Elle bounced her feet up and down and waited for Snake Eyes to fully enter the room before standing up and saying, “okayIreadboththebooksanddidn’tgetupandcanIgotothebathroomnow?”

    He pointed at the chair. Elle pursed her lips tightly and obeyed. He gestured with one hand. She began, slower this time.

    “Okay. I read both of the books, I didn’t get up from THIS CHAIR and I even reread half of Volume 1, since you left for two whole days. Now, may I please go to the bathroom?”

    He drew two circles with his right index and middle finger and then tapped the back of his left wrist.

    “Ohh, thankyouthankyouthankyou,” She ran to the bathroom, leaving her teacher standing next to the wooden chair that she had been confined to for two entire days.

    “She knows sign language, too?” Beach Head asked, who had come into the library with Snake Eyes. “Not bad.”

    He shrugged.

    Elle came back and stretched before saying, “Holy smokes, it is not good to hold it that long. So, what’s next?”

    Snake Eyes gestured to Beach Head. Elle studied the new person. He wore a green balaclava that covered all of his face except his eyes, and a green shirt under a fully stocked black vest. His woodland camouflage pants were tucked into his black combat boots. Strapped on his leg was a 1911 handgun.

    “I'm Beach Head.” He said, introducing himself, since Snake Eyes obviously wasn’t going to do it. “Primary MOS: Infantry, Ranger. I’ll be helping with the next part of your training, taking The Fridge’s place.”

    “Please tell me that you don’t mean a fridge with food in it.”

    “The Fridge is the Joe’s physical fitness instructor. It’s his on-season, so he’s not here. Which brings us to this part of your training, physical training.”

    “So, the first part was reading the Handbook, and the next part is hard-core-bleed-your-guts-out training? Aren’t you known for being the most gung-ho Joe, like, ever?”

    He looked at Snake Eyes, who nodded. “I guess so,”

    “Hm. Okay. When do we start?” Elle tilted her chin upward, trying to seem enthusiastic and not show how hungry and *quite* terrified she was.

    “Tomorrow,”

   She let out the short breath that seemed to determine her fate.  “Oh, thank God,”

    “That’s because until then, you’ll be getting your issued uniform. I’m just here to give you the breakdown. Tomorrow, 4 AM sharp, you have to meet me at the field. Wear your uniform.”

    “Yes sir.” She saluted as he left the room. She looked up at Snake Eyes. “I thought you were supposed to be my instructor,”

     He did several motions in sign language.

    “Oh, right. I need to catch up. Until tomorrow, what then? Eat or something, because I’m starving.”

    Snake Eyes nodded, then left the room. Elle followed him.

    “Thank goodness,” She said, following him out of the library. “I thought maybe it would be part of your self-denial training, and you wouldn’t let me eat for a month until I learned Kung Fu.”

    He looked down at her, cocking his head as if to ask, ‘why would you think that?’ They walked in silence to another building. Snake Eyes stepped in and turned toward her, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. She looked where he had indicated.

    Elle knew that it is common for almost every military base to have a fast food place, but she had expected something a little more...tough than a Taco Bell. She was also surprised at the amount of people who were eating there at 3 in the afternoon.

    “Huh. I don’t remember this in the tour,” She walked through the tables toward the counter, and noticed the atmosphere change. It got quiet as if the janitor had walked in on an important meeting, and she was seriously being stared at. She looked over her shoulder to see Snake Eyes was gone. Great. He probably expected her to know exactly where to meet, and he’d left her alone with these middle aged military people who looked like they wanted to beat her to a pulp. “Hiii, I’m going to need two of your largest burritos, and a Coke.”

    “Is a Burrito Supreme okay?” After getting a nod from her, he said, “that’ll be $8.77.”

    “Geez,” She pulled out a ten and reminded herself that this was food for today and yesterday. She knew that she couldn’t stand at the counter forever. Besides sticking out in her white t shirt, Converse, and jeans, she was practically the only female. She would have to sit down and wait for her order to be called, so she turned around and looked for the least-inhospitable person to sit with for a few minutes. She chose a table that had four people sitting at it already, that way, she could hopefully go half-unnoticed. “Hey, can I sit here?”

    “Sure, if you don’t mind us asking a few questions,” One of them said.

    “Shoot,” Elle used it as a ‘darnit’ kind of shoot, but the guys used it as their opportunity to ask their questions.

    “You’re Snake Eyes’ new trainee?”

    “...Yesh.”

    “What’s your name?”

    “Elle Matthews, nice to meet you…?”

    The sharp-jawlined greenshirt shook her hand first. “I’m Carter Black, this is Jason Hale, Daul Yi, and Derek Eversmann. We’re all set to graduate this year.”

    “Oh, congratulations. I um, seemed to have missed that boat.” Elle always dreaded talking to people, but once she started talking, she was a natural at it. Not at talking. At socializing. One of her hidden talents was making friends. “I was actually forced into this a little bit,”

     Eversmann tapped the table. “How long have you been at this base?”

    “Two days. I was in the library, for a good chunk of that time. I had to catch up on reading the Handbook.”

    And to make Elle feel even better about herself, Hale said, “I don’t think I’ve ever read that,”

    “We learned it all in classrooms, over the course of a year,” Yi reminded his comrade.

    “Not in the course of two days, I’m guessing.” She chuckled nervously, thinking that she would probably have to read it again to better absorb the information.

    “Have you met Beach Head yet?” Black asked.

    “Yeah. I’m set to meet him at 4 AM sharp tomorrow. Got any advice?”

