Friendship Is Half the Battle

It was nighttime at the boat harbor. A man dressed like a sea captain stood behind the counter of his shop waiting for customers to come in. Then a man wearing a long dark raincoat stepped in. He had the hood of his coat up making it hard to see his face.

“Ahoy there matey.” The sea captain called to the man in a playful sailor-like accent. “Are ye here lookin’ to buy a boat for some seafarin’?”

The hooded man approached the counter. “As a matter of fact, I am.”

“Well, we’ve got all sorts of sturdy vessels around here capable of crossin’ the great blue.”

“Actually, I was wondering if you a special kind of vessel.” Then the man pulled a small card out of his pocket and showed it to the sea captain. The card had a red symbol that looked like the head of a cobra snake and under it was a few numbers.

Suddenly, the sea captain’s jolly exterior turned to serious one. He looked around the shop to make sure no one else was inside or outside. “I think I might have what you’re looking for.” And he led the strange man through a door and down a few stairs into a secret room where in an open hole in the floor was a strange looking one-man submarine with the same red snake symbol floating in the sea water.

“Is this what you were looking for?” asked the sea captain.

“Yes it is.” The man said taking off the hood of his raincoat revealing himself to be none other than Firefly.

“Well, better be shovin’ off now.” The sea captain said as he made his way back up to his shop. “Hail Cobra!” he whispered to Firefly before he left.

When the captain was gone, Firefly hopped into his mini sub, hit a few buttons and flipped a few switches, and then the sub dove into the water and was off.

After an hour and a half of traveling in open ocean, the sub entered a huge mist. Suddenly, the sub’s navigation instruments shut down. It was able to travel but not know where it was going. Firefly wasn’t nervous though, he pulled a compass out of his pocket. “The navigation instruments have shut down. That means I’ve entered the emp field and I must be getting close. Have to thank Mindbender for that. Now I just need to remember what directions to take.”

After a half hour of navigating with a compass, Firefly saw a very familiar site through the window of his sub. “I’m here.” He said to himself as he entered a dark underwater cave. He drove the sub up towards the surface where he found himself in a submarine docking bay hidden in the cave.

As he exited his sub, he was immediately greeted with a group of soldiers wearing blue uniforms with the red snake symbol, black masks that covered their noses and mouths, and armed with rifles which they pointed at their newcomer. “Halt!” the squad leader shouted at Firefly.

“It’s me, Firefly.” He said raising his hands to show he wasn’t a danger to them.

“What’s the passcode?” the squad leader asked.

“All hail Cobra, the great snake rules forever.”

“Welcome back, Firefly.” And the squad of soldiers lowered their weapons.

They lead Firefly out of the cave and to a black armored vehicle sitting on a dirt road. They all hopped into the vehicle and drove off into a large forest. They drove through the forest for about a half hour till they came to a huge mountain base. The entrance of the mountain base was carved to look like a giant cobra head. “The Commander has been expecting you.” The squad leader said as the doors opened up allowing them to enter.

They drove through a room where other armored vehicles and big double-barreled tanks, called H.I.S.S. tanks, were all lined up in rows on both sides of the room. Soon they came to an elevator at the end of the room. Firefly dismounted from his ride and made his way toward the elevator. He pressed the up button on the control panel and after a moment the elevator doors opened. He entered the elevator, pressed a button and then the elevator doors closed.

After going up several floors, the elevator eventually stopped and the doors opened to reveal a long hallway leading to the entrance of another room at the end. Firefly exited the elevator and began walking down the hallway. Behind him standing on both sides of the elevator doors were two guards clad in red uniforms, each holding a rifle. These were called the Crimson Guard, the organization’s most elite security force. Firefly walked down to the end of the hallway until he found himself in another room.

