Maverick (A G.I. Joe Fanfiction)

Chapter 17: Meeting

To those who don't know what Duke looks like, or who Chaning Tatum is. I don't know where I got the picture.
-Carrath

It had been an hour since my victory over my father when Storm came strolling into my room, ambidextrous compound bow in one hand and a worn black leather quiver filled with arrows slung over his shoulder. I looked up from my reading, the thick hardback I'd brought with me during my escape from Cobra. I smiled deviously at the sight of the bow and Storm's curious expression. I was off my bed in less than two seconds and in front of Storm, removing the holster from his shoulder. I arranged the quiver vertically aligned with my spine. When I'm fully situated, Storm hands me my bow.

"What were you reading?" Storm asked as he passed by Snake-eyes, who leaned against one of the small bookshelves I had.

"The Collective Works of William Shakespeare," I replied, glorifying it bit too much. "I just finished A Midsummer Night's Dream."

As I yanked back the bowstring with my left and held the handgrip firmly in my right Storm asked, "Who is your favorite character?"

"Punk," I stated as if it was a known fact and he was an idiot for not knowing it. "No other can compare."

Suddenly a knock came at my door causing all of our heads to turn in unison. I knew it wasn't Jane and it couldn't be Joe because they were together in the infirmary. I had dealt Dad some serious bruise worthy blows. So, who was it? We didn't have to wait long before that someone called out, "Anybody in there?"

"Yes, "I cheered, throwing both my fisted hands in the air. "Speak the devil's name and he shall appear."

I quickly pulled off the quiver and set it, alongside my bow, on my desk then slide on my slippery socks back to the door. When my eyes landed on the six-foot African American dressed in the standard issued army fatigues, E-4 racking on his collar, a smile the size of Jupiter broke out across my face.

"Damn woman!" Ripcord exclaimed, taking my face in his hands. "Look at you!"

"It's good to see you too, Rip," I said, making my smile audible, as I removed his hands. "What are you doing here?"

"I'll show you..." Ripcord trailed off, his trademark smirk slipping, as Snake and Storm came and stood behind me.

A second ticked by before the arrogant smirk was back and Ripcord was dragging me down the hallway. I held the elevator open long enough for Snake and Storm to slip in behind us, handing me my backpack and boots. I knew just by the expression on Rip's face that he didn't care for Snake or Storm's presence. Or maybe he just didn't like the fact that they were following me. Snake for some reason was very tense and, I guess, inpatient. He continued to shift slowly foot to foot, trying hard to make it look like he wasn't moving at all. Storm, along with myself, was the only one who acted outwardly calm and unfazed. When the doors finally opened it felt as if they were going grandma slow, I wanted out and so did Snake and Rip. They most defiantly would have mowed me down if I wasn't such a fast mover.

"Wow," I breathed before I vaulted over the handrail that courted off the ramp from the working area. "Now this is what I call one seriously pimped out control room."

I didn't have to wait for Snake because he followed me over the railing and into a similar deep impact-absorbing crouch. I walked out of my crouch while Snake just rose to his feet. The guys, not thinking I would notice, watched me surprisingly closely as I strolled over to the massive computer built into the wall. As I began tapping away at the keyboards, Jane waltzed out of the elevator, and as I oh so easily smashed through their network's firewalls, Joe decided to make an appearance.

"Amateur hour," I muttered as I ran a cross-reference search on my name, or names if I wanted to get technical.

I scrolled through each of the reports so fast it didn't even remotely look like I was reading any of it. There wasn't much there since for a good nineteen years it seemed like I had disappeared. I smiled knowingly and shook my head at that. There was zero about my necklace so I guessed I needed another Cobra capture to get to their intel.

"Well that was a waste," I grumbled.

"Sorry, sweety," a deep familiar voice apologized, a hand resting its self on my shoulder. "We're almost as blind as you are in this situation."

"Your firewalls are crap," I droned, my voice completely monotone, as I retraced my keystrokes. "And just for the record, don't call me sweety. Kay, Conrad?"

"I'll tell that to Breaker, they're his firewalls," Duke countered, hand falling. "And, hello to you too, Maverick."

"I would rather like to ask you why you aren't laying six-feet-under in an oak box, or is it pine?" I snapped, turning around and getting in his face. Duke, like the other males here, was a few inches taller then I was so getting in his face required me to rise onto my tiptoes.

"Calm down, Maverick," Duke said in an exhale of breath, pushing me back down. "I was mispronounced, I wasn't dead but in a very deep coma."

I knew the battle of emotions that was going on inside me was also playing across my face. I can only guess how surprised everyone was when I attack-hugged him and lifted him a good inch off the floor for a second. In retrospect, the hug was relatively short so when I let him go I asked, "Who's Breaker?" After rearranging our selves, Duke stood beside/ behind me and pointed over my shoulder at the short Middle Eastern man talking to Lady Jaye.

"Dude looks like he just stepped off the Borg mother ship," I commented, referencing Star Trek.

"Yeah, but without the gray complexion," Duke amended, dropping his arm. I nodded in agreement, waiting for Jaye to leave. "But you're going to have to wait until the meeting is over before you can tell him anything."