    “Other than get a new career?” Yi said, raising an eyebrow. “No.”

    Black shook his head. “He’s crazy awesome, but he’s known for the whole ‘pushing to the limit’ stuff. He will run you into the dirt. Advice? Get a good night’s sleep and get there early. He likes people who show initiative and motivation.”

    “I can do that.”

    “One more thing- Never give up. I thought it was hard going through regular training, but it does get easier.”

    “Gee, thanks,” She looked over to see her order ready. “I gotta go. See you around, maybe? Good luck,”

    “Haha, I think you’ll need it more than us,”

    She laughed nervously. Oh, I know.

    Talking to the trainees hadn’t helped her nervousness at all. If anything, she wanted out more than before. Half the time, she wasn’t even sure if G.I.Joe was legal. Were they certified?

    She grabbed the Taco Bell to-go bag and headed out the automatic doors, wanting to hurry up and get out of there. She wondered where the heck her instructor could have had gone. After a minute of thinking, she had a fairly certain idea as to where he might be. As she walked to the uniform place, she ate her Burrito Supremes as she juggled the soda with one hand and the bag under her arm. She tossed the trash away and wondered who took out the Joe’s trash. Heck, who does anything?
    She entered the building, which wasn’t actually just one building, but several plastered around a center garden. A quick glance around and Elle realized that it was probably around closing time for these places...whatever they were. Only a single woman in a high-collared greenshirt uniform was around. She paused and glanced in Elle’s direction, which gave Elle enough reason to talk to her.

    “Hello, I was wondering if you could help me really quick,”

    The woman turned and smiled the ‘oh my gosh, i’m too nice to be mean,’ smile. “Sure. How can I help.”

    Elle glanced down at the woman’s name tag, which always reminded Elle of when Tim Allen reads Judy’s name tag in the Santa Clause. It read: Stanley. “I’m looking for my instructor, actually,”

    “Snake Eyes,” Stanley said simply, making Elle feel like she’d just received the wonderfully exciting news that it was now 3:39. “He’s waiting for you at the uniform office.”

    Well that was easy… “And where is that?”

    “It’s around that corner and on your left.” Stanley nodded and turned to leave first.

    “Thanks,” Elle practically jogged toward where Stanley had indicated. Great. She felt bad for making him wait, but he was the one who had starved her, so they broke even. But still, she felt bad.
    She walked into the ‘uniform office’ and spotted Snake Eyes immediately. He saw her too, and waited patiently as she weaved through the clothing racks and made her way towards him. She looked at what he had set on the counter. Black cargo pants, an olive drab jacket, plus black combat boots, and a shoulder holster and thigh holster. On the counter, seperate from the clothes was a Glock 19 and dual 10 inch knives.

    “Nice. Are those mine?”

    He nodded.

    “Should I try this stuff on?”

    He nodded again.

    “Okay.” She grabbed the things up and went to the dressing room, where she tried them on, shocked that they were all a perfect fit. She came out wearing her new uniform and began adjusting the holsters. “You picked the right sizes, so that saves time.”

    The man working helped roll up her sleeves and adjust the straps so that they all fit. He wrapped a measuring tape around her head and gave her a black flat-topped military cap. “There you go. Everything fits, and you don’t look just like a Greenshirt, so that’s good.”

    Elle nodded. Well...it would be good for gloating, maybe. “Ah, what’s this shoulder holster for?” She reached back, trying to figure out how it worked. It attached to the thigh holster, and her belt for extra stability, but it also made it confusing with all the straps.

    The man held up the knives. “That is a knife shoulder holster. The knives go up into the holster so that you can easily reach back and pull them out.”

   Elle thought about the position of the knives. They would literally be upside down. “They’re not going to fall out because of gravity?”

    He frowned. “They shouldn’t, no.”

    “Okay.” Elle put the knives in their sheathes, checked if the Glock was empty, then slid it into her thigh holster. “Ammo?”

    “Traditionally, you wouldn’t even be carrying that, but um,” he glanced in Snake Eyes’ direction as if he wasn’t keen on the idea of giving a lowly trainee a weapon capable of easily killing people. “You have an exception. Ammo can be strapped to the shoulder holster, and your belt, although I don’t think you need that much...yet.”

    “So, is this it? Or do I still need a lot more stuff?”

    “This is just your day-to-day uniform. You’ll also need extra outfits, gear, and ‘accessories’ like backpacks and water bladders. Later, if it’s in your area, the techs will get you outfitted with all the latest toys. But, I was told that you only needed the basic stuff for now.” He looked at Snake Eyes again and said, “And a gun, apparently.”

    “Okay.” she reached back for the knives, trying to get a feel for where they were. Maybe being a Joe wasn’t too bad afterall. It was pretty awesome with all the gear and stuff. It was kind of like customizing a character on Call Of Duty, only less dirty and badass.

Okay, so the gear wasn’t so great after all, Elle decided. It especially didn't feel very kick-butt when she was running to get somewhere. It added some serious dead weight. She remembered the good days (yesterday) when she was free and didn’t have to wear uncomfortable straps, a pair of knives on her back, and two ammo packs.

    “Alright. Good to see you’re here early.”

    “Yes sir.” Elle said, trying to sound respectful and enthusiastic, which was hard, because she felt like Spongebob, reporting for duty.

    “But I’ve already been here for twenty minutes.” Beach Head leaned backwards, pushing his hand into his back, popping it. “Ready to go?”

    “Yeah,”

    “Drop what you don’t need. It’s going to be a long run.”

