G. I. Joe 1. Defiant

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot and is hers.

Prompt: Defiant

Note, this takes place in the same AU as Coffee Fiend.

(-)

Hi-Tech bit his lip and considered the small box from another angle.

It was just a puzzle box, something of an ancestor to the modern day rubix cube. Whatever images that had been painted on it at one time had been worn away over the years and it had stood defiant against all attempts to solve it for the same length of time, or at least, that's what the notes attached to its file said.

Also according to the notes, the box had an enchantment on it, one that allowed it to grant a single wish to any who solved it. Apparently that had only happened once in its recorded history, about (he checked the notes again) eighty years prior, for a little girl that had suddenly found a pony in the family living room.

Supposedly it would lock itself back up after being solved, changing its own solution to prevent its being opened again so soon after the first time.

Idly shifting a few pieces, the blond eventually had to give in and put the box back onto its shelf with a sigh. It was a little hobby of his, to come into the Vault and examine the items during his down-time. Well, it was also part of his job but this was for fun, not work.

Scratching the back of his neck as he left, Hi-Tech wondered if there was still any pizza leftover from last night as he left the Vault, turning off the lights and locking it as he went out.

Seemingly waiting for that, the little box began to shift its pieces again into a new puzzle, pleased with this new human. The guy was fun and he'd almost gotten it this time!


	2. Powder

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Powder

Note, this takes place in the same AU as Coffee Fiend.

(-)

Scott glanced curiously around the vault, following closely behind Hi-Tech and making notes on the clipboard he was holding as the other guy said them. Though Scott himself might only be an honorary Joe, Hi-Tech was taking advantage of that to get some categorizing work in the Vault done.

Honestly speaking, Scott didn't mind the work. The Vault was full of interesting and fun things and the more time he got to spend in there, the better. Hi-Tech stopped in one aisle and looked at the shelves for a minute before apparently finding where he'd left off from before.

Picking up a weird half-harp instrument, the blond said, "And this is the Gale Harp. Whoever plays a tune on it can briefly control the wind, but only for as long as they play and only in an area of about twenty yards. It was used to get favorable winds for ships, so long as they could pay the price of the player."

Scott wrote that down in the necessary slot, asking, "So there was more than one? Was it something like a family heirloom or passed from teacher to apprentice?"

Hi-Tech replied, "As far as we could find, it's a bit of both. It wasn't uncommon for a player to keep it in their family line, teaching their child to play it when the time came. But there were also times when it passed out of the family line, for a variety of reasons like illness, poverty or just because there were no other family members to pass it on to."

Putting it back, he added, "We don't know who made it but it's thought to be at least eight hundred years old, though honestly it could be older."

Moving down the aisle, he pointed at a rack of seven vials, each holding some brightly colored powder, "Now these were a pain to get, oh, and a tip? Don't talk to Tunnel Rat about these. He, uh, has issues with how we had to get them."

Scott blinked, wondering what that could mean, "Well, what are they?"

Hi-Tech smirked, "Emotion powders, believe it or not. Mix a tiny bit in with someone's drink and it'll bring out a corresponding emotion in them. These were actually crafted from scratch by a witch who was, in her own words, 'bored out of her skull' and she labeled them the Rainbow Set."

Scott flipped to a new sheet and wrote that down, asking, "What do you mean crafted from scratch? Don't all witches hand-make their potions and stuff?"

The computer expert shrugged, "Technically yeah, but I mean she literally made these herself. They're her own formula, done by 'intuition and certainty', her own words again."

Scott looked at the vials again, "So what does what?"

Hi-Tech gently tapped the capped top of each vial as he explained, "Red is for rage, orange is for courage, yellow is for fear, green is for jealousy, blue is for sadness, indigo is actually for calm and finally violet is for love."

He caught Scott's look and added, "Yeah, she wasn't sure why it turned out that way either."

Not commenting further, Scott just took down the information and changed the subject, "So, what's next?"

Hi-Tech smiled and motioned for Scott to follow him again, "You're going to love this one, everyone does!"

Interest perked, the teenager quickly followed, eager to see the new item and learn about what it could do.


	3. Grateful

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Grateful

Note, this takes place in my Coffee Fiend AU.

(-)

It was one of those days again.

Tunnel Rat groaned to himself, pulling his pillow a little tighter over his head. His room was as completely dark as he could make it and everything that could make a sound was either turned off or unplugged. Feeling too hot, he kicked his blanket off and immediately whimpered at the pain it sparked in his head, trying to fight every little urge at once.

People had a lot of mistaken beliefs about shape-shifters, a main one being that they could completely transform into whatever form they wanted to, mind as well as body. That was only partially true.

As a beast-type shifter, Tunnel Rat never truly had a complete transformation of any mind outside of his human one. That was because if he had a complete transformation of the mind of any animal he shifted into, then he'd completely act like that animal, which would include possibly attacking friendlies alongside enemies if he didn't just outright abandon his post to do some animal thing like rooting for berries or building a den.

Human-type shifters had it just as bad, for they'd be entirely convinced that they were their transformed self, even if the real person was right in front of them. So, to deal with that, every shifter kept a bit of their own mind present in every transformation as a way to keep themselves grounded.

Unfortunately, this also meant that sometimes bits and pieces stayed with them when they changed back, which could be very dangerous.

At the moment, Tunnel Rat was fighting the urge to grow fur and begin stockpiling for winter alongside the urge to sprout wings and go south as well as the urge to grow scales and find a warm spot to hibernate in. Admittedly mild, but just an hour ago he'd been battling the urge to grow fangs and claws for hunting as well as the subsequent urge to eat fresh, raw meat.

