G. I. Joe Promise

You promised me, remember?

I caught sight of you as I entered the throne room. You stood next to Destro, as you always do; you cling to him like a barnacle now. As I walked in, I barely gave you more than that single glance, but in the back of my mind, I recalled another, better time; it's a time long past, now.

Once it was me on the throne, and you were there, too-not beside me, not next to the chair, but close enough. You were happy to be near me. Looking back on it, I think I was happy, too. I trusted you as much as I can trust anyone. I can't believe how naive I still was back then! I thought the world had beaten all that out of me, but you proved I still had a little bit of a heart left, before you helped kill it.

Now Serpentor is on the throne-that day he was angry, and ridiculously imperious as ever. I couldn't help but clench my hands into fists, so hard that I could hear the leather of the gloves crackle as the material ground together. I hated you so much right then, for the way you stood so close to that arms dealer, and how you tossed your hair; bored, distracted, like the routine of watching me being talked down to was already something you barely acknowledged anymore. Strange-that's what you wanted, isn't it? to see me get taken down? Bored already, are we? I'm beginning to notice a pattern.

Yeah, my dear-it's not like that for me.

Serpentor started into the usual tirade, and I took it. That's the deal I made, after all. None of you know that-you all think I surrendered Cobra to him because I'm weak. What you don't know is that I had to do it, if I wanted to survive, anyway. I'm not weak; I'm just biding my time. Serpentor needs a scapegoat to hold up when things don't work in his favor and who better than the one you already despise? I take the blame, and his abuse, and pretend I'm the idiot of the high command. One day I'll steal Cobra back and he'll be too busy posturing to see it when it happens.

If you'll allow me a rather obvious metaphor, I'm not the defanged cobra you all think me to be-I'm the snake in the grass. It's true that I prefer an open challenge and I broadcast my emotions a little too freely, but at times like these I can creep around and bide my time, too; just like you.

You'll still be alive when he's thrown down, not because I'll forgive you so quickly for setting him up over me, but because I want you to see who the real leader of Cobra is. When he's no longer there to protect you, you'll fall back in line and I can't wait to see it.

-But I digress. I'm letting my thoughts get away from me; I need to stick to the the facts of what happened.

I stopped in front of Serpentor's dais and tried not to wither under his poisonous expression. My stomach churned as I looked at the flagstone floor-one of Destro's old bases now serves as our HQ, after all. I felt like throwing up. I realize now that it was out of fear. I hate that feeling. But it poisons my guts and sticks close to me whereever I go now. Half the time I don't even notice it. You aren't afraid of him because you are all fools. Why don't any of you realize what you've created?

I wasn't like that, was I? You can't think that of me.

"Once again, you're an idiot fool and a disgrace to the name of Cobra," Serpentor was saying. You know, the usual tirade. His voice was as needlessly booming as always. Just a brute, I had to remind myself. But of course he's more than that-I hate to admit it, but he's just as smart as I am. That's why my coup has taken so long. And of course, the brute can tear me apart at any time, so I have to watch my step and pretend to be just another henchman for him to find fault with. What a tightrope you've all set me on.

"What happened to Cobra island?" he demanded. As if he didn't know.

I had to grind my teeth for several seconds before I possessed the clarity of mind to answer. "There was a surprise attack," I said finally.

"A _surprise _attack?" he repeated, loud enough for any random passerby out in the hall to hear. Storm Shadow watched all this from the doorway and I could hear him shift slightly-maybe reaching for his sword, or maybe just aching to do so. But he knows better; he knows we have to play this game. Still, it felt good to know that _someone _in the room disagreed with what was going on.

"My reports say the enemy should have been detected hours before you finally realized they were on the island, Cobra Commander," Serpentor said. He spoke my name-my title-as if it were the most amusing thing. I'm not the one dubbed after that idiot project. "How is that possible?"

"They were well-hidden, leader," I returned shortly.

"Oh, really? Tell me exactly how you didn't detect a group of nearly twenty individuals creeping around an island that is completely under Cobra surveillance?"

I couldn't answer that, of course. The truth is, I was not actually_ on_ Cobra Island at the time of the attack. Not at first, anyway. If I said I'd been unavailable, he might look into where I'd been, and what I'd been doing.

And then he'd kill me, of course. And I'm totally set against that, despite what all the jokes getting passed around in the last twenty-four hours might imply.

"The 'enemy' has the whole of the United States government behind them," I returned as harshly as I could get away with. "And twenty trained special-missions operatives on a large island are not as easy to spot as you seem to think."

"It was your sole job to protect Cobra Island while I was away!" he shouted back. I flinched-I couldn't help it. In my mind I called up the past times when he'd been angry enough to attack. I'm not a brawler, like him. He could throw me down easily, and he has. I forced myself to stand in place, and face him, raising my gaze to meet his eyes.

"You talk of surveillance, but I recall you leaving me with little to work with," I said. Maybe it was reckless, but I wasn't going to take his abuse here-not after retreating from my island (_my _island, not his!) and not with all of you watching. "The budget and resources you give me are lacking. The troops are never enough and the number of satellites monitoring the island was cut down! I was barely able to stand and fight as long as I did with what men were there. And you took most of the Crimson-"

"Close your mouth!" he said. "Who do you think you're talking to that way?"