    Elle began unholstering the shoulder straps when Beach Head laughed.

    “I was just kidding. What you’re wearing is what you’re bringing.”

    “Oh.” Elle wondered how long this was going to last. Her boots hadn’t broken in yet, but thankfully, she’d remembered to put mole skin in them. She’d also remembered to bring her CamelBak, which was full of wonderful sky juice. “Are we running on the track?”

    He laughed again. “Heck no. We’re going the scenic route,”

    She kept pace with him as he headed out into the vast Nevada desert. She wasn’t surprised to see that he wasn’t wearing his green balaclava, because even at four in the morning, it wasn’t exactly chilly. More like, chili with extra sriracha. She wasn’t sure how long they were running, but man. It was that kind of run where you’re pretty sure that you’re in hell, and there’s no end in sight, so you try focusing on one step at a time. Until you can’t even focus on one step at a time, and you just start counting the steps, and you can only count up to five before starting over because you forget which step you were on.
    Finally, after counting to five thirty-two times, she slowed down the pace to a pitiful jog. Beach Head slowed his pace to match hers.

    “Eight miles. Not bad.”

    “Eight?” She wheezed, trying to keep her lungs from bursting. “That’s it?!”

    “That’s the spirit! Want to take your first break?”

    “I had a break?”

    “No, I just wanted to see what you would say.” He sped back up, which forced Elle to speed up. They fell into silence once more as they continued the pace. Elle stuck the CamelBak nozzle in her mouth and took a few sips. This wasn’t the longest run she’d ever taken, but it was pretty hot, which wasn’t the climate she was used to. After an hour and twenty-four minutes later, they were back at the track. Elle sat down and splashed water over her face and neck, then looked at Beach Head, who looked like a ‘beach head’ again with his mask pulled over his head. He looked down at her and the mask pulled tight around his mouth, indicating he was smiling.

    “I’m impressed. That was pretty good. Now, how many pull-ups can you do?”

    “Twenty?”

    “I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that. You can do thirty-and that’s on a bad day. Come on,” He jumped up, grabbed the pull-up bar and did five in the time it took her to stand up and reach the bar. He jumped down and stepped to the side for her. She stretched her fingers and jumped up. She managed to do twenty-three before dropping. “Good enough. Take a quick break.”

    She looked up at him, weary, hoping that he wouldn’t say, ‘three, two, one, and you’re done. I said quick’. She sat down. “Can I sit?”

    “Sure.” he dropped next to her and began doing pushups. Elle was shocked at his stamina. “Wow. How long have you been doing this stuff?”

    “A long time. Since you’re on the ground already, do thirty butterfly kicks.”

    “Yes sir,”

    After butterfly kicks, it was 20 long arm crunches, 20 twisting sits, side bridges, body saws, plank arm raises, then push up to lunges. Elle kept up for awhile, then sat back and watched as Beach Head continued to do twice as many.

She looked over to see Snake Eyes, arms crossed, and looking as disappointed as he could without having an actual facial expression.

    Elle straightened and saluted. “Good morning, sir.”

    Beach Head stopped doing his pushups and stood up. “What brings you out here so early? We’re only halfway done.”

    “We are?” Elle made a face. “Ee-ugh.”

    Snake Eyes shrugged, then left.

    “What was that all about?” Beach Head asked.

    “I thought you’d know,” Elle said, glancing back at her physical training instructor.  “But I think it’s because I’m not doing as many reps as you.”

    He pointed at the weight-kick machine. “You’ll have to keep up with me on these,”

    An hour later, and a shower on Elle’s part, they were finished. It turned out that Beach Head had a surprising lack of personal hygiene, claiming that if he smelled like Axe and dropped in the jungle, he’d be found out within the first couple hours. Elle wasn’t going to say anything more on the subject, because she assumed that sweat added to his ‘unapproachable’ look. And yes, a man wearing cologne could go through a apocolypse and still smell like Axe. Naturally, she would be embarrassed to be seen with someone at a food place who just worked out for three hours straight, but everyone was familiar with Beach Head. And his customs.

    The Joe cafeteria looked exactly how Elle had imagined in the first place. Interesting people everywhere at the gray, uniform tables, gray steel walls, that were probably impervious to missiles, and respect. The room just had a feeling of respect. Not towards anyone in particular, but you could just feel that it wasn’t a school cafeteria. The surprising lack of electronic devices contributed toward this, and Elle asked Beach Head about it.

    “We all have phones and computers, but as Joe’s, we’re requested to only use them when we really need to. Electronics can be hacked, and that’s the last thing we want.” He sighed. “But, that also means that we’re subjected to socializing, which explains why everybody knows everybody and we’re all good friends.”

    “Huh. Makes sense, I guess. That reminds me- the uniform guy said that later, if it’s in my area, the techs could get me some stuff. What did he mean by that?”

    Beach Head sat down at an empty table, and Elle sat in front of him. “We all have Joe-issued devices. You’re not allowed to have say, a Samsung or iPhone. They’d get you one of those, and they’d get you whatever you need for whatever it is that you do.”

     “I don’t even know what I’m in for-“

    “You make it sound like jail.”

    “Fine. I am currently unaware of my specialty here. You’re a Ranger, Shipwreck, you’re a sailor, right?”

     Shipwreck sat down next to Beach Head with his tray. “Yes ma’am,”

     “Ace is a pilot, Doc, his name gives it away, Alpine is a Mountain Trooper, Bazooka is a missile expert. And Snake Eyes is a stinking Ninja, but what does that make me?”

