Categories > Cartoons > G.I. Joe > Haven
Disclaimer: Characters in this work (GI Joe/ Cobra) are the property of Marvel Comics, Hasbro
and Devil's Due Publishing, Inc., and are being used without permission. No profit is gained from the use of these characters.
Haven
By Nickelina
A Boat on the Sea
...I never knew I was built so strong, I never thought I was built for hurricanes; my heart is a boat on the sea...
The early afternoon is when Alison would take her walk outside. She made it part of her daily routine. The autumn air was crisp and the rustling of the leaves on the ground was a comforting sound. She would walk around the building of the rehabilitation facility that Duke had placed her in. On the opposite side of the building was a small patch of woods and she would sit for a time looking out. Shortly after General Rey came to see her, Duke made arrangements for her to be moved to New York State. She didn't care where she was moved to. She didn't care if anyone ever came to see her. She didn't care if she ever got better.
Duke never did tell her the hows and why that related to Dash's death. He told her the same thing that Rey did. He told her that they wanted to keep it from her because they thought that it would affect her recovery. He was right. She barely ate, wouldn't work with the therapists, and refused to take her medications. She would go out for her walk then be back in bed for the rest of the day.
Alison sat on her usual bench and looked out into the woods. Other patients would walk past her, some would smile, or wave and she ignored them. She had been at the facility for a little over a month. The afternoon sky was cloudless and bright blue and the contrast of the turning leaves reminded her of the day she got married. She shrugged the thought off. It wasn't something that she wanted to think about.
She was no longer guarded on a daily basis. Duke thought that this facility was equipped to take care of any security concerns surrounding Alison, especially since he had released word that she had died in the hospital to anyone connected with her while she was in there. She was for all intents and purposes, alone.
The breeze had turned cold and a nurse came around the corner with a wheelchair.
"Sarah? It's time to go back to your room." She pulled the wheelchair up next to Alison.
"I'm not ready to go back yet." Alison replied.
"It's much too chilly out here." She took Alison's hand and helped her into the chair. "We're going to be having coffee and doing some arts and crafts in the dining room. Why don't you come?"
"I don't really want to."
The nurse wheeled her back into the building and as Alison was going back to her room she caught the news that was on the television.
"...The Majority leader will be sworn in later this afternoon, taking over for Speaker of the House Bill Winston, who died earlier this morning in an apparent boating accident."
Alison held up her hand to stop the nurse. She turned the chair to face the television. The reporter continued. "Authorities continue to investigate what happened aboard the Speaker's boat, but have yet to release any information..."
"I need to get back to my room." Alison told her nurse.
Alison rummaged through her small drawer looking for Duke's cell phone number. She thought she had it, and once she was left alone she reached for the phone and dialed. She was unsuccessful the first time. On the second try she got through to his voice mail. She didn't hesitate to leave a message.
"Duke, it's me. It started. I knew it. Please, try to put everything together. You have to stop them." She was flustered and couldn't think of any other way to tell him in case anyone would hear the message. She hung up with out saying goodbye.
General Rey snatched the phone out of the sergeant's hand. He threw it on the table in the middle of the war room of GI Joe Headquarters. "Where is she?"
"We traced the call to Watertown, New York." The Sergeant replied.
"Duke thinks he's smarter than me." Rey said. He walked around the table and sat at the head of it. "I have a mission for you. I need you to go to Watertown," He slammed his fist on the table. "She is a hindrance to our cause. Dela Eden couldn't do the job. Bring her to me. I will take care of her myself. If you want a job done right, I guess you have to do it yourself."
"Yes, Sir."
It was night, and the rehab center was quiet. Alison had her television on, as usual, but she had kept the sound down. She couldn't sleep and wanted a sleeping pill. She raised her bed to a sitting position and called for a nurse. It took longer than usual for someone to come to her room. When someone finally entered, she could tell it wasn't anyone she expected. Using the light from the television, she could see a man, casing the room; he looked back out to the hall and closed the door. Her heart began to race. She didn't know who he was but she had a feeling she knew what he was there for. She remembered the bag that Duke had given her and its contents. If she could just make it into the bathroom...