It was a huge throne room. There were five huge monitor screens: two on opposite walls and one hanging from the ceiling facing the throne. Below each wall monitor was a small pit were operators, Tele-Vipers, operated computer screens. Between the Tele-Viper pits and monitor screens was a runway with a long red carpet leading from the room’s main entrance to the big golden throne shaped like the head of a cobra snake with ruby red eyes. Standing on both sides of the throne were some strange-looking individuals. On the right side was tall muscular man wearing a dark military uniform and a shiny iron mask (Destro, aka James McCullen XXIV: the owner of the M.A.R.S. weapons manufacturing company, and the weapons supplier of Cobra), a woman with long black hair, glasses, and wearing a tight black leather suit (the Baroness, aka Anastasia DeCobray: a European aristocrat who joined Cobra as its director of intelligence), a man clad in a white ninja outfit (Storm Shadow, aka Tommy Arashikage: a ninja from the Arashikage clan believed to had murdered his master and uncle, he now serves as Cobra’s ninja master), and a man with black armor, a mechanical right arm, and a patch over his left eye (Major Sebastian Bludd: known as one of the deadliest and lowest mercenaries in the world who will do anything if the pay is good). On the left side of the throne was a man wearing dark armor and a hood over his head that almost hid his face with the exception of his nose, mouth, and glowing yellow eyes (Zartan: a master spy and assassin who leads a mercenary and biker gang known as the Dreadnoks. A genetic mutation gave him the ability to change his skin color to blend in with the environment like a chameleon) and two men who looked exactly the same except for a scar across the latter’s left cheek (Tomax and Xamot: twin brothers who served as the commanders of the Crimson Guard and the corporate face of Cobra). And between these people, sitting on the golden snake throne, was a man wearing a blue dictator uniform, a blue helmet, and a featureless mirror mask that covered his entire face (Cobra Commander: the mysterious founder and leader of Cobra. Feared, power-hungry, psychopathic, and ruthless with no regard for human life, he has dedicated everything to conquering the entire world).

“Welcome back, Firefly.” Cobra Commander said in a chilling hissing voice, makes perfect sense that the leader of a snake themed organization should sound like a snake. “We will discuss the details of your assignment in a moment.” He waved Firefly to join Zartan, Tomax, and Xamot. “Bring in the prisoners!” The throne room’s main doors opened and in came a group of Crimson Guards escorting two prisoners: a vicious-looking man dressed in golden armor, a green cape, and a golden helmet shaped like the head of a snake, and a bald, mustached man wearing a monocle, purple pants, no shirt, and a black cape (Dr. Mindbender: a mad scientist responsible for creating many technological and biological weapons of Cobra).

“You dare do this to ME?!” shouted the golden armored man. “I AM Serpentor, the one true Emperor of Cobra, release me at once!”

“It is you who would dare to usurp MY leadership of Cobra.” The Commander hissed back at him. “You and your creator!” the Commander turned his attention toward the quivering Mindbender.

“Fool! I was created with the DNA of many of Earth’s greatest conquerors: Caesar, Napoleon, Attila, Alexander, Hannibal, Genghis Khan. I was created to succeed where you failed so many times!”

“And yet, I am the one still in charge.”

“I AM your master! And you will DO as I say! THIS I COM-!”

But before Serpentor could finish, Cobra Commander pressed a button on the right arm of his throne. The two ruby eyes on his throne started glowing bright red. Suddenly, two beams shot from the eyes and instantly turned the Cobra Emperor into a pile of ash. The guards who had brought in the prisoner narrowly avoided the beams themselves.

Mindbender stared trembling at the pile of dust that he had once considered his greatest creation. He could only wonder what the Commander had in store for him.

Bludd and Tomax had shocked and disturbed expressions. Destro, Baroness, Storm Shadow, and Firefly looked unfazed as if they expected that to happen. Zartan and Xamot looked quite pleased with what had just transpired. Xamot held out his hand to his brother as if expecting him to give him something. Tomax reluctantly pulled a wad of cash out of his pocket and handed it to his brother who smiled triumphantly.