    “Infantry,” They both said at the same time.

    “Infantry?” Elle said, poking at her biscuit. “Then why do I have to get special attention?”

    “Because you missed the chance to train with the Greenshirts,” Beach Head explained. “And, you’re under special ‘protection’ anyway. Hawk decided that if we all had to keep an eye on you, you might as well spend your time training with us.” He turned to Shipwreck. “So, is she on your schedule?”

    Shipwreck shook his head. “I don’t think so. I’m getting out of here today. How about you, Dusty?”

    Dusty, the G.I.Joe desert specialist sat down next to Elle before looking at his watch. “Yup. Thirty minutes from now, target practice and firearm training.”

    Elle sighed. “Snake Eyes needs to draw up a schedule for me.”

    “He’s only passing you along to us because he’s still finishing his previous mission,” Dusty said in his strangely comforting southern drawl. “Once he’s done, he’ll take over your training a bit more.”

    “And what’s he training me to do? Do I get to choose, or is my fate already decided?”

    Beach Head shrugged. “That’s out of my knowledge.”

    “Who’s the new kid?” Asked a new voice, that was a little too attention grabbing. Elle recognized the bald, large man as Gung-Ho, and as his code name implied, he was pretty, well, gung-ho. “What’s your name?”

    Elle shook his hand. “Elle Matthews, sir.”

    “She’s not new, huh?” He asked, looking at the others.

    “No,” Beach Head said. “She’s still in training.”

    “Well, going straight through spec-ops, that’s pretty impressive. How long have you been here?”

    “Three days,”

    “Really? I haven’t seen you here before,”

    “Did you check the library?” She asked, grinning. “Snake Eyes made me read the entire Handbook and didn’t let me get up until he came back.”

    “I didn’t know he’d start you on torture training,” Gung-Ho said, rubbing his chin.

    Beach Head chuckled. “Well, if you can’t find a babysitter, just force the kid to stay in one place.”

    “Stop calling me a kid,” Elle said jokingly. “I’m not a kid,”

    “How old are you?” Shipwreck asked.

    “Twenty-Four,”

    Shipwreck wailed. “She’s just a baby! What is Hawk thinking?”

    Beach Head shook his head. “It’s either ‘kid,’ or a number. And from what I hear, most people would prefer the former.”

    “Fine, it doesn’t matter.” She looked at her watch and continued eating as she listened to the guys talk about random things. They really were forced to socialize…and they really were all friends. Elle liked all of them. They all had unique personalities that somehow went together. She’d always been big on the ‘military family’ thing, but she’d never seen it so obviously before.

-------

    “So,” General Hawk said, glancing up at Beach Head, who had just come into his office. “How did the first day go?”

    “Matthews kept up. She has incredible physical strength that she’s been building ever since she was in her early teens. Equally good stamina.”

     “How about her attitude?”

    “She shows a lot of motivation and initiative. Charisma too. She tries to please, seek approval.” He thought back. “But she seems too much like a follower, doesn’t know what to do if someone’s not telling her what to do. I think she’s just like that since she’s new, though. And she’ll grow out of it, most likely.”

    “That’s good. Did she mention anything about Cobra?”

    “No sir.”

    “Or her experience with them?”

    “Not a word.”

    “Do you think she’s good enough to continue through training?”

    Beach Head nodded. “Sure. I’d say she’s an eight out of ten. A few rough spots, but those can always be fixed.”

    “I’m worried that she won’t want to stay here and ask to leave. If she does, I’m afraid I can’t legally keep her here.”

    “Then there’s always the other option: Hogtie them and teach them some sense. But no, I think she’ll want to stay here. She was already in the army, and this is barely any different, except that we have cooler stuff.”

    Hawk agreed, and shooed him away with one hand. “Alright. You’re free to go.”

    Beach Head did as ordered and paused outside the door. He’d never given anyone an 8/10 in his life. He himself was only a 9/10. But, if anyone was qualified to apprentice under Snake Eyes, it was probably her. She understood him better than most people anyway, and treated him like a human being, not a freaky cyborg.

     “Ow.” Elle said, looking up at her instructor, who was standing next to her, holding a Bo staff. Her own Bo staff had been thrown several feet from her when she hit the ground. “Ow,” she repeated, standing up and retrieving the staff.

    It hadn’t actually hurt that bad, but after running fifty miles in five days, everything hurt. Sitting down, walking, and thinking. Tomorrow was her recuperation day, which she was looking forward to, but until then, she had to do self-defense training with Snake Eyes. She wasn’t sure if it was self-defense training, actually. He hadn’t said that, nobody had said that, but most of the lesson consisted of her trying to defend herself, and therefore, it was self-defense.

She could tell he was going easy on her. He felt no physical strain as he just whacked at her and watched her try to bring the staff up in time.

    The Bo staff swept down at her feet and she hopped over it, then stepped away as it came again from the other side. She tried hitting him on the shoulder, but he easily side stepped. After dodging another sweep, Elle spun around with the staff in both hands to block yet another hit. She failed to deflect as his staff came around yet again and hit her hard on the side. She managed to hold onto the staff this time, but all the strength to even hold it up was gone.

    “I can’t…I don’t even know what I’m doing,” She refused to sit down, but hoped that a plea would be enough for him to let her take the rest of the hour off, which was forty-five minutes. “Beach Head wore me out, and I can’t even hold this stupid thing up anymore.”

    He relaxed his fighting stance and rested a hand on her shoulder. He nodded twice.