She took a deep breath and tried to muster all the strength she could find. She feigned sleep although she kept her eyes open enough to see what was happening. The man, dressed in black turned the volume up on the television to distract from any noise. He walked around to the side of her bed and stood over her. He paused before he reached down to grab her. She jerked to the side and in the movement fell out of the bed. She landed hard on the floor, almost screaming in pain as it shook through her weak body.
He ran to the other side of the bed and lunged at her. She tried to kick him away. Her hits were not hard and the man grabbed her leg and pulled her toward him. She grabbed onto the bottom rail of the bed to prevent herself from being pulled far. She screamed hoping someone would hear her, but it was in vain. The man pulled her hand over hand closer to him. When she was close enough to him he pinned her to the floor, straddling her.
The pressure from having someone kneeling over her was almost too much. She took a deep breath and raised her knee to his groin. This time the hit was hard enough to make him double over next to her. She elbowed him in the head and crawled to towards the bathroom. Just before she got into the doorway she felt a hand on her ankle. It didn't stop her. She pulled her leg into the doorway, with her attacker attached. His arm was still holding on and she slammed the door on his arm, once, twice, and a third time and he let go.
With the door securely shut and locked Alison crawled in pain towards the cabinet. She pulled the bag down from the shelf and unzipped it. Inside were a GI Joe Com and a gun. She hit the all call on the Com and checked the magazine. It was empty. She heard her attacker twisting the knob on the door. She reached into the bag and found the magazine, and snapped it into place. She cocked the gun and pointed it at the door.
Her attacker began to bang on the door, using his body to break it down. It worked. The light from the bathroom made his presence a shadow to her.
"You can't hide from me, or General Rey." He told her.
"Burn in hell, motherfucker." She said, breathlessly and pulled the trigger.
Duke was spending another late night at headquarters. He had been going through all of Lady Jaye's files both paper and electronic for days now and was only beginning to piece together all the events that had been playing out in Washington. An alert came across on his Com and he looked down to see if there was a message attached. When he saw who it was coming from he quickly put all of his papers in a lock box and walked into the hallway. No one knew that he had Firewall refurbish a Com and that he had given it to Lady Jaye. It was only transmitted to Duke, and no one else. He made his way to the secure room and locked the door. He hit the return on his Com but all he got was static. He tried again, this time trying to talk to the person on the other line.
"Alison?" He got more static. "Alison, what is going on, over." He heard what he thought were gun shots. "Alison!" He yelled. "Come in!" It was a minute before he got a response.
"Duke?" Her voice was weak. "Duke, come in."
"I'm here, Ali. What happened?"
"I shot him. Why are they doing this?"
Duke was alarmed. "Who did you shoot? What is going on?"
Her voice broke up as she talked to him. "He just came in and I think he was going to kill me. Rey told him to kill me."
"Hang on, honey, I'll be there as soon as I can."
Duke was on his way out of the building when he ran into General Rey.
"Going somewhere, Hauser?" He asked.
Duke didn't reply.
"I asked you a question." Rey demeaned.
"Get out of my way." Duke tried to push this way around Rey.
Rey had an evil smile on his face. "I know where you're going, and you're too late."
Zach Allen ran down the hall past Alison's room that now had police tape across it. He got to the room on the corner and stopped long enough to flash his CIA badge at the local police officer who was guarding the door. He walked into the room, where Alison was being kept. She was sitting up in the bed and was obviously medicated. Zach walked closer to her bed and whispered her name. She opened her eyes and reached out for his hand.
"You're here." She said.
"I came as soon as I heard. Are you alright?" He asked.
"No." she said quietly. "I'm hurt, and I'm scared. Why is this happening to me?"
He gripped her hand tightly. "There's no need to be scared. Duke is on the way, we'll figure everything out. Try and get some rest, I'm going to talk to the police."