He needed every ounce of concentration he could muster to keep sane, though ironically human company would have helped. Having to focus on interacting with someone could help push those urges down, even if it meant a sudden sprouting of scales or feathers as his concentration lapsed a bit.

But no one would come near his room today, not after what nearly happened to Kamakura last time. If that kid hadn't had the regenerative powers and strength of a vampire alongside his abilities as a ninja, that incident would have gone horrifically fatal instead of just horribly bad.

So it was to his complete surprise when the door to his room suddenly opened. Risking a peek, Tunnel Rat couldn't see anyone but his suddenly sensitive nose picked up the various smells of plants, dirt and a very distinctive bird scent. Lifting his pillow a little more, he mumbled, "Hey Spirit."

The door closed first, before his teammate answered, "Hey. I wanted to see if you were alright."

The redhead grumbled, "I could be better but I'm human at least."

His attempt at humor got no response. Instead, there was the sound of someone fumbling and trying to move carefully around in the dark. It went on for a few minutes before Tunnel Rat sighed, "You can turn on the light."

A pause, more fumbling, then the room's light came on. Spirit waited to regain his vision before moving the desk chair closer to Tunnel Rat's bed and sitting on it, clearly settling in, "Heavy Duty asked me to tell you that he'd be by with a deck of cards once his shift ended. Something about settling the score?"

Cracking a weak smile, the redhead felt absurdly grateful to have such great teammates and friends, even if he could smell that damned collar in one of the pockets on Spirit's vest. He didn't even mind that though, knowing it meant that Spirit had a great form of protection if Tunnel Rat couldn't keep his mind in order.

Shoving off the pillow to sit up on his bed, the redhead yawned before asking, "So, how's the base?"

Spirit shrugged, "Same as always, barely controlled chaos."

Gritting his teeth against the sudden desire to hide in a dark corner, Tunnel Rat asked, "Think I could talk you into getting me something from the mess hall later? I don't even know the time but I haven't eaten since dinner last night."

His teammate gave him a look, "It's just now lunchtime. Think you could handle going with me?"

The shape-shifter hesitated, giving the offer heavy consideration. He was mostly okay right now, just minor urges from generally harmless creatures and he'd be with Spirit, who had proven before that he could help Tunnel Rat focus. Plus Spirit had that collar on him...

Nodding slowly, Rat got up from his bed, "I think so. Just give me a minute to get dressed and be ready to tackle me if I start going Cujo on anyone."

Spirit didn't rise to the bait but did get up from the chair, "I'll be right out in the hall then."

Tunnel Rat was already digging through a dresser drawer for a pair of pants to change into out of his sweats, either ignoring the comment or just not responding to it.

As the door closed behind Spirit, Rat let out a sigh and glared at his left hand. It had gone from human to something like an exaggerated bird's, specifically a peregrine falcon if he remembered right. Grumbling to himself, he forced it to change back into a human hand, wincing a little as his nails changed.

Hopefully that'd be the worst that happened today.


	4. Decent

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Decent

Note, this takes place in a vampire AU of mine.

(-)

Scott groaned to himself as he readjusted his bookbag on his back yet again on his hike up the long trail to the old church he was staying in. Though 'church' wasn't really the right word for it, given that the place was more set up like a monastery but that's what the others living there called it so Scott just went with that.

Grumbling to himself yet again that it wouldn't kill anyone to actually widen the path or at least put in some stairs to it, the teen paid too much attention to where he was placing his feet and not enough in front of him. This naturally lead to him walking straight into a brick wall, otherwise known as Lamont.

The man blinked down at the fallen Scott, offering a hand to help the boy back up, "Are you alright?"

The boy accepted the hand, answering, "Yeah, just some bruises and my pride."

Lamont nodded, "Good. I'm going into town and I was wondering if you wanted to come along with me."

Scott nearly agreed but stopped himself in time. He would have loved to go, but he had a lot of homework tonight and he hated doing the work by candlelight. He'd never understand why the trio had allowed plumbing to be put in to the old building but not wiring for electricity.

Letting out a sigh, the teen shook his head, "Thanks but no. I've got a lot of homework to do, plus the chores."

Lamont nodded again, giving Scott a careful pat of approval on the shoulder as he stepped around him, "Alright. I should be back before sundown."

The redhead turned to watch Lamont vanish down the trail, feeling his mood sour a little more at how easily the large guy managed it. Returning to his grumbling, Scott resumed his trek, though much more carefully now.

The old church came into view a few minutes later, to his relief. Running the schedule through his head, he felt sure that Nicky would be in the kitchen today and it was always easy to get a little more free time with him (as well as a larger snack) than with the other two.

Entering the church through a side door, the teenager only got lost once (a record!) on his way to the kitchen, where to his disappointment he found Charlie, not Nicky. Catching sight of the teen, Charlie gave him a slight smile, "Welcome home Scott."

The boy took a seat at the table set against one wall, sliding his bookbag off to place it next to him on the bench seat, "Hey Charlie. I thought today's was Nicky's turn to cook dinner?"

The man shook his head, explaining, "Nope, that's tomorrow. It's my turn today, but if you want to help out, you can."

There was an unspoke 'I'd appreciate it' in the air, which Scott grabbed onto, "What could I do?"

If he helped with dinner, then there was a decent chance that Scott wouldn't have to give the chickens their afternoon feeding or do the afternoon egg collecting. He hated those evil birds and he was certain the feeling was mutual. Charlie motioned with his hand to the pantry, "If you could wash and peel some potatoes after you've done your homework, that would be a help."