    “I can go?” Elle said, hopeful.

    He shook his head and took a few steps back and demonstrated with his Bo staff. He held it firmly in both hands, each hand about a foot apart. He then slowly moved it in a downward motion, pausing as it reached waist-level. Then, he moved it forward and switched the direction, so that the imaginary target would have an ‘X’ sliced in it. He gestured to her.

    Elle took the Bo staff and began repeating what he had done. He stopped her and pushed her feet to shoulder-width apart and nodded. She did it again, going a little faster than he had. Snake Eyes reached out and slowed it down, guiding it slowly. Elle decided to do it exactly how he had done it. He didn’t stop her, but made a ‘continue’ motion with his hand. She did this for the rest of the hour and into the second hour. He stood by and watched, then stopped her and showed her a horizontal cut. Elle knew that this was wearing her out, but much slower than before. After all, doing an hour of anything is exhausting. Even when you’re sleeping, because then you’re exhausted from not getting enough sleep.

    After another hour of doing horizontal cuts, he showed her the transition between the vertical and horizontal cuts. Elle obliged, although she was pretty sure that she was dead on her feet now. After the first ten cuts, she was ready to move on. It did get boring after a while. But she assumed, yes, yes, it was building muscle memory, although the muscles she was using were all flimsy and probably not in the best shape for memorizing anything. Soon, or late, rather, the hour was up and Snake Eyes motioned for her to stop. She did so, gladly.

    He rarely used sign-language, but he did so this time to tell her, ‘get some rest.’

    She said, “No problem.” She took the staff and placed it on the stand. “See you tomorrow.”

    He shook his head.

    “Oh, you’ve got places to be.”

    He shook his head again.

    “You’re not going anywhere? Then why won’t I see you tomorrow-oh, you want me to take the day off,”

    He nodded.

    “Alright. Well, thank you.” She left him there and went to her dorm-room. Never had a plain, crisp, military-made bed looked so good. After taking a long, hot shower, she fluffed up the pillow, which felt like God’s wrath had been sent down upon her, and laid down. She fell asleep within seconds, which she was grateful for. Even though she hurt like hell, it was always a satisfying reward to lay down at the end of the day and know that you’d accomplished technically nothing, and you hurt really badly for it, but at least you looked good.

    The next morning, she woke up at 4 out of habit, and went immediately to the library, which was so quiet, that it hurt to breath. She found dozens of books on self-defense and every single martial arts form that you could ever want to know about, but she chose one on Bo staff techniques. She started up the coffee machine after running to go get donuts from the commissary, and sat down, opening the book. She spent several hours poring over the book and committing as much of it to memory as possible. After a while, she decided to check it out and take it to the training area, so she could practice a little with a real staff.

     The training area was just as empty as it had been last night when she’d been there, so that was a relief. She didn’t have to worry about people watching her. She soon realized that she was too sore to really put her heart into it. She wasn’t even sure why she was doing this on her day off. Snake Eyes had told her to get some rest, and she had technically listened, but he probably meant today, too. And Elle was fairly certain that he hadn’t meant wake up at four and practice katas. Well…shucks. She spent another thirty minutes practicing before going for a walk. It was only seven, and the base was getting busy- cadets going to their training, soldiers going to their assigned posts, and off-duties going to different places, whether it was on or off base. And then there was Elle- going on a walk for no reason to no place in particular. She just went wherever her feet took her, which tended to be where there was few or zero people, which tended to be not in the cadet area. She had been given a card with her name, rank, picture, and number that allowed her to get in the more restricted off-limits-to-cadets areas. She didn’t like scanning the card, because every time she did, it was logged and saved on a computer somewhere, and sent to Snake Eyes and General Hawk, which was unsettling. Who had time to read those, though?

    A long while later, she found herself in the ‘off limits to cadets’ area, which was like the special forces equivalent of an abandoned shopping center. Not quite abandoned, but pretty empty, even for a Sunday. She found a bench in a quiet corner and sat down. For Nevada, this was a small oasis. Elle wondered who watered it every day. As if to answer her question, the sprinklers across the way turned on. Of course. She closed her eyes and focused on the big picture of what she needed to do. She was training, yes, but for what? There’s only one reason people train to fight, and that’s if they’re expecting to get in a fight. Elle consented to this. She had, after all, signed up for the Army anyway, and that part wasn’t any different. A fight against evil, was just a fight against evil. No matter who it was or where you were. But this kind of training? She definitely wouldn’t get her Medic badge from this, and from the looks of it, she was training up to be an intelligence agent. That wouldn’t be too bad, she figured. She’d always wanted to be a secret agent, and that’s…literally what this was, but the only thing that prevented her from accepting it was that she was basically forced to do it, thanks to Cobra and General Hawk.

    Cobra. Up until a few months ago, she’d never heard of them, which, she couldn’t decide who should be more insulted by that. Them, or her, but they were real. And they were deadly. Nearly two months ago, she had been happily doing her job as an army private, when she somehow found herself on a deadly guard mission. Twombly. Elle wasn’t sure if he was okay or not after the explosion, but if she got out, surely he did too. What had they been guarding? She didn’t even know. But whatever it was, Cobra had wanted it. Badly. She’d been a POW for a while as they tried finding out everything she knew about the ‘product,’ which she knew less about then they did, and then she found out more about them when she planned her own escape and managed to get lucky by reading some computer files. Then, right when her plan started going downhill, G.I.Joe just happened to show up and help her. It was a series of fortunate events, for sure. Roadblock, Scarlett, and Snake Eyes were the main Joe’s leading the mission to actually break out one of their own. Breaking Elle out had been a complete accident, and an added bonus. General Hawk had informed her Army overseers that she was safe and with Special Forces. They didn’t argue. Elle had been a little upset, because she didn’t get to see her old pals, and her personal stuff hadn’t even come yet. She was still using the free hotel-grade items in her dorm room…

    She thought about her stay at the temporary Cobra base in Argentina. She felt so angry. What had they protecting? The officers should have told them how dangerous the job was going to be. From the questions they asked, she assumed it was a super-soldier serum, but really? Why would the army have that? She had been working on one of the most medical-oriented bases the army had, but she hardly thought that would make a difference.