"Zach, don't leave me."
"I'll be right back, I promise."
She caught her breath and tried to hold back the tears that were so very close to the surface. "Please, don't say that. I promised..."
Zach pointed to the hall. "I'll be right there. You're going to be fine. Everything is going to be fine."
The Watertown police department was less than pleased when the CIA took over the case of the incident at the rehabilitation hospital. As far as the CIA was concerned, absolutely nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. Duke had arrived, and had taken over the case. He was overstepping his boundaries, but Zach was there to back him up. The man who had attacked Alison was identified as one of the sergeants that Duke had seen around GI Joe headquarters. Alison was right; Rey had sent someone to kill her. Duke had himself set up in a local hotel. He was running out of ideas on where to hide Alison. It seemed everywhere he put her, General Rey found her. And just like she said, everything that she had uncovered was beginning to come to light. It was a brilliant plan, Duke had to admit. He was amazed at how her distrust for General Rey gave her the ammo to dig around that much. Alison had kept all of her notes so cryptic that he was having trouble putting it together. The pieces that had fallen so far had made sense.
He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. She was in such a fragile state, not only physically, but mentally. He knew what this was doing to Dash, he never thought about how everything would be affecting her. And to add to all that stress, she had killed a man in self defense. He knew there was a way around all of this, he just ad to figure it out. He heard his CIA phone ring and thinking that it would be Zach, he picked it up. It was a number he didn't recognize. General Rey had confiscated his Joe issued phone, and he thought perhaps it was a member of the team calling him.
"Hauser."
There was a pause before the other line answered. "Hello Duke."
"Who is this?"
"Is that of concern right now?"
Duke recognized the voice and was surprised to receive a call from him.
"What troubles me, Duke, is your inability to keep her safe."
"How do you know what is going on?"
"I have contacts everywhere, Duke. I can help you, if you will allow me."
"What kind of help are you offering, Destro?"
"I can provide Lady Jaye with...protection. A place to recover, a well equipped medical staff. A haven, if you will."
Duke was silent for a moment. Nothing Destro offered came without a price.
"What do you want in return?" Duke asked.
"Nothing. I have always held Lady Jaye in the highest regards. Consider it a favor. Her life has already been threatened twice. It's only a matter of time before the third occurs. And what is it your Americans say?"
"Third time is a charm." Duke said dryly. "You have my attention, what do you suggest?"
*
Duke had gone back to the hospital with a heavy heart. He wasn't sure exactly how Alison was going to deal with what was going to happen next. He knew it was the only thing he could do now. He held her had, as he always did and looked at her. He ran his finger across her wedding band.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing." He sighed. "How are you feeling?"
"Tired. I'm tired. My body is tired, my mind is tired. Both are sore."
"You'll be able to rest soon."
"No I won't. You keep saying that, and look what happens. Duke?" She looked him straight in the eye. "I want to go home."
"Where is that?" He asked her. You always said as long as you were with Dash, you were home, and did you ever settle anywhere?"
Alison became defensive. She took her hand out of his. "What kind of question is that? How dare you!"
"Where are you supposed to go?"
"I don't know,/Conrad/." She said venomously. "I thought you were my friend."
"I am your friend. I'm telling you, logically, that you just can't go /home/."
"I'm just going to be placed in hospital after hospital until I die then?" She asked.
"No. You need to recover, and then we can talk about you going...somewhere."
Alison tried to end the conversation by refusing to talk to Conrad. He took her hand again.
"Why don't you go to sleep?" He asked her.
"Are you going to leave?"
"No, not for a while. Alison?"
"What?"
"Can you do me a favor?"
"That depends."
"Can you just concentrate on getting better? Don't worry about anything else. I'll take care of everything."
"I'll try."
"Good girl. Get some sleep."
He waited until she drifted off. He squeezed her hand tightly and smoothed her hair. It was going to be a while before he saw her again. Just before he left he kissed her on the cheek.