Scott internally groaned at the reminder, but nodded as he opened his bookbag and pulled out the first book his hand landed on. Thankfully it was his math book, an easy subject for him. Resettling himself at the table to take advantage of the light from the kitchen's main window.

A sudden thought brightened his mood though. The reaction of that vampire obsessed group from school if they'd ever met these three would be absolutely priceless!

Even Scott had to remind himself at times that they were actually vampires, unique as they were. Still, five months here and he had yet to see them do anything that was actually, well, vampire-like behavior.

They walked in the sun, slept in actual beds, ate actual food and even lived inside a holy church! Well, it wasn't like he had much to argue with, being a dhampir himself after all.

Scott scratched uncomfortably at his neck, the rosary hidden under his shirt prickling at him again. Charlie suddenly set down a cup of fruit juice for Scott on the table, asking, "Does it still hurt?"

The redhead answered truthfully, "Not as much as it did before. I think you're right and I'm getting used to it. That's a good thing, right?"

Charlie nodded, drifting back to the pot he'd been readying for cooking in, "It is. That means the power is working and hopefully you'll get used to it enough that we can start to teach you how to properly use your abilities."

Scott took a quick sip of his drink, making a non-committal noise before returning his attention to his math assignment. Remembering the early days always brought a bad taste to his mouth, but he knew that his few abilities would need to be addressed and dealt with eventually.

Some days though, he wasn't certain which set of teachers scared him more, the high school ones or the vampire ones.


	5. Union

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

Prompt: Union

Note, this also takes place in my vampire AU and can be taken as a distant sequel to Grateful.

(-)

Scott wasn't sure what was worse about today. The fact that, yet again, nearly every kid in the high school was seemingly part of some union against him, the agonizing fact that his math teacher had assigned them the wrong homework assignment and was stubbornly refusing to credit them for the work the class had done or the fact that he'd left his lunch back at the church.

Hiding a wince at the savage rumble of his stomach, the redhead teen slumped over his English textbook, trying to distract his mind from hunger by getting a head-start on that night's homework. It wasn't working.

At least it was pleasantly warm in the outdoor courtyard, a wonderful change from the freezing classrooms. Scott was sort of desperate for anything good right then, though food would have been much more preferable.

As if in answer to his mental pleas, his dark green lunch box was suddenly set down before him, with a lazy voice gently chiding, "Ya know, you should make sure you've got everything before ya bolt in the morning."

Scott's day did an abrupt u-turn then and he quickly closed his books to shove them back into his bookbag in favor of stuffing his face right then. As his hands closed on the precious lunch box, the teen looked up, happily saying, "Thanks Nicky! I can't believe I left it!"

The smallest of the church vampires lazily waved a hand at the comment, telling him, "Think nothing of it Scotty. School sucks anyway, but it's worse on an empty stomach. Even I remember that much."

Swallowing the question regarding just _how_ long ago that had been for the red-haired vampire, Scott chose to instead unzip his lunch box, mouth watering at the sight of extra food that had been slipped in, likely Nicky's doing.

Repeating his thanks, Scott dug in, tearing into what had to be the absolutely most delicious ham and cheese sandwich he'd ever had. Nicky watched him with a small chuckle, "Let me guess, starving?"

Scott just nodded, too focused on his food to care to answer more eloquently. The other redhead just smirked, "Yeah, that's a pain too but it's expected. You're in the middle of your growth period after all and-" 'thunk'

The teen snapped his head up at the weird sound, sensing a subtle danger. The normal babble of the outdoor courtyard had faded, with many people staring at him...no, staring at Nicky. The normally laid back vampire had his eyes open (a rare sight) and was staring down a jock at a bench table some yards over.

Scott wondered what had gotten the vampire's attention and his eyes widened at the sight of the soda can Nicky had apparently caught, held in his right hand. Uh oh, that wasn't good. The vampire could forgive a lot of things and he often seemed to be a living example of laid back sleepiness (coughlazycough) but he absolutely hated disrespect and that would be considered an example of it.

The teen tried to smooth it over, quickly telling his companion, "He didn't mean it, Nicky. It's just a joke."

The older redhead didn't look at him, still staring down the jock and very clearly making that entire table uncomfortable, but he did say, "A joke? No, that was an attack."

Scott gulped at the tone of his teacher's voice and thought he knew what was coming. But to his surprise, Nicky didn't do anything rash, but instead just walked over to the jock and gave him back the soda. Scott couldn't hear what was being said, but the jock did accept the drink back and opened it with trembling hands.

The teen felt his eyes widen again as the other boy was soaked with a spray of soda. Scott had thought the can was empty when it'd been thrown, not full. Apparently satisfied, Nicky returned to Scott, eyes sliding to their normal nearly-shut state, "Anyway, as I was saying, we were thinking about eating out tonight since you've been doing so well lately. What do you say?"

Scott quickly nodded in acceptance of the rare treat, asking, "Where at?"

The vampire smiled at him, "It's a surprise. See ya after school."

With that, he walked off to the front of the school, likely to sign himself out at the front office, leaving the dhampir to his food. Scott kept his head down and powered through his lunch, both because he didn't want to talk to anyone and also because he wasn't certain how much time was left until the bell for class rang.

For once, it worked in his favor, ringing right as he finished eating and just as someone was apparently gaining the courage to come talk to him. Ignoring the other kid, Scott grabbed his things and quickly left for his next class.

Well, this would make things interesting for a while, but as to which kind of 'interesting', that was yet to be seen. He could only hope that it didn't mean he had to change schools again.


