Detroit, May, 1994
Hawk hated wearing civilian clothes at the best of times, but the casual work-shirt and jeans he was currently wearing made him even more uncomfortable. Unfortunately, the GI Joe safe house was in an area of Detroit where a US Army two-star general would stand out like a hot dog at a Bar Mitzvah. He shifted slightly and looked around the dining table at the assembled Joe squad: Shockwave, Mace, Bullhorn, Long Arm and Barricade.
Shockwave had been with the team several years and was an experienced SWAT officer. Bullhorn was a former FBI hostage negotiator given a temporary commission in the US Army as a Captain and serving in the same job, but he barely got out of the P.I.T. most days. Long Arm and Barricade were recent recruits to the Joes, both specialising in kicking in doors and clearing buildings in urban operations. Mace, however, was another former FBI agent who specialised in undercover operations. He was dressed in the coveralls of a local air conditioning maintenance company.
?Alright, what have we got?? Hawk asked.
Mace put a set of building plans on the table. ?This is the target,? he began. ?Local factory; closed down two years ago. Bought recently by an undisclosed company, through a local lawyer. A guy working as a security guard at another building reported to the local Bureau office that he?d seen several ?suspicious? people moving gear in late at night and then four days ago, he?d heard a lot of screaming.?
Hawk frowned at that.
?Surveillance of the site indicates the only individual who?s left the property is this man,? Mace put down a photo, showing a White male, in his thirties with long brown hair. ?Suspect has been identified as a Cobra operative known only as ?Hotwire?, thanks to a file we recovered from a Cobra safehouse recently. The file indicates he is a mechanical and engineering genius, schooled at MIT. He was involved in some shady research into cybernetic enhancements for humans. Seems they kicked him out and he joined Cobra.?
?Sounds like a complete loon,? Hawk commented.
?I know,? Mace agreed, ?but the worry we have is, is this guy actually trying it out??
Hawk exchanged looks with the others. The idea seemed plausible, if far-fetched. Cobra had been deploying Battle Android Troopers for years, after all, and trying to create some kind of B-movie style cyborgs was the kind of lunacy Hawk wouldn?t put past them.
?I take it I?m here to authorise a raid?? Hawk said.
Bullhorn nodded, ?We hope that I can get him to come out peacefully; failing that, we let these guys,? he gestured to Long Arm, Shockwave and Barricade, ?do their thing. Kick the door in and grab him.?
Hawk looked the team over. ?Mission is a ?go?,? he said.
Bullhorn turned to the others, ?Get your gear ready, we?ll move at sun-down.?
Mace held up a hand, making everyone pause. ?Hold up, what about posse comitatus? Military personnel aren?t allowed to conduct law enforcement functions.?
?GI Joe operates under executive authorisation to carry out counter-terrorist operations against Cobra and other groups in the US,? Hawk replied. ?Besides which, you?re a Federal Agent, so is Bullhorn, Shockwave is a Detroit SWAT cop and you can always deputise Long Arm and Barricade.?
Mace shrugged. ?Okay.?
Night-fall
The Cobra factory
The Joes moved into position, a van blocking the main gate in front of the doors. Bullhorn, in full tactical gear, stepped down from the van. He took a large loud hailer from Barricade and turned to face the building.
?Attention, this is GI Joe. Surrender and come out with your hands up, you?re under arrest!?
?Nice work, Bullhorn,? Barricade said, as he pulled on his helmet, ?That ought to do it.? He picked up his sub-machine gun, checked there was a round chambered and then snapped the safety off.
Behind Bullhorn, Mace was taking his M4 carbine off the rack on the van?s door as Shockwave pulled his balaclava into place and picked up his own MAC-10 sub-machine gun. Long Arm steered a radio-controlled tank-like vehicle down the ramp at the back of the van and then loaded a sledgehammer like projectile into its gun.
?Knock-knock!? was painted on the end of the hammer?s head.
After a few more moments, Bullhorn raised his loud hailer again. ?If you don?t surrender, we will storm this building!?
Inside, Hotwire had been eating a slice of cold two-day-old pizza when the first hail had come. He had rushed from his sofa to the security desk where a series of monitors relayed pictures from CCTV camera on the outside of the building.
?Overkill!? he hollered. Heavy metallic footsteps sounded and then an over-large mechanoid stomped into the room.
?Yes?? the mechanoid asked in a buzzing voice.
?GI Joe is outside! Begin deploying the B.A.T.s to hold them off!?
The mechanoid nodded its bronze-coloured head, its red eyes glowing. As it turned away, the mech removed its right hand and replaced it with an enormous mechanical claw. Overkill stomped into the main room of the factory.
?B.A.T.s attack!? it shouted. ?Destroy!?
The android troopers looked around at the mechanoid, before turning toward the doors. Some picked up assault rifles from racks near them; others snapped guns into place on their right wrist. A few connected flamethrowers to their arms; connecting a fuel hose to backpack tanks they wore. Others snapped long blade-like weapons into place.
Outside, Long Arm steered the tank toward the doors.
He hit a button on the control. A compressed gas hiss sounded as the sledgehammer was fired into the doors, smashing them apart.
?Remember, we want him alive,? Bullhorn said as he picked up his shotgun.
Long Arm moved the tank clear as the team headed for the doors. Then, out of the gloom, the B.A.T.s began to approach.
?BATS! BATS! BATS!? Barricade yelled, ?Take them out!?