"Sleep well, Honey. I promise you, this is for the best."
and Devil's Due Publishing, Inc., and are being used without permission. No profit is gained from the use of these characters.
Haven
By Nickelina
A Boat on the Sea
...I never knew I was built so strong, I never thought I was built for hurricanes; my heart is a boat on the sea...
The early afternoon is when Alison would take her walk outside. She made it part of her daily routine. The autumn air was crisp and the rustling of the leaves on the ground was a comforting sound. She would walk around the building of the rehabilitation facility that Duke had placed her in. On the opposite side of the building was a small patch of woods and she would sit for a time looking out. Shortly after General Rey came to see her, Duke made arrangements for her to be moved to New York State. She didn't care where she was moved to. She didn't care if anyone ever came to see her. She didn't care if she ever got better.
Duke never did tell her the hows and why that related to Dash's death. He told her the same thing that Rey did. He told her that they wanted to keep it from her because they thought that it would affect her recovery. He was right. She barely ate, wouldn't work with the therapists, and refused to take her medications. She would go out for her walk then be back in bed for the rest of the day.
Alison sat on her usual bench and looked out into the woods. Other patients would walk past her, some would smile, or wave and she ignored them. She had been at the facility for a little over a month. The afternoon sky was cloudless and bright blue and the contrast of the turning leaves reminded her of the day she got married. She shrugged the thought off. It wasn't something that she wanted to think about.
She was no longer guarded on a daily basis. Duke thought that this facility was equipped to take care of any security concerns surrounding Alison, especially since he had released word that she had died in the hospital to anyone connected with her while she was in there. She was for all intents and purposes, alone.
The breeze had turned cold and a nurse came around the corner with a wheelchair.
"Sarah? It's time to go back to your room." She pulled the wheelchair up next to Alison.
"I'm not ready to go back yet." Alison replied.
"It's much too chilly out here." She took Alison's hand and helped her into the chair. "We're going to be having coffee and doing some arts and crafts in the dining room. Why don't you come?"
"I don't really want to."
The nurse wheeled her back into the building and as Alison was going back to her room she caught the news that was on the television.
"...The Majority leader will be sworn in later this afternoon, taking over for Speaker of the House Bill Winston, who died earlier this morning in an apparent boating accident."
Alison held up her hand to stop the nurse. She turned the chair to face the television. The reporter continued. "Authorities continue to investigate what happened aboard the Speaker's boat, but have yet to release any information..."
"I need to get back to my room." Alison told her nurse.
Alison rummaged through her small drawer looking for Duke's cell phone number. She thought she had it, and once she was left alone she reached for the phone and dialed. She was unsuccessful the first time. On the second try she got through to his voice mail. She didn't hesitate to leave a message.
"Duke, it's me. It started. I knew it. Please, try to put everything together. You have to stop them." She was flustered and couldn't think of any other way to tell him in case anyone would hear the message. She hung up with out saying goodbye.
General Rey snatched the phone out of the sergeant's hand. He threw it on the table in the middle of the war room of GI Joe Headquarters. "Where is she?"
"We traced the call to Watertown, New York." The Sergeant replied.
"Duke thinks he's smarter than me." Rey said. He walked around the table and sat at the head of it. "I have a mission for you. I need you to go to Watertown," He slammed his fist on the table. "She is a hindrance to our cause. Dela Eden couldn't do the job. Bring her to me. I will take care of her myself. If you want a job done right, I guess you have to do it yourself."
"Yes, Sir."
It was night, and the rehab center was quiet. Alison had her television on, as usual, but she had kept the sound down. She couldn't sleep and wanted a sleeping pill. She raised her bed to a sitting position and called for a nurse. It took longer than usual for someone to come to her room. When someone finally entered, she could tell it wasn't anyone she expected. Using the light from the television, she could see a man, casing the room; he looked back out to the hall and closed the door. Her heart began to race. She didn't know who he was but she had a feeling she knew what he was there for. She remembered the bag that Duke had given her and its contents. If she could just make it into the bathroom...