	6. Cleansed

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Cleansed

Note, this takes place in my Coffee Fiend AU.

(-)

Jinx winced as she carefully picked up the dirty bracelet with a pair of tongs.

Even with that and the thick gloves she had on, the curse on it still stung at her, but it would have been much worse if she'd had to pick it up with her bare hands. At least Sensei was quick to bring the containment box over and there was instant relief for the both of them as soon as the box was sealed.

She sighed, putting the tongs into a separate containment box to be cleansed later of any remains of the curse. The gloves also went into a box by themselves, also to be cleansed later.

Curses were always dangerous to work with and it had been a shock to find one here. They'd had gotten reports of a 'killer bracelet' in the area, but neither of them had been prepared for the high body count, that of verified deaths and suspected.

In regards to its history, Jinx felt that it was a sad one. Supposedly it'd been a regular copper bracelet, until the woman that owned it became the target of her own sister's jealousy. The sister had snuck the bracelet away and put a curse on it, but she'd made a mistake while doing so.

Instead of a simple bad luck curse, it had grown in strength and destroyed the whole family. Even the house had been burned to the ground. Afterwards, someone had found it in the ashes and the cycle repeated over and over.

The curse on the bracelet kept on absorbing negative energy and gaining strength, even forming the ability to make anyone that saw it have the urge to put it on, even if that person knew its abilities or not.

Due to its known death toll, the bracelet would be kept in the containment box and placed in a special room in the Vault, one that was lined with special charms to confine and negate the negative energy of curses.

Snake Eyes freed one hand to gently pat Jinx's shoulder, trying to reassure her. The apprentice gave her teacher a weak smile of thanks.

There were days that this job just got tiring to do but she knew it was necessary work. After all, if they didn't secure items like these, who else would?


	7. Go

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Go

Note, this also takes place in my vampire AU.

Part 1 of 3

(-)

There was a bad feeling in the air.

Exactly what kind of bad feeling though, Scott wasn't certain of but he had the sensation that it would make itself known soon.

A hand suddenly lightly pushing at his shoulder startled him, but not as much as what was immediately said to him, "So Scott, when are we going to see your place?"

Feeling his stomach drop, the sixteen year old turned to look at Zephyr, one of his few friends at the high school. Not long after the soda incident, he'd been paired up with her as a partner for a science project and they'd actually become friends...somehow.

She'd introduced him to her other two friends, G-Man (who was actually named George) and TJ, and Scott had managed to become friends with them too. He honestly still wasn't too clear on how it all had happened, but it was nice to have friends his own age.

But now...

Scott gulped a little, asking her, "Uh, why do you want to go to my place?"

From his position at Zephyr's side, TJ raised an eyebrow at him, "Dude, don't you remember? We signed up as a group for that robotics tournament and we need somewhere to work at. We're only allowed to use the school's labs during school hours and we can't keep the project here either."

G-Man chimed in then, "Yeah and since mine and Zephyr's places are too small and TJ's got his baby sister running around at his place, yours is the only one left! So, what's for dinner?"

Ignoring the perpetually hungry boy's second statement, Scott shook his head, "Wait what? When was this all decided?"

That got him odd looks from the other three, with Zephyr telling him, "Uh, we were just talking about it Scott. Weren't you paying attention?"

He reddened a little, "Sorry Zephyr, I guess I zoned out," he'd been trying to think of a way to get out of chicken feeding chores again, "but uh, my place is no good either."

G-Man whined, "Why not? Is it really haunted? Because, you know, that wouldn't bother us any. Really!"

Scott stared at him, "What are you talking about?"

TJ gave Scott an apologetic smile, "Sorry man, but there's a lot of rumors about where you live. I think the most current one is the haunted house down on Maple Street."

The redhead looked around at them in confusion, "I don't live there."

Zephyr gently poked his shoulder to get his attention back, "Then where do you live Scott?"

There was honest curiosity in her eyes, which only made him more embarrassed, "D-does it really matter? We can't do the project there anyway, I don't have the space either."

G-Man let out a dramatic sigh, "Aww! And I wanted to go to Scott's place!"

The blond boy immediately brightened and looked at Zephyr, "So does this mean we go to yours? You've got that garage space that we could clean out and your mom makes the best sandwiches!"

Scott let out his own soft sigh, though it was one of relief. That was one disaster averted...or so he thought.


	8. Shame

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Shame

Note, this also takes place in my vampire AU.

Part 2 of 3

(-)

Later that day, Scott grumbled to himself as he walked home from the bus stop.

Why were they so interested in coming over? Was it really for the project or was it to poke fun at him?

Though he did feel a bit of shame for thinking of his first friends that way, Scott felt justified in it, going from what had happened previously in other schools he'd attended. Well, at least he didn't have to worry about them coming over today at least but what could he tell them if they wanted to come over tomorrow or the day after?

Scott ran various excuses through his head, grumbling to himself as his feet now instinctively took him home to the old church. He was so deep in thought, that he again walked straight into Lamont (though it was in the front church yard this time), yet again bouncing off him with a yelp.

Lamont chuckled a little and offered him a hand up, "Head in the clouds again Scott?"

The vampire suddenly looked back at the trail, raising an eyebrow, "Friends of yours?"

Scott blinked, not understanding until he heard G-Man's distinctive voice yelling out, "Dude, you live _here_?!"

The redhead teen turned quickly on his heel, staring in wide-eyed disbelief, "Guys?!"

Sure enough, all three of his friends were there, TJ restraining G-Man from running around and Zephyr at least was giving him an apologetic look, "We were worried Scott, so we followed you."