------
One Year Later:

    Elle felt her feet slide on the slick ice as she tried to find her footing. She regained her balance and continued walking across the frozen lake. Survival training with Snake Eyes was just…the worst. She had rather enjoyed desert survival training with Dusty, because he was funny and liked to talk and explain things. (Not to mention good-looking, with that sharp jaw, perfect chin and nose. And his dusty blond hair…) and survival training with Recondo in the Amazon jungle had been great, because he was an adrenaline junkie who loved hands-on experiences, which made for some pretty interesting stories. But survival training with Snake Eyes. She could sum that up with the words, freezing, painful, desolate, and hard. Everything was hard. The training, the food, the ground. Snake Eyes seemed right at home, but Elle was struggling. This wasn’t training. This was survival. Every day, she fought for her life. He showed her how to hunt, ice fish, start a fire in FREEZING TEMPERATURES, stay warm so she could go to sleep at night, and on top of everything else, how to fight.

    Right now, she carried her bow staff in front of her and walked carefully across the frozen river. She was learning how to do two things. One, walk across ice. Two, how to check if the ice was too thin. Elle carried the Bo staff so that if she fell in, she could possibly stop herself from getting swept away in the under current. Because she could guarantee that Snake Eyes wouldn’t help her if she did. She looked at him, on the other bank of the river. He had already crossed before her, and was now standing with his arms crossed, watching her intently. She was having an internal panic attack. Anyone who has ever walked on sketchy ice over deep water knows the feeling: a sinking in your gut that clenches every time you take an unsure step. Lightheadedness from holding your breath, trying to not breathe in order to hear even the slightest crack. Elle paused hesitantly when she saw the ice was a darker color. She looked for a way around, and realized that this was the way around. Snake Eyes had walked on it, but that meant it was far from safe. She lowered herself to the ice and began to slowly inch forward, Bo staff still in hand. Every crack seemed to be louder than the last, threatening to throw her into the black waters below. She stopped, getting a feeling that she had to either turn around, or break the ice.

    “Snake Eyes,” She shouted. “I don’t think I can make it,” She glanced up at him, and he remained motionless. Biting her lip, she continued to inch forward, trying to remember what to do. Spread weight, feel light, focus. Focus… “SNAKE-!”

    Cold, black water rippled around her as the ice broke completely. It had a paralyzing effect, like the cold hand of fear. Her mind went completely blank, yet she managed to hold onto the Bo staff, which was still above the ice. She got her head above water and screamed, then began gasping for air. Her chest felt tight, and her limbs were rapidly losing function. She pulled her arms around the hole and tried getting her legs over the side. After two minutes of intense struggling, she managed to pull herself out of the hole and remained motionless.

    “I’m n-not going to c-cry,” She whispered to herself. “I’m o-okay,” She didn’t move until she got her courage back. She wasn’t past the danger yet. As she slooowly moved forward on the very thin ice, she thought back and was pretty sure that she’d seen Snake Eyes take a step forward when she went under. No way. He was probably worried he’d lose this gear. She stopped when she saw a boot next to her. She looked up, surprised to see that the boot was Snake Eyes’. He held out his hand, and she gladly took it. He lifted her up out of the water that was seeping onto the ice from her weight pushing it down. Elle had no idea how he could do it. He pulled her towards the safer ice, and she slid to safety. She was shivering worse than before, and getting weaker by the second.

    “S-sorry,” She stuttered, following him to the frozen river bank. They went to the tents, which were half a mile away and started a fire. Elle dried off while Snake Eyes got wood for the fire. Her wet set of clothes was set out to dry, and thankfully she had an extra set of everything. She looked curiously at her hardcore instructor. “Is your helmet heated?”

    He shook his head.

    “Bummer,” She mumbled. She pulled up her scarf and hood, leaving no room to see. Hugging herself was the best option, because it warmed her hands and torso, and having her feet closest to the fire warmed them nicely. “I failed, didn’t I?”

    He shrugged and poked at the fire.

    “Oh-ho man,” She wrapped what she personally called her ‘Jedi robes’ closer and sighed. “That was so cold.”

    He tapped her on the head with the Bo staff. ‘You lived,’ he signed.

    “True. We’re going back tomorrow, right?”

    Nod.

    “Okay. Say, what would happen if I got hypothermia? Would we go back to the Joe base?”

    He shook his head.

    “Hm. Because we’re not supposed to be back until three weeks from now. I forgot.” She peeked out of her cocoon. “Do you do this a lot? Winter survival stuff?”

    Nod.

    “Hm.” She stopped talking for the rest of the day and slept by the fire, which Snake Eyes kept alive. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could continue with this training. She was physically done. And longing for some normal company.

