planning to take advantage of it. It was less than a
week before my birthday and I hadn’t had more than a 48 Hour Pass in
the year I had been in, so I was putting my position as CO to good
use and finagled myself a fourteen day leave… and I planned to
spend it with my girlfriend. Our relationship had been strained since
the day I accepted General Colton’s offer without consulting her,
which, truthfully, I never thought I had to do; we were dating, not
engaged or married, my life was still mine.

Not
that I didn’t want to share it with her someday, well, at the time I
did, at least. At the time, I wanted to see her, to make up for being
there a little over twelve days in as many months.

What
I found was that I had left her to serve my country, but I was the
one who had been left.

—-

“To
make a long story short, I dropped my high school ring with our names
on it into her hand and left without saying anything,” I sighed,
“I changed. I had nothing to tie me to civilian life, so I threw
myself into the military, in a matter of three months I undertook
almost a year’s worth of training; Marine Boot, Flight School, Field
Medic, all of the things I had been working as without any training
for a year. I even trained as a ninja under the Aleph of the
Naitotsurukusa clan… of course, most of my teammates just know I
trained as a ninja and commando, not how good I really am… I let
the fighting, the anger at everything that was wrong in this world,
with Cobra being a focal point, consume me… And I can’t say I
regreted it at the time, I loved it.”

“There’s
more to the story that you haven’t told me, now or before.”

“You
have a partner, Sarge?”

“I
work alone, can’t find anyone willing to put up with me all the
time.”

“Neither
could I, but Athena and I were… assigned… together by General
Tomahawk, which, I think, was just Jim Flagg’s way of shovelling most
of the running of the team off on the two of us… I can’t say I
blame him, he once told me that he’d rather be back in First Armored,
but they gave him Joe because Lawerence Flagg was his father.”

“Ah,
love at first fight.”

“Hell
no, more fights to come at first fight. …And I hate my great-uncle
for being right…”

“About
what?”

“We
did wind up together. We were stuck as partners, we got used to each
other, we wound up on a long-term mission that I THINK I had a little
too much to drink and said something I probably shouldn’t have.”

“Insulted
her?”

“I
wish, I told her that I could almost love her if it wasn’t for what
we were: soldiers.”

“Let
me guess, judging by what I’ve seen in the past twenty-four hours I’m
going to say she hit you.”

“Got
it in one. Then she kissed me for worrying about her, something that
I don’t usually do. I loved her that night, in more ways than one…”

“But…”

“But
I didn’t realize just how much I loved her until I found that I was
willing to kill to protect her… Part of the mission went
pear-shaped and we wound up surrounded by a squad of Iron Grenadiers.
One of them shot her and I ended up killing them all…” I could
tell by his eyes that the sergeant could see there was more to the
story than I was telling… and he saw right. With Blaze boosting my
power, or with an extreme emotional state doing it, my healing factor
can extend beyond it’s usual me and those close to me to people I
have no connection with… I was angry, I was scared for Athena, and
I wanted her safe… I somehow inverted my powers, I ended up
draining the life from the Grenadiers… I don’t like to remember it
because it scares me still, and makes me wonder, ‘what could happen
if I lost control?’

I
continued, “But you know what the best moment I experienced has
been?”

“I’m
sure you’re gonna tell me.”

“It
was the night I met Erin again, looked into her eyes, and felt
nothing but love… for Athena.”

A
pair of arms looped around my neck from behind, “Talking about
me, mo leannan?”

“And
if we were?” I teased.

“I’d
have to beat on you until you told me what was said. According to the
techs the Tuner’s recharged and we can try to go home.”

I
took hold of Athena’s wrists so she wouldn’t fall, then swung her
back and forth a couple times before letting go, “I’ll be over
in a minute.”

She
tossed an “Okay, but make it quick, Major,” over her
shoulder as she walked back to where Mainframe and Zarana were.

“Well,”
I turned back to the Sergeant, “Guess this is it.”

“Yeah…
Listen, I’ll think about… you know,” he tapped the pouch where
the tube was, then reached into another and pulled out a minidisc,
“Here.”

I
took the minidisc and looked at it, “What’s this?”

“Plans
for Project Mjolnir; you know, the Armadillo Two and it’s control
helmet. You might find a use for them at some point.”

I
flipped it over and took another look at it before slipping it into
my vest pocket, “Thanks. So, I guess we’ll probably never meet
again.”

The
two of us were walking over to the others when he commented back,
“With Magnus Luck? I wouldn’t run a board on it.”

Zarana
looked at us, “‘Magnus Luck’?”

Four
voices sounded in unison, “Never works out the way you’d
expect.”

Sergeant
Turbo looked at me and Athena, “You’ve said it yourselves.”

“Yeah,”
I nodded, taking the Dimensional Tuner from the table it was laying
on. I held out my hand and Athena took it.

“Well,”
I muttered, “Here’s hoping…”

I
flipped the switch…