The teen didn't know if he felt happy, angry or just freaked out all at once. This was bad, this was very very bad!

A second voice called out from behind the trio, "Hey, ya know, it's getting kinda late. If you guys wanna stay for dinner or something, you might have to stay here for the night. The last bus back to town is in ten minutes after all."

The other three turned around quickly to see Nicky smiling at them, standing to the side of the trail with a grocery bag slung over his shoulder. G-Man pointed at him, "Hey, you're the soda guy!"

Charlie chose that moment to appear from the woods, repeating, "Soda guy?"

Nicky waved a hand at him, "I told ya about it, remember?"

The older redhead looked back at the teens, repeating, "So are you staying or going?"

TJ neatly slapped a hand over G-Man's mouth with a well-practiced motion, with Zephyr answering for them, "We'd love to stay but like you said sir, it's getting late. Is there a good time for us to come back? Like this Saturday?"

Nicky glanced at his brothers first before answering her, "Sure, that's fine by us. Want me to walk you guys down the trail?"

TJ nodded, "Please? We almost got lost twice on the way up here."

Nicky smiled again and motioned for them to follow him. After they'd disappeared into the woods, Scott groaned and buried his face in his hands, "My social life is over."

Lamont gave him a careful pat on the shoulder, "Don't be so dramatic. They're your friends right? It'll all work out."

Scott just groaned again in response, woodenly dropping his hands to head inside the church. Even doing chores was better than considering this any longer.


	9. Objective

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Objective

Note, this takes place is my vampire AU.

Part 3 of 3

(-)

Saturday came too soon for Scott and with it, misery.

Well, misery for him at least. His friends seemed quite excited to go over to his place, though Zephyr and TJ had apologized to him again about following him. G-Man kept asking what they'd have for a snack, which was normal for him.

Leading them up the trail to the old church, the redhead teen couldn't help but wonder what their objective was. This couldn't all be about the project, could it? But if it wasn't, what where they here for? He didn't want to think badly of his first friends in years, but his mind kept cycling back to them just looking for ammo to taunt him with later.

Thankfully though, they proved him wrong during this visit.

Besides some questions about the church, his friends were honestly there to hang out. When Charlie found out why they'd wanted to come over, he'd disappeared for a bit to talk with Nicky and Lamont before returning to the teens to let them know that there was a storage building they could use for their project. It just needed to be cleaned out first, which Scott quickly agreed to do, with TJ and Zephyr offering to help as well.

It was very clear that got them Charlie's approval, which was a very good thing. Out of the three, Charlie seemed to be the leader so the other two would listen to him.

He even actually laughed at the expressions the other three teens got when G-Man asked where he could plug his laptop into and Scott had to tell him that the church didn't have electricity. Scott had to admit that it was funny, but it did throw a wrench into their plans for the project.

At least, it did until Nicky popped into the room to reveal that they'd gotten a portable generator that morning, which the kids were free to use for their project.

With everything apparently in order, there wasn't anything to stop the kids anymore (G-Man's complaints of being hungry were basically background noise at this point) so the four of them headed out to the indicated building and got to work cleaning it out.

As he helped TJ carry out a spare bench, Scott didn't think he'd felt this happy before.


	10. Strength

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Strength

(-)

It was well known that, of all the current Joes at the base, Heavy Duty was physically the strongest of them all. He was also one of the best boxers too.

So how one of the new greenshirts got the idea that he could take HD in a match, Duke would never know.

But it was very fun to watch it unfold. He liked how Scarlett put it, that the event was sort of like watching a puppy try to trip up an adult dog.


	11. Life

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Life

(-)

As people grow and age, they come to expect certain normalcies from life. The random stubbed toe while searching for the light switch, vanishing car keys, and newspapers that always seemed to be slightly wet no matter how early one got up to get it.

Of course, things can happen that makes different people expect different normalcies. One person finds it normal to wake up twice a night for a random reason while another just sleeps their full eight hours. A second person sees nothing wrong with having cereal for breakfast while a different person will only have oatmeal and toast.

For those belonging to the military unit GI Joe, however, their version of 'normal' was quite different, in an extreme way.

To them, it wasn't odd to get a random attack by a terrorist group that loves snakes a bit too much, with said attack mostly done by robots. It wasn't odd that most of this fighting was over either disturbingly powerful stones that naturally produced energy on a remarkable scale or over an overly intelligent robot dog.

To the Joes, it was normal to have various betting pools on prank outcomes, various sports games going on between the different groups of Joes, who would get the most KP and how, as well as who was going to ask who out first.

To this group, the abnormal was normal and they liked it that way.


	12. Contempt

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Contempt

(-)

Blue gloved fingers drummed dangerously on the arm of a serpent-themed throne. Golden eyes narrowed dangerously at the subordinate before him, while he hissed, "You let him get _away!_"

Zartan hid a twitch, replying, "He knows our defenses almost better than we do Commander."

Besides, who honestly expected Storm Shadow to stayed tied up and locked in a room for longer than a few minutes after the ninja regained consciousness?

Cobra Commander snarled, "You failed me Zartan! You know there are ways to contain him!"

The mercenary bit back his reply of 'Not on such short notice!' and instead waited. The Commander never took long with punishments.

Indeed, with his eyes full of contempt for the Dreadnok leader, the masked man gave a sharp gesture of dismissal with his other hand, "Leave, _now_ and don't come back unless you've got results! For your sake, make sure of that."

Zartan gave the demanded bow and left the throne room, barely holding onto his own rage. One of these days, the Commander would push too far and the mercenary would relish the resulting revenge.