     Elle woke up excited. One week left. Only a week out of four months of training left. After the whole ice incident, things had gotten horrible, and then better. She was still getting over the cold she’d gotten from falling in the river, but it had improved tremendously. She sat up and packed up her knives and Glock. After tying her shoes, she started out for her trek. Every morning before breakfast, she sat with Snake Eyes on top of the mountain, where she meditated. She wasn’t sure what he was doing, but she was meditating. The cold was the perfect thing to wake her up. It felt like a slap, perfect for waking up. Japan was great. Even in the winter, it was gorgeous. The highlands were a great place to find oneself in what she called, ‘super self-denial’ training.

    She looked at the trail that they had worn down over the days. Her footsteps, easily recognizable, because they were smaller, short-stride, compared to Snake’s larger steps and longer stride. They walked in the exact same footsteps every time, but even if you tried to do this, it would eventually get sloppy over time. The trail was a long winding trail that led to the near-top of a small mountain. It took about an hour to walk up, and that was at a fairly quick pace. Elle had gotten quicker and more adept at climbing the mountains, but she wasn’t quite at Snake’s level.

    She paused on an overlook and sat down to watch the sunrise. It was beautiful. The sun came up over the white, misty mountains, shining on the ice caps of the taller mountains and the trees on the lower parts, leading into the forests. A fog was hanging around and coming up from the forest. A few birds flew through the crystal clear sky, sending their calls through the crisp air. It smelled like pine and clean, mountain water. She sighed deeply, taking in the mountain air, then she moved on, up the path. She reached the end of the trail and was surprised. He wasn’t there. He hadn’t been at the camp…but he knew she would be here. She sat down where she usually sat- the flat topped rock next to where Snake Eyes usually sat. It was lower and didn’t have as great a view as his spot, but she didn’t take it, in case he showed up.

    The sun rose to mid-morning, and he still hadn’t come. She wasn’t worried, because he often left by himself, once for two days. She simply continued with her daily schedule and began practicing her katas, with her Bo and Katana. For a guy who didn’t talk, he’d taught Elle so much. She began to respect his quiet ways and his methods, which was always patient, respectful, and methodical. He was by no means slow, but he seemed to prefer to put meaning and thought into everything that he did. When he fought, however, he was an unstoppable war machine, quicker than Quick Kick, and more deadly than anyone she’d ever heard of. She liked it when he wanted her to mimic him. It was like having a dad, and Elle found it rather nice. She finished her katas and looked up at the storm brewing behind the mountain range. She sighed and headed back down the trail. The wind was picking up, and the November air was chillier than usual.

    “Snake Eyes?” she said out loud as she reached their small camp. “Are you here?”

    There was no reply.

    Two nights later, he still hadn’t returned, and Elle really began to wonder. There was no way he went back to the base. She shrugged to herself and decided to go ahead and look for him. If she didn’t find him, she’d head to the rendezvous point without him. By the time she reached the base of the Niigata mountains, her training time would be up and she’d be ready to go back to Joe HQ, in Arizona, where it was nice and warm.

     She packed up the backpack and slung it over her shoulder, then paused, looking at the other tent. It wasn’t her stuff, so she wasn’t going to touch it, but it felt kind of weird just leaving it there. With a shrug, she left. It was really a relief to finally leave, and she was glad she hadn’t been forced to stay longer than four months. Four months isn’t actually that long, but when you’re 24, four months is a very, very long time. You could make or break your future in that space of time, and Elle had spent that just trying to stay alive through the frigid winter months doing nothing except training. The training wasn’t for nothing, of course, and Elle could tell that she was a heckuva lot better at all this stuff than when she’d first come to this place.

     As she watched her footing while walking down the slippery path, she felt an uneasy feeling wash over her. On a sudden impulse, she dropped into a crouch. A shuriken thudded into a tree next to her. Shurikens aren’t meant to kill (well, they could), she knew, rather to distract or delay. And even though she knew this, it always seemed to distract her, delay her, or both.  She stared at the shuriken, decided it wasn’t Snake Eyes’, and then yelped, realising that she was looking precisely where she shouldn’t. It was too late to dodge the next blow, which wasn’t from a shuriken, but rather from something heavy and solid. It struck on the left side of her face, and she moved with the momentum, which landed her three feet forward in the snow.

     “HEY!” She yelled, turning around. No one was there. She grimaced and slid the backpack off silently as she reached for her katana.

     A silver glint caught her attention in her peripheral vision. No doubt another shuriken. She hopped back just enough to avoid getting hit. She saw the source of the projectile: A tall someone in white. It wasn’t Snake Eyes, because she could see his eyes through his white balaclava. To Elle, it looked like a ninja who had more style-sense then she would ever have. He stood perfectly still, staring at her. She shifted her weight to a more comfortable position as she thought.

     It wasn’t Snake Eyes. He wasn’t afraid to hurt her. He looked like a ninja, threw shurikens, carried two katanas...she was in Japan, after all. But he wore white boots that were also much cooler than anything she owned, and real ninjas wear jika-tabi boots. Elle knew that thanks to stereotyping. When she was little, she would pull at the fronts of her socks, tuck them in between her toes, and run around, pretending she was a ninja, and to complete the amatuer emsemble, would wrap a shirt around her face as a mask. Plus, ninjas are like, assassins. And Elle was fairly certain no one would go to enough trouble to hire someone to kill her. She could do that easily enough herself, for goodness sakes. So, therefore, Elle came to the conclusion that 1. He was seriously lost. 2. He was Cobra. The second option seemed much more plausible since he seemed super kick-butt.