He immediately opened fire. The first burst shattered the faceplate of one of the androids, but it kept coming, turning its gun toward him. Before it could fire, Mace fired his M4, shattering the B.A.T.?s arm. It dropped the assault rifle and turned toward Mace. The FBI agent fired his M4 again, smashing rounds into the android?s legs.
The other Joes had already started firing at the mass of androids. They staggered back, under the gunfire, but ultimately kept coming.
?Screw this,? Long Arm said, he pulled a grenade from his tactical armour, pulled the pin and threw it.
The explosion ripped apart some of the B.A.T.s but the rest kept coming. The Joes began to fall back as the androids kept trying to fire at them. Those equipped with flamethrowers began moving forward, pushing past their mechanical brethren and began unleashing sheets of fire at the Joes.
Shockwave fired at burst that hit a flamer wielding B.A.T. and destroyed the fuel tank. The explosion took out a half dozen B.A.T.s near it, but more of the battle android troopers kept coming.
Barricade ran back to the van, as the rest of the team kept laying down fire, reloading their weapons as fast as they could. Barricade emerged from the van carrying a large anti-tank weapon.
?Cover!? he hollered.
The other Joes dived aside. Barricade fired, the rocket ploughed through five B.A.T.s before its warhead finally detonated, blowing apart several dozen of the androids. Flying shrapnel caused several secondary explosions as more of the flame-thrower wielding androids were hit, the fireballs obliterating more of their brethren.
Bullhorn abandoned his shotgun as he moved in, snatching up one of the fallen Battle Android Trooper?s assault rifles. The number of B.A.T.s had been thinned out considerably, but there were still plenty of them. Most of the ones left were armed with blades or crushing claws on their arms, or guns.
The Joes opened fire once more, taking down several more of the B.A.T.s as they advanced. One swung its sword arm at Barricade, who managed to deflect the blow with his gun. The blade sliced through it. Long Arm fired at the B.A.T. as it reared back for another try. The android dropped. He fired another burst into its chest, smashing circuits and relays. Barricade grabbed an assault rifle off the ground, before jumping back as a B.A.T. torso feebly tried to grab his leg with its remaining arm. He quickly shot the B.A.T. torso.
?Holy cow,? he yelped, ?This is getting like a damn zombie movie!?
Shockwave ducked as one of the B.A.T.s with a large claw arm tried to grab his throat, then staggered back and fired his last three rounds into its face. He dropped the MAC-10, drew his sidearm and fired another two rounds into the android?s chest. It collapsed.
?No kidding,? he said. ?I never did like Romero movies!?
Mace was too busy to answer, wrestling another B.A.T. with a claw arm as it tried to take his M4 off him. Finally he kicked the B.A.T. in the torso, sending it staggering back a few paces and then emptied his magazine into its chest. He reloaded.
?Last mag,? he called out before shooting another B.A.T. as it swung its blade arm at his head.
?Two left,? replied Shockwave, as he retrieved his MAC-10.
Bullhorn yelled out in pain before anyone else could comment as he was hit in the chest by one of the androids with a gun-arm. Mace and Shockwave fired at it, as Long Arm rushed to the federal agent?s side.
?I?m okay,? Bullhorn said, ?Body armour took the damage, but it still hurts.?
?Yeah, you?ll have a nice bruise there after,? Long Arm replied.
Most of the B.A.T.s equipped with guns were now out of ammo, having wasted most of it, trying to hit the Joes and winding up hitting their cybernetic comrades.
Mace threw a grenade at the others as they advanced, claw-arms snapping, blades raised to strike.
The explosion took out most of them. A few shattered B.A.T.s tried to crawl after them, only to be shot by Bullhorn with his shotgun, before he switched to the assault rifle once more. The team advanced.
The Joes had now made it into the building. More of the robotic killers were still coming toward them however.
?Goddamn,? Long Arm cursed as he threw another grenade into their mass, ?How many of these things are there??
Hotwire watched as the Joes continued to fight their way through his army of B.A.T.s. He turned to see Overkill standing protectively nearby.
The green, red and bronze-coloured mechanoid had been built as the first of a new generation of B.A.T, more intelligent and more adaptive than the crude mark I and mark II types Cobra had previously fielded. However, that increase in capability came at a cost. Overkill was too expensive to mass-produce. Instead, Hotwire used it as his B.A.T. commander and bodyguard.
?Overkill, deploy the Cyber-Vipers and the Mega-Vipers. Let?s see what my newest creations can do, eh?? Hotwire cackled to himself as Overkill stomped away to another room in the factory.
The Joes advanced into the main room of the factory, the assembly line dominating the chamber. Partially assembled B.A.T.s were still in place on conveyors, work surfaces or hanging from other parts of the line.
?Check your corners,? Barricade cautioned. ?Keep an eye out for more of them.?
The team moved around the machinery cautiously, their rifles sweeping back and forth as they scanned the room.
Then a door slammed open. The team span toward the sound in unison. Rifles in the aim, they moved forward slowly.
Standing in the doorway were two bizarre looking figures. They moved forward, others following them. The lead figure was dressed in red trousers, but with the right thigh missing, showing what looked like a mechanical construct replacing the leg. Metal plating covered the chest of the figure, whilst it?s right arm ended in a sophisticated mechanical hand. Its face was hidden behind a yellow visor, a pipe of some kind covering the nose and snaking into the jaw. The top and back of the head were covered with yellow metal plating. The figure carried a large rifle. The second figure, also clearly some kind of man-machine with a helmet completely covering its face. A bright yellow jumpsuit covered it from neck to feet, with hideously clashing purple boots, gloves and some kind of mechanical device on the chest. It was also carrying a rifle.