She took a deep breath and tried to muster all the strength she could find. She feigned sleep although she kept her eyes open enough to see what was happening. The man, dressed in black turned the volume up on the television to distract from any noise. He walked around to the side of her bed and stood over her. He paused before he reached down to grab her. She jerked to the side and in the movement fell out of the bed. She landed hard on the floor, almost screaming in pain as it shook through her weak body.
He ran to the other side of the bed and lunged at her. She tried to kick him away. Her hits were not hard and the man grabbed her leg and pulled her toward him. She grabbed onto the bottom rail of the bed to prevent herself from being pulled far. She screamed hoping someone would hear her, but it was in vain. The man pulled her hand over hand closer to him. When she was close enough to him he pinned her to the floor, straddling her.
The pressure from having someone kneeling over her was almost too much. She took a deep breath and raised her knee to his groin. This time the hit was hard enough to make him double over next to her. She elbowed him in the head and crawled to towards the bathroom. Just before she got into the doorway she felt a hand on her ankle. It didn't stop her. She pulled her leg into the doorway, with her attacker attached. His arm was still holding on and she slammed the door on his arm, once, twice, and a third time and he let go.
With the door securely shut and locked Alison crawled in pain towards the cabinet. She pulled the bag down from the shelf and unzipped it. Inside were a GI Joe Com and a gun. She hit the all call on the Com and checked the magazine. It was empty. She heard her attacker twisting the knob on the door. She reached into the bag and found the magazine, and snapped it into place. She cocked the gun and pointed it at the door.
Her attacker began to bang on the door, using his body to break it down. It worked. The light from the bathroom made his presence a shadow to her.
"You can't hide from me, or General Rey." He told her.
"Burn in hell, motherfucker." She said, breathlessly and pulled the trigger.
Duke was spending another late night at headquarters. He had been going through all of Lady Jaye's files both paper and electronic for days now and was only beginning to piece together all the events that had been playing out in Washington. An alert came across on his Com and he looked down to see if there was a message attached. When he saw who it was coming from he quickly put all of his papers in a lock box and walked into the hallway. No one knew that he had Firewall refurbish a Com and that he had given it to Lady Jaye. It was only transmitted to Duke, and no one else. He made his way to the secure room and locked the door. He hit the return on his Com but all he got was static. He tried again, this time trying to talk to the person on the other line.
"Alison?" He got more static. "Alison, what is going on, over." He heard what he thought were gun shots. "Alison!" He yelled. "Come in!" It was a minute before he got a response.
"Duke?" Her voice was weak. "Duke, come in."
"I'm here, Ali. What happened?"
"I shot him. Why are they doing this?"
Duke was alarmed. "Who did you shoot? What is going on?"
Her voice broke up as she talked to him. "He just came in and I think he was going to kill me. Rey told him to kill me."
"Hang on, honey, I'll be there as soon as I can."
Duke was on his way out of the building when he ran into General Rey.
"Going somewhere, Hauser?" He asked.
Duke didn't reply.
"I asked you a question." Rey demeaned.
"Get out of my way." Duke tried to push this way around Rey.
Rey had an evil smile on his face. "I know where you're going, and you're too late."
Zach Allen ran down the hall past Alison's room that now had police tape across it. He got to the room on the corner and stopped long enough to flash his CIA badge at the local police officer who was guarding the door. He walked into the room, where Alison was being kept. She was sitting up in the bed and was obviously medicated. Zach walked closer to her bed and whispered her name. She opened her eyes and reached out for his hand.
"You're here." She said.
"I came as soon as I heard. Are you alright?" He asked.
"No." she said quietly. "I'm hurt, and I'm scared. Why is this happening to me?"
He gripped her hand tightly. "There's no need to be scared. Duke is on the way, we'll figure everything out. Try and get some rest, I'm going to talk to the police."
"Zach, don't leave me."