	13. Wrong

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

Prompt: Wrong

Note, this takes place in my Coffee Fiend AU.

(-)

Tunnel Rat's neck itched and he knew that trying to scratch at it would only make his fingers itch too.

He hated base inspection, mainly because whenever it came around, it was demanded that he wear that damn collar. The redhead wondered if they only saw 'shape-shifter' on his papers and never the following print of '- beast type'.

The collar itself looked like a normal strip of leather with a buckle on it, almost like a tiny belt really. Unless you looked on the inside of it, where the charm inscriptions where. All it basically did was trap him in his human form or force him into his human form if it was placed on him while Tunnel Rat was in animal form.

It was an annoyance and he hated the feeling of being trapped whenever he had to wear it. But in the end, it was just a paranoid precaution against anything going 'wrong' with him during base inspection and a couple other important events. Rat counted himself lucky that he didn't have to wear it all the time, like some other unfortunate shifters did.

Still, if just _one_ more person made a cone joke, he was going to have to extract some revenge. Yes, sweet revenge...


	14. Sweeten

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Sweeten

(-)

Duke blinked wearily at the counter space next to the coffee maker while he waited for the fresh pot to finish brewing. Something didn't seem right...but what?

Reaching out with one hand, he tapped a finger on the jar of honey, then moved his hand to tap the box that held the sugar packets. He did it again, from jar to box, reassuring himself that both containers of items with which to sweeten coffee were there.

Moving his hand, he tapped the roll of paper towels then the stack of styrofoam cups. Another reassuring repeat and he was certain that both were there. The creamer container and the small stack of cup lids were there as well.

Pulling his hand back, Duke re-evaluated the counter space. What was missing?

It only hit him after he had just about finished making his first cup of coffee for the hour. Specifically when his hand hit empty space when it should have located the box of coffee stirrer sticks.

The team leader stared at the empty space, even waving his fingers through the spot as if to somehow make the box pop up out of no where.

After a minute, with no suddenly appearing box in sight, Duke just sighed and made the decision to drink his coffee as it was. Stirred or not, caffeine was caffeine at this point and he needed all he could get to deal with the monstrous demon known as paperwork in his office.


	15. Hands

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Hands

(-)

Jinx chuckled to herself at the yells as yet another Joe found that they'd been pranked by the greenshirts.

It was an old tradition from before the team had been cut down to just their small group and it was nice to see it coming back with the reinstatement of GI Joe, even if it did cause some annoyances.

But at least she could count on not getting hit. Her skills were too good to fall prey to such little-

The floor suddenly seemed to tilt sharply and Jinx found herself letting out an embarrassingly loud yelp as she tried to regain her balance, hands out to grab something as she went down sideways.

Eyes wide in disbelief, the kunoichi carefully placed her hands on the floor and pushed herself up with extreme care. The floor was wet and slick, and further down the hall there was a wet floor sign.

On the one hand, she hadn't been pranked. On the other, she'd slid on a wet floor, in full sight of three teammates.

Her face burned red as Jinx turned to glare at them. They were still staring at her, clearly not believing what they'd seen.

She carefully got up, trying to act like nothing had happened even though she knew this would be all over the base in an hour. Whatever, her reputation would survive...maybe.


	16. Strangle

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Strangle

'talk' = sign language

(-)

Kamakura held his breath, remembering all his training as he slipped ever closer to his target.

This was a big moment and failure wouldn't be tolerated.

Judging his distance and timing himself, he darted forward, hands coming up to the target's neck as if to strangle-

The world went spiraling around him and Kamakura bit back his yelps of pain as his arms were dragged up and behind his back. Snake Eyes gave him a shake for good measure, shaking his head at him before releasing the apprentice.

Signing at him, the older ninja told Kamakura, 'You almost had it, but you got too eager towards the end. Extra stealth training for the next month.'

The young man hung his head, "Yes Sensei."

There went all his extra time, which translated to no dates with Kimi for the next month. At least they'd be training together...


	17. Lullaby

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Lullaby

Note, this takes place in my Coffee Fiend AU.

(-)

Scarlett gritted her teeth as she forced her way forward through the ghost's barrier. Her own magic crackled in the power struggle, but she was winning for now.

The ghost (a little girl) kept screaming and flinging power out, trying to knock her away, not listening to what Scarlett had been trying to tell her.

Finally tired of all this, the redhead woman held out what she'd found in an upper level of the house, yelling, "This is what you want, isn't it?"

Scarlett flipped open the lid of the tiny music box, the slightly off key tunes of some lullaby filling the room as the miniature couple inside it danced in a jerky circle on their tilted spring. The transparent girl quieted immediately, her eye-less gaze zeroing in on the box.

Sniffling, she held out her little hands for it, squeaking, "My music box!"

The woman nodded, carefully stepping closer, "It was in your room, behind the dresser. It must have gotten knocked down there by someone careless."

That was a lie. From the research they'd done on this house, she knew the much more likely reason the music box had been knocked down but she didn't want to remind the ghost girl of it.

Tiny hands tried to take it from her, only they passed through the music box. But to Scarlett's surprise, a 'ghost' of the music box left her hands, with the real one stopping its tune with a sad grind of old gears.

The ghost cradled her music box to her chest, already going even more transparent as she began the process of passing on. She gave Scarlett a bright smile right before she disappeared completely, happily saying, "Thank you!"

The redhead woman sighed, turning off her own power now that there was no more danger. She couldn't decide if missions like these were good ones or bad but for now, it was over and the ghost had passed on.


	18. Untouchable

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Untouchable

(-)

Snake Eyes knew he came off as untouchable, in more ways than one.

