Time: 1847. Location: South America, somewhere along the Amazon River.
"I apologize for the actions of my men."
"Will you shut the fuck up? You did what you're supposed to do." In a house of snakes sits a woman, leaning back in her chair, feet up on the table. Not just any woman. An assassin. A ruthless killer. A Cobra Mortal.
It has been some time since the men of Vipers Nest have seen a woman as breathtaking as she. Her form-fitting red and silver uniform, dingy from her time in the thick verdure of the jungle, clings to each curve of her well-toned body. Her long jet black hair pulled tightly back, framing piercing blue eyes. The men try not to stare, they know what she is. She is the poster child for looks can be deceiving.
"Ma'am, may I remind you that I am the ranking officer here…"
"Shorty, you can remind me all you want. I still won't give a shit. I don't answer to you. I'm here at the Commander's invitation. If you don't like it, tough tits."
Around the room, the men look at both their Lieutenant and the Mortal in disbelief and disgust. They may harass the Lieutenant from time to time but only because they have been friends for years, but the complete lack of respect for his position from a member of their organization, it's almost too much. As the Mortal finishes spitting her invective at Lt. Onesi, she smiles to herself. She's enjoying the shit out of this. She looks from Onesi to his men with a gleam in her eye. That's when Onesi strikes. Before anyone can react, he has cleared the table, knocked the Mortal back onto the floor, and has her arms pinned, his knees digging into her inner elbows. His left hand is wrapped tightly around the Mortal's thin neck. In his right is his sidearm, which he forced into her mouth.
"Listen here bitch. I don't care who the fuck invited you. I don't care who the fuck your father was. When the Commander gets here, then he's in charge. But he's not here. I am. Here. In my house. I'm in fucking charge. You will respect me, or I will blow your fuckin' brains out." His men stand in disbelief, unsure of what they should do. Finally, Akin raises his weapon and points it at the Mortal's head. The rest of the men follow suit. "See that. Those are MY men. Not yours. Who do you think they'll cover for? Huh? You or me? You have one choice. You show me and my men respect. Or you die. Which is it."
Gun in her mouth, the Mortal mumbles her response. "I'm going to take this out of your mouth, but know this, I will pull the trigger if I don't like your response."
"Jesus. You have some balls. No wonder the Commander chose you for this particular location."
Jamming his sidearm back into the Mortal's mouth, "I don't want to hear another word out of you." Her eyes go wide, this crazy son of a bitch means to kill her. "You shake your head yes or no. Are you going to respect me and my men?" She slowly shakes her head yes. "Good. Now I'm going to stand up. You keep your damn mouth shut and stay on the damn ground until I'm clear. Then you get up slowly. Do you understand?" Again she slowly nