The Girl Who Forgot // GI Joe fanfiction // Storm Shadow

Chapter 1

Nightshade held her katana up to the moonlight, taking a cloth and wiping away the blood that stained the tips of her blade. Her green eyes danced with mischief and evil in the moonlight, that made them look more blue than usual. Twirling the swords around her hands before slipping them into their sheaths on her back, she turned around and stalked off towards the destroyed army base, fires raging, alarms going off, men shouting, gunshots and explosions. Music to her ears.

She leapt up atop a large rock and scanned the destruction below her. Her job? To find survivors who knew information about what Winter wanted. Winter, a very cold man who wanted... well, that part comes later. Winter was not his real name; it was merely a nickname that suited him. It wasn't even the evil "bad guy" name the world knew him as. That was... well that also comes later. Nightshade picked up a young man by the scruff of his shirt. He was playing dead, she could feel his heat and could hear his heart beat. She threw him to the ground.

"There's no point being a possum. I know you are alive." The man winced at her harsh tone as he slowly opened his eyes. His eyes. They shone with fear and anger. His face twisted into a scowl.

"What do you want? For me to get down and beg for my freedom. Or to beg that my death will be quick and painless. No. not to a monster like you. You are an abomination to the human race. You are a disgusting creature with no soul or conscience or..." he ranted in her face as she rolled her eyes.

"Tell me something I don't know will you? What do you know about the Scissor Project?"

"I was an apprentice under the creator."

"And where is the creator?"

"In heaven!" he spat. She raised her eyes to the skies. Probably the first explosion. Never let Dragon Fire handle delicate explosions. Let him blow up tanks and ships. Not science/army bases to gain information. She made a silent reminder to herself before grabbing the apprentice's arm and dragging him with her.

"Where are we going?" he exclaimed, panicked. A limping guard was trying to get to the alert system, tying to send the signal that would notify the authorities. Nightshade saw this out of the corner of her eye and smiled. With a small flick of her wrist, a shuriken impaled itself in the man's neck. The apprentice gulped.

"Home."

Nightshade's POV

As it turns out, it was more of a home for me than it was for the apprentice, or James Arnold Deruess as we had found out. He was taken to the interrogation room whilst I made myself comfortable with the fridge. I turned to find General Splinter (aka Winter).

"General. How has your night been? Sleep peacefully?" I asked, pleasantries slightly sarcastic. He laughed, a cackling witch/dolphin hybrid laugh that sent shivers down anyone's back, no matter if you were on his side or not. I awkwardly chuckled along.

"Why, Miss Nightshade, my night has been wonderful, I did not sleep though. It was quite cruel of you to say that."

"If you have not noticed, I am quite a cruel person. I wonder who brought me up like that. Hmm." I placed a finger on my lips pretending to think as he laughed and sent more ice cubes tumbling down my spine. He walked away and I sighed. I got along with him well enough but I still couldn't help but feel myself relaxing as he left. His presence was just... chilling. Hehe. Chilling. Ice cubes. I'm hilarious.

Anyway back to the part about Winter not sleeping. He has this condition with his brain. Sleeping basically shuts him down. He won't wake up for a week. And when he does wake up, he forgets basically everything. Therefore, he does not sleep. He survives on lots of medication and red bull. It kinda explains the panda face he has all the time. To be more specific, he is a lanky person, his skin pulled taut against his bones and sinews. There is so little muscle on the man, its ridiculous how he can even walk. His skin is translucent, unimaginably pale, sickly green veins run under his plastic bag thin skin. Its gross. Then his face. He has these blood red lips that make you think he's a vampire. Then he has this ratty mouse brown hair that sticks up in clumps in some areas and is going bald is some areas. He has this sharp upturned nose that makes you think he's always looking down at you. Then his eyes. Cold and grey. Like winter. This man should be called General Winter, I tell you. Anyway, back to his eyes. He has these gigantic black bags under them, consequence of no sleep for 3 years. Technically all of these features are consequence of no sleep.

I shook my head, getting him out of my thoughts and turned back to the fridge. After searching through it, I settled on a pack of Rich Tea biscuits and a 70% cocoa chocolate bar.

Leaping onto the couch with my goodies, I turned on the TV and a news channel came on. I saw images of the base we had raided and a reporter trying to explain the mysterious occurrence. The images changed to a video of a man clad in protective gear with rubber gloves holding a... white mask and a katana with a white handle. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Slowly I opened one eye, then the other. The man was still holding the sword and mask. The biscuit dropped from my hand and smashed into a million crumbs on the floor.

I was furious. How dare he? How dare he endanger everything I had been working on? Everything Winter had been working! Everything that so many people had died for! This was fantastic. We were meant to be anonymous but noooo. This man just had to ruin everything. I stormed down the corridor. A group of scientist were walking towards me but one look from me parted them like the red sea. Finally, I reached the infirmary. 

"Seriously? C'mon man, what happened to hidden identities?" I complained as I burst through the doors. The back of a man was turned to me, covered in muscle, bronzed but that wasn't exactly what I was focusing on right now. I was considering more of a I-will-put-a-hole-in-your-face approach to the situation. He turned to me, his chocolate brown eyes glaring at me.

"I ran into an old friend." He stated simply. I threw my hands up in exasperation as he winced as the nurse ran her needle through his skin, stitching up his cuts.

"Did your old friend get away?" I asked. He stayed silent.

"Well, next time you run into old friends, call me up. I'm sure I'll be able to run them all through." I snarled. He stood up.

"I'd like to see you try."

"Enough!" a voice echoed through the room, silencing everything. I turned to see Winter standing at the door, arms crossed. I pointed my finger up to his face, feeling like a child but then again, I didn't necessarily want to grow up.

"HE- "

"I know. I know Nightshade now stand down." His voice, strong and commanding pushed me into my place. He marched up to my rival ninja.

"Was it- "

"It was."

"So how- "

"I don't know. Maybe- "

"No we can't."

"Then what?" they had a conversation, neither finishing their sentences, both having a conversation I didn't know how to crack. That'll be a first.

They both stayed silent for a bit before Winter beckoned for him to follow. As they left, the bronzed Asian man looked back at me.

"Nightshade." He jeered as I fumed before spitting out his name like it was poison in my mouth.

"Storm Shadow."