He was a highly skilled ninja, equal only to Storm Shadow. It was to the point that it was only against each other did either ninja feel truly challenged in a fight.

He stayed away from people, not wanting to let anyone in. But...Scarlett, his Shana, she found a way.

Before he knew it, she was a part of his life, a constant he couldn't think of being without. The times he tried to make her leave, for her own good, she'd only dug herself in deeper with an amazing determination.

So, he gave in. Snake Eyes let her in, keeping her close when he could and training her to protect herself for when he couldn't. Not that he had much to do there as Scarlett was well trained on her own from both her family dojo and her previous time in the military.

But he helped her improve and hone her skills, trying to make her as prepared as possible for danger.

And tonight, he was going to give her a very special present.

His fingers stayed around the little velvet box in one pocket, making sure it was safe against pickpocketing apprentices or a certain sword brother. Now he just needed the right moment...


	19. Whispered

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Whispered

Note, this takes place in my Coffee Fiend AU. Sort of relates to the Writer's Choice prompts Serious and Home.

(-)

Hana met them at the island's tiny dock, jumping up and down and waving his arms over his head in happiness. Scarlett couldn't help a smile at him, calling out, "Hey Hana! We're back!"

The boy ran up to her, hopping in place very energetically, "You're back! You guys really came back!"

It was a little heart-breaking how happy he seemed at that. Still smiling, she offered him a bag, "Here, these are for you."

Hana blinked at her in confusion, then accepted it as best he could without touching her and looked down into the bag. He made a happy noise at the sight of the comic books inside, jumping around her in a circle, "Thank you thank you thank you! Hana loves these!"

Jinx offered him a second bag, "We got you these too."

The boy seemed shocked at the idea of more gifts, taking the bag carefully from her to look in it. He let out a second happy sound when he saw the candy inside, bouncing rapidly in place, "Thank you!"

Jinx and Scarlett exchanged smiles, with the redhead asking, "Would it be okay if we meet with Master Orochi again? We wanted to talk with him."

Hana nodded rapidly, "Yes! It's perfect!"

He leaned forward suddenly and whispered to them, "Master will be really happy! Not many come back for a second visit."

Bouncing back, he motioned for the two women to follow him, "This way please! Watch your step!"

Still smiling, they waved at their teammates on the boat and followed Hana back to the cave. This was just a social visit, to build up trust between their group and Master Orochi. From the looks of things, it would go smoothly.


	20. Prayers

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Prayers

Note, this takes place in my vampire AU.

(-)

Scott had to admit, the church's chapel was something to see.

Antique stained glass windows, old wooden benches, stone walls, floor and ceiling, with wooden support beams that held intricate carvings. There was even a large yet simple cross fixed on the far wall at the back, right at head height for any worshiper that came to offer prayers.

His chores here were simple ones, dust the benches and sweep the floor. The other three took care of the windows, the beams and everything else here. He didn't need vampire senses to know that this place was very special to them, though he doubted it was for the reasons a chapel normally was.

Pausing in his sweeping, Scott eyed the beam he was next too, trying to pick out his favorite carving. He found it easily, having searched for it many times, but to any who didn't know where to look, it could be missed even more easily.

It was just a bunch of grapes, topped with some leave but it was so well done that the teen almost felt like he could pull a grape free if he tried hard enough. Undoubtedly he could, if the rosary wasn't on and he didn't mind damaging a piece of history.

Running his fingers over the carving, Scott let out a sigh and felt his shoulders relax. This ancient chapel, still smelling of long gone incense and candle smoke, always gave a feeling of safety, even the first time he came here.

Tracing the carving one last time, he made himself leave the beam and get back to sweeping. It wasn't uncommon for one of the other three to be watching him if they weren't in here doing some chore themselves. The last thing he needed at that moment was to be given extra work because he got caught up in thinking about a history that wasn't even his.

But he couldn't help his curiosity about certain things and swore to himself yet again that he'd work up the courage to ask those questions as soon as he could.


	21. Obvious

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Obvious

(-)

Duke took in the chaos of the main rec room and almost dully started to figure out who did what to who else.

The argument between Scott and Hi-Tech had the most obvious reason, proven by the pile of wires and mechanical bits at their side. They were either disagreeing about some upgrade to either Spudd or HOUND or they were trying to convince the other that their upgrade was better.

Tunnel Rat was also easy. Since he didn't have his hat on, Billy (the falcon, not the apprentice) must have stolen it again and now Rat was trying to demand it back from Spirit, mostly because Billy would either peck him mercilessly or fly just out of reach if Rat tried to get it back himself.

Long Range thankfully was just minding his own business reading a book, sitting in a chair that was the furthest away from most of the arguing. Heavy Duty was at one of the smaller tables building a card house, also minding his own business.

Scarlett and Jinx sniping at each other was a new one. Duke wasn't fully certain he wanted to know and decided to leave that mess be so long as it didn't affect their work on the job. Poor Kamakura was trying to play peacemaker for the girls and was clearly failing.

Snake Eyes wasn't to be seen anywhere. Smart ninja.

Duke looked down into his coffee cup, wondering if this had enough caffeine in it to let him deal with this mess. He took a sip and shuddered. Great, so not only did he have quarreling teammates, whoever made coffee that morning basically made colored water.

This was not shaping up to be a good day.


	22. Rhythm

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Rhythm

(-)

Hi-Tech was certain that he was going ever so slightly insane as the minutes ticked by.

His current assignment was to read through the confiscated e-mails of a recently arrested known Cobra supplier and see if he couldn't smoke out a location of some sort for the terrorist group.