This time I did step back, as he descended toward me. It suddenly occurred to me that I mkight have made a mistake. "Close your mouth before I close it for you, Commander! You outnumbered them almost a thousand to one and you _failed_. You had the advantage and you _failed_. Would more troops have helped you or would you failed then, too?"

He got so close I thought about running, or shoving against him-anything to get him back. His rage seemed to radiate off him like a heatwave. I probabyl shouldn't have antagonized him when he was already in a mood. By the time I decided it was best to go he'd already grabbed the front of my jacket and shook me so hard my head flopped. It was all I could do to grab his forearms and wonder if I should get a punch in-at the moment, it seemed worth it. I barely contained myself.

_He can't hurt you_, I reminded myself. _He needs you._

"What is it going to _take _for you to do what is best for Cobra?" he demanded. His breath fogged on my face-plate, and for a moment he was just a blur. "What am I going to have to _do _to get you to take this job seriously? Do I have to treat you literally like a child and _beat_ some sense into you? Remember that I allowed you to remain here, Commander-and you've yet to make me happy about it."

"But it wasn't my fault," I said. "They got too deep into the base-"

"They should never have gotten _to _the base!" He threw me down. I struck the floor on my side; helmet hit flagstones and absorbed the worst of the shock as my head bounced off the floor. It was still jarring.

"They have Cobra Island now," he said. "They have almost a third of our troops there-our technology. It's only because of my foresight that we were able to remote-deactivate most of the weapons and computers, or this would be an even worse disaster."

I wanted to point out that when I was leader, they never took Cobra Island-that when I was leader, I never would've made all the decisions that led to this. I _wanted _to say a lot of things, but I settled for cursing him in my head, where it was safe.

Then I glanced up and saw you, staring at me, with the nerve to have a look of pity as your expression.

I could have screamed at you.

When the yelling was finally over, I retreated from the room, ego bruised more than ever; wondering when I'd have my chance to challenge him the right way, or even if I'd still be a commander at all after this.

Once, I looked at you like that, the way you looked down at me. Back then, you were a cast-down thing, bedraggled and confused, drifted from one port to another across the world. Your family name, centuries old, had been dragged into nothing; your life was one angry protest after another. College campuses, minor extremism, petty crimes- all that defined your life until you met me. I offered you what you really wanted, and that was control over your fate. You called yourself a baroness again because I made you believe in yourself. As trite as it might sound, now, you needed that belief.

All I asked for in return was loyalty. I gave you everything and only asked for one thing from you. We had a deal.

And then _he_ romanced you away. Now you dress in his vile black and your heart probably looks the same by now. Do you remember how you looked in the uniform I gave you, how you did that twirl to see yourself when you thought I wasn't there? What changed?

Is it because he's more your station? I'm not of noble birth, but I sweated for everything you took away from me. I still hold on, even though you all step on my fingers and wait for me to let go.

Are you attracted to his build and his voice and the way he makes you feel? I admit I'm not that tall, or suave, or a romantic-I don't go for love, for sweet nothings and secret intrigues and passionate feelings. But I gave you something less fleeting than all that. Now he strings you along. He stole your spot while you fell for his chivalry.

You say I'm just an unmanly peasant; that he's an honorable sort-as honorable as an arms dealer can be, is that it? Forgive me, if I'm more honest about my ways than he is. A man who trades in death can't have honor, and you're fooling yourself to see any real virtue in him. One day, you'll regret that you never noticed what was always there.

But I'm digressing-again. I keep letting my thoughts carry me off to old times, letting them linger on resentments I can't do anything about right now.

Anyway, I don't remember much else of what happened. Storm Shadow helped me up and escorted me to my quarters. Doors locked, he watched the outside from the window while I checked myself over.

At times like these, I'm truly grateful for Storm Shadow. Even if he has his own reasons for being here, he serves without hesitation and without deception. I should've appreciated that more, before everything fell down around me. Now I don't know what I'd do without him around. It's because of Storm Shadow that I can sleep at night. I've never encountered a direct threat from Serpentor, but sometimes Storm Shadow hears whispers, or catches shadows outside-spies, maybe. Who knows? What I do know, though, is that no one can match my protector. I chose well in that regard, at least.

I sit down, cloth mask now in place, because I don't even let Tommy see me anymore, and I think about the first time I saw you. You were pathetic, hair in tangled strands, crying, though you said it was just the rain. Since it was raining, I pulled you under my coat and we walked together. As we talked, I promised you great things, and I meant them, because I meant to have great things for myself. And I asked you to share it all with me. Back then, I believed you would-I think, at the time, you believed it, too.

I guess I made you too strong. Now you have a will of your own.

But you promised me.

You _promised_.

(END)

_Continuity note: _The setting for this is roughly after Season Two; the animated film is too off-kilter in its facts to logically be considered canon. Therefore, the seasons that followed also have to be discarded (though seeing the Commander reassume control was satisfying, it's apparently an AU). If _Resolute _was a sort of send-up and self-contained sequel to the old show, it raises a few canon questions: how did how did Cobra Commander reassert himself; what happened to Serpentor; why was Cobra Island vacant? (There are other questions as well, about Dial-Tone being female, Mindbender's absence, etc. I have a few ideas, but who knows?)


End file.

G. I. Joe, Drama