"I'll be right back, I promise."
She caught her breath and tried to hold back the tears that were so very close to the surface. "Please, don't say that. I promised..."
Zach pointed to the hall. "I'll be right there. You're going to be fine. Everything is going to be fine."
The Watertown police department was less than pleased when the CIA took over the case of the incident at the rehabilitation hospital. As far as the CIA was concerned, absolutely nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. Duke had arrived, and had taken over the case. He was overstepping his boundaries, but Zach was there to back him up. The man who had attacked Alison was identified as one of the sergeants that Duke had seen around GI Joe headquarters. Alison was right; Rey had sent someone to kill her. Duke had himself set up in a local hotel. He was running out of ideas on where to hide Alison. It seemed everywhere he put her, General Rey found her. And just like she said, everything that she had uncovered was beginning to come to light. It was a brilliant plan, Duke had to admit. He was amazed at how her distrust for General Rey gave her the ammo to dig around that much. Alison had kept all of her notes so cryptic that he was having trouble putting it together. The pieces that had fallen so far had made sense.
He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. She was in such a fragile state, not only physically, but mentally. He knew what this was doing to Dash, he never thought about how everything would be affecting her. And to add to all that stress, she had killed a man in self defense. He knew there was a way around all of this, he just ad to figure it out. He heard his CIA phone ring and thinking that it would be Zach, he picked it up. It was a number he didn't recognize. General Rey had confiscated his Joe issued phone, and he thought perhaps it was a member of the team calling him.
"Hauser."
There was a pause before the other line answered. "Hello Duke."
"Who is this?"
"Is that of concern right now?"
Duke recognized the voice and was surprised to receive a call from him.
"What troubles me, Duke, is your inability to keep her safe."
"How do you know what is going on?"
"I have contacts everywhere, Duke. I can help you, if you will allow me."
"What kind of help are you offering, Destro?"
"I can provide Lady Jaye with...protection. A place to recover, a well equipped medical staff. A haven, if you will."
Duke was silent for a moment. Nothing Destro offered came without a price.
"What do you want in return?" Duke asked.
"Nothing. I have always held Lady Jaye in the highest regards. Consider it a favor. Her life has already been threatened twice. It's only a matter of time before the third occurs. And what is it your Americans say?"
"Third time is a charm." Duke said dryly. "You have my attention, what do you suggest?"
*
Duke had gone back to the hospital with a heavy heart. He wasn't sure exactly how Alison was going to deal with what was going to happen next. He knew it was the only thing he could do now. He held her had, as he always did and looked at her. He ran his finger across her wedding band.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing." He sighed. "How are you feeling?"
"Tired. I'm tired. My body is tired, my mind is tired. Both are sore."
"You'll be able to rest soon."
"No I won't. You keep saying that, and look what happens. Duke?" She looked him straight in the eye. "I want to go home."
"Where is that?" He asked her. You always said as long as you were with Dash, you were home, and did you ever settle anywhere?"
Alison became defensive. She took her hand out of his. "What kind of question is that? How dare you!"
"Where are you supposed to go?"
"I don't know,/Conrad/." She said venomously. "I thought you were my friend."
"I am your friend. I'm telling you, logically, that you just can't go /home/."
"I'm just going to be placed in hospital after hospital until I die then?" She asked.
"No. You need to recover, and then we can talk about you going...somewhere."
Alison tried to end the conversation by refusing to talk to Conrad. He took her hand again.
"Why don't you go to sleep?" He asked her.
"Are you going to leave?"
"No, not for a while. Alison?"
"What?"
"Can you do me a favor?"
"That depends."
"Can you just concentrate on getting better? Don't worry about anything else. I'll take care of everything."
"I'll try."
"Good girl. Get some sleep."
He waited until she drifted off. He squeezed her hand tightly and smoothed her hair. It was going to be a while before he saw her again. Just before he left he kissed her on the cheek.
"Sleep well, Honey. I promise you, this is for the best."
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