However, the woman had apparently loved her smiley faces and every single e-mail was heavily peppered with them. Every. Single. One. Both graphic and text versions were used, only serving to somehow make it worse.

It was an unbreakable rhythm and in the worst ones, she used a smiley face in place of periods. In the best ones, it only appeared at the beginning and end of every paragraph.

If he didn't find something useful soon, he was going to scream.


	23. Afterlife

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Afterlife

(-)

With such a large group as the Joe team, it was of course understandable that there were many different opinions about the afterlife. There were some standard answers, a few non-standard ones and some likely submitted just to see if anyone would actually believe them.

However, there was an unspoken 'in-team' tale going around, about how the afterlife would likely hold its own Pit and any Joe that passed would get stationed there, waiting patiently for their comrades. As for who actually believed it and who didn't, well, that was a secret of its own.


	24. Hidden

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Hidden

Not this references Strawberries from the first prompt table.

(-)

Scarlett frowned and stared up at the ceiling of the base's 'dojo'. Tapping her foot, she said, "I know you're up there, now come down."

The shadows of the ceiling defied her, revealing nothing hidden in their depths. The woman sighed, "Come on Jinx. This is getting childish."

She added, "So Tunnel Rat's really the one that's been making those treats. Is it really that big a deal? He's sworn up and down already that he doesn't put bugs in them, and he labels the ones he does."

Scarlett's own stomach rebelled and told her it was in fact very much a big deal but she ignored it. There was a delicate sound from above and suddenly Jinx was hanging upside down from one of the beams. The kunoichi was pouting, "He could have said something before."

The redhead woman shrugged a shoulder, "And we should have asked so it evens out. Now are you coming down or do I have to get you down myself?"

The younger woman shook her head and slid off the beam, neatly righting herself during the fall so she landed on her feet. Scarlett put a companionable arm around Jinx's shoulders, "Why don't we make a cake ourselves and split it?"

The brunette considered it and nodded, "That'd be nice. Could we make a chocolate one?"

The older woman smiled at her as she led Jinx out of the dojo, "Sure! I could go for that myself right now. How about the icing?"

They kept the conversation up all the way to the kitchen. Anything to keep from imagining what could have been in all those treats they'd eaten over the last several months.


	25. Parade

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Parade

(-)

Long Range drummed his fingers on the steering wheel of the ROCC, feeling more than a little irritated with Hi-Tech at the moment.

For all the geek's research abilities, he had failed to inform Long Range about the local harvest festival parade in the town they'd driven into. Now they were effectively stuck in traffic for who knew how long.

It'd already been an hour and it looked like the procession wasn't even half over yet. He groaned and reached for the book he kept in the cab with him. At least he could get some reading done now...


	26. Touch

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Touch

(-)

Seeking a moment of quiet from the controlled chaos that was the Sigma 6 team, Spirit leaned against a tree and closed his eyes. He hadn't ventured too far from the ROCC, putting just enough distance between the vehicle and himself so as to leave the noise behind.

There was the sound of flapping wings followed by a sudden presence next to him. Spirit just held out one hand, cracking an eye open slightly to watch his peregrine falcon, Billy. The large bird squawked at him and shifted closer, tilting his feathered head to lean into Spirit's touch.

The man gently stroked the smooth feathers, murmuring, "Came to join me?"

Billy just settled himself on the conveniently located branch and closed his own eyes, seemingly going to sleep then and there. Spirit smiled and relaxed. It was good to be in the company of friends, especially when they had similar aims.


	27. Free

**Disclaimer:**TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Free

(-)

Heavy Duty grunted as he pulled the power stone free from the cave wall it was embedded in. He handed it over to Tunnel Rat so the other could put it in the storage unit Hi-Tech had given them.

Overall, this has been a pretty easy mission and even as he finished that thought, he knew he'd jinxed himself. That was proven true when laser fire nearly hit him when he tried to leave the cave.

Darting back inside, he got behind some rocks for cover and called for back up as Tunnel Rat threw a few hand grenades out the cave entrance to disrupt the BATs firing at them. Figures that Cobra would appear even out here in the middle of no where.


	28. Enjoy

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Enjoy

(-)

Destro relaxed on the couch, appreciating the setting.

A fire in the hearth, a glass of fine wine in his hand and his dear Anastasia draped against his side. It had taken months of careful planning for them to have even this one evening to themselves and they were planning to enjoy it to its fullest.


	29. Shining

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Shining

(-)

Hi-Tech did a few final adjustments to his latest invention and sat back to look it over one last time. Satisfied with what he saw, he reached forward and pressed the power switched.

With a soft hum, the machine produced a barely there, faintly shining dome that encompassed Hi-Tech and several feet of surrounding area. Nodding in satisfaction, Hi-Tech picked up a screwdriver and tossed it at the dome.

There was a sharp crackle and it bounced back, rolling to a stop near his feet. Feeling pleased with himself, Hi-Tech turned off the power to his new shield generator. This was great progress!


	30. Overflow

**Disclaimer:** TinySprite owns nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is hers.

Prompt: Overflow

(-)

Spudd watched as his best friend fixed himself a bowl of cereal for a late breakfast. Hi-Tech came in just as Scott was pouring in the milk and the two of them got to talking.

Only there was a problem: Scott hadn't put the milk down. Spudd wondered how to handle this situation. Should he alert Scott to the problem or let the milk overflow to teach the teen a lesson about multitasking.

Then again, if it spilled, the teen would only gripe about it...

Decision made, Spudd barked at Scott and at the right time too. The bowl was nearly more full of milk than cereal.


End file.

G. I. Joe