     There was a heavy silence as they both stared at each other. He squinted slightly as she shifted her weight again, then squinted harder when she nearly fell over as she stood up. She held her katana at the ready, mimicking the famous ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi stance.’ It was funny and a little sad, because she actually knew a bit of Soresu, which at times showed during her training. During these times, Snake would lower his sword and stare at her until she apologized. The man in white held his swords in an almost ‘X’ shape, carrying them Zatoichi, or icepick, style. She shifted her feet into ready stance. His hold indicated that he was planning on a more close-range sword fight. His katanas were considerably shorter than hers, which could be seen as an advantage. For either of them, but most likely, him.

     He make the first move, bringing one sword down and the other up. This exposed his right side, which Elle aimed for, but he spun and brought around his white boot, sliding down her sword, pushing it away. She used her free hand to push away his kick. She crouched down and swept her leg around, attempting to knock the ninja off-balance. He moved just enough to avoid her foot, then sliced down at her. She jumped back in an instant, causing him to lurch forward slightly more than he anticipated. This moment of surprise allowed Elle to stand up and launch a series of blows which he blocked successfully. He flipped his swords to a front grip and sliced down at her with both of them. Elle sidestepped and held up her sword to block, moved the sword with her movement, and before she could reach his shoulder, he moved away and kicked under her guard.

     Elle had anticipated this movement and expected it. Instead of continuing to slice his shoulder, she leaned forward in an undignified manner in order to dodge the kick, then pushed forward with her shoulder to throw him off-balance. She used her free hand to pull a kunai knife from her pants pocket and managed to scrape his thigh as she turned away. Before he stepped back, he returned the favor and hit her arm with the very tip of his sword. They both looked at the tiny scrapes they’d given each other, then looked back at each other.

     The ninja didn’t looked pleased. Elle on the other hand, was silently laughing. She knew he’d underestimated her, and she had too, and now he was a little surprised. He dropped his swords and Elle followed suit. Apparently, they were doing the honorable, “We must determine with hand-to-hand combat who shall win.” Elle wasn’t particularly interested in fighting a fit adult male. But especially not hand-to-hand.

     “Hold up. Who are you-?” She didn’t have time to finish as she sidestepped his first open-fisted blow. She pushed his arm away from her with one of her hands and stepped her foot down, aiming for his foot. He moved his foot and stood on the other, then brought the one he moved to hit her in the stomach. Elle blew out the air in her lungs to avoid getting knocked out. She doubled over as his boot struck her in the lower ribs and cracked. After half a second, she spun to kick with her left leg. As he blocked by violently throwing her leg toward the ground, she let loose the kunai in her right hand. He caught it and tossed it to the ground, so quickly that she barely had time to throw the second one. Her foot hit the ground with so much force, she fell forward slightly, which gave him the opportunity to hit the side of her head with his fist. She waited a second before the branch she’d thrown the knife at decided to fall. There was a torrent of snow and Elle let out a grunt, which was supposed to be a laugh, but ended up sounding like she was sick. She body-slammed him into the tree, causing even more snow to fall. The move was unexpected, even to Elle, who wasn’t sure what to do next. She drove up her knee as hard as she could, hitting him in the stomach. He pushed her away, and she stood back a couple feet.

     They both stared at each other again.

     She glanced up after spitting blood into the snow. “Who the heck are you?”

     The ninja in white stared at her. “Who are you?”

     She nodded at the red logo on his shoulder. “Not a fan,”

     He picked up his katanas, placing one in its sheath on his back and swinging the other in a leisurely arc. “Unfortunate.” He studied her. She kept up alright, but if he really wanted to, he could’ve killed her whenever.

     “So, I thought you might’ve been here to test me, but I’m thinking you have literally nothing to do with me, right?”

     “No.”

     “No-as in, I’m wrong? Or no-as in, I’m right?”

     “Right.”

     “Who are you looking for?”

     “I could ask the same, although I believe we’re looking for the same person.”

     “Humph.” She crossed her arms. “He’s never mentioned he had a Cobra friend.”

      He squinted. “He never mentioned anything. And if you think I don’t know who you are, you’re wrong. If you’re trying to hide from Cobra, you’re failing.”

     “Not hiding; not failing. But, if we’re both looking for him, we might as well look together.”

     He scoffed lightly. “I can find him on my own.”

     She shrugged. “So can I,” she slid her katana in the back strap and went over to her backpack, sliding it on. She touched her shoulder, and wiped her fingers on her ‘jedi robes.’

     He watched her keep walking in the other direction.

     She paused. “And when you follow me, I suggest you either don’t get in my way, or make it obvious that you’re following me.” She continued down the now-slushy path.

     The white ninja followed her.

     She smirked to herself, then turned to show him that she was indeed, smirking. He looked none too pleased to see the expression and squinted at her, like usual. She turned to face the direction she was walking and cleared her throat. “I have five days to find him. After that, I’m leaving.”

     “Why are you looking for him then?”

     “Why are you?”

     “Does that matter?” He asked, getting into step next to her.

     “Do you always answer a question with a question? And yes, it does matter to me.”

     “Answering a question with a question is giving an answer, telling you that it can be determined through reason.”

     She thought about it. It could be determined through reason why an enemy ninja was hunting down her military ninja instructor...actually it was kind of obvious, but it wasn’t that obvious. “Hm.” She looked up at him and paused. It suddenly clicked. She’d read every file that she could ever possibly get her hands on.

     This wasn’t just an enemy ninja. This was possibly the most dangerous person she’d ever met.