“You have no idea how old that got.” Cobra Commander hissed. Then he turned his attention to Mindbender who looked like he was about to wet himself. “Did you really think this thing would serve as a true leader of Cobra, Mindbender?”

“Please, Commander.” Mindbender pleaded. “It was nothing personal. I was doing it for the cause of Cobra.”

“And you thought by creating a man made up of many long dead warlords and REPLACING ME with him would serve this organization better. He may have had the wisdom of ancient rulers, but he had nothing of a modern one. Give me one good reason why I should let you live.”

“I was a fool to think anyone else could lead Cobra better than you! Let me live and I will devote my brilliant intelligence to assist the goals of Cobra and its Commander! Please give me another chance!”

The whole room went silent for a moment, as the Commander pondered what to do with this treacherous scientist. “Very well, you may continue to serve as my chief of science.” Mindbender let out a sigh of relief. Tomax smiled smugly and held out his hand to Xamot who angrily took out another wad of cash and handed it to his brother. Then Cobra Commander spoke “But if I ever suspect you of treason again, you will wish you had never been born!”

“Sir?” asked one of the Crimson Guards. “What about the other prisoners?”

“Throw them in the Snake Pit; all traitors must be made examples of. And bring someone in to clean that up.” the Commander said pointing to the pile of ash. With that the guards left the room to carry out the command. Mindbender immediately took his place with Zartan, Tomax, and Xamot. Then the Commander rose from his throne to give a speech to everyone in the room. “Let this serve as an example to all who dare to even think of taking over my command. There have been rumors of me being a weak and cowardly leader. Well I think it’s time to dash those rumors once and for all. There will be no more plotting behind my back, there will be no more mistakes, there will none of your CRAP! NONE OF IT!” the Commander sat back in his throne. “Serve me well and I will give you the world. Betray me and I will WIPE you from the face of the Earth!” Then Cobra Commander turned his attention to Firefly. “Now that we have that out of the way, I believe Firefly has something he would like to report from his latest assignment.”

“Indeed, Commander.” Firefly said walking down into the closest Tele-Viper pit and handing a flash drive to one of the Vipers. “I think you all will find what I have to show you quite magical.” The Viper plugged the flash drive into a computer, typed a few keys, and soon each monitor was showing what Firefly had recorded with his binoculars. Images of teenage girls fighting demons with strange powers played on the screens. Everyone was staring in awe at what they were seeing. How could this be possible? Teenage girls with unimaginable powers!

“How is this possible?” Destro asked.

“These high school girls I have kept my eye on for some time possess a power unlike anyone has seen before.” Firefly explained. “They call it magic and they have done their best to hide it from most of the world. Or so they thought.”

“Am I supposed to believe that magic actually exists?!” Cobra Commander said as he watched the screen obsessively.

“A power that can give one the means to achieve anything they desire.” Mindbender pondered with excitement. “That is something worth researching. I must have one!”

“Commander, just imagine the possibilities we would have if we had magic on our side.” Baroness suggested. “With such power nothing would be able to stand against Cobra. Not even G.I. Joe!”

“Hold on a moment, let me show you something.” Firefly told a Tele-Viper to pause the video at a certain point. It stopped at an image of a purple haired and skinned girl holding a strange device in her hands. “This girl was able to build a device that not only detects magic but also steals it. I’m sure she might have the blueprints to this device somewhere at her school.”

“What is your decision, Commander?” Destro asked his leader.

Everyone waited to hear their leader’s final decision. First thing they heard was a small sinister chuckle. “With magic under our control, Cobra will finally be unstoppable! It’s time to begin Operation: Alakazam! Find those magic-wielding girls and bring them to me alive, I want to know how their magic works. And be sure to bring the blueprints for that magic-detecting device, Cobra will make better use of it. Now Go!”

“Right away, Commander.” Everyone said together.

“At last, the world will be MINE!” Cobra Commander’s evil laughter echoed throughout the entire base as if he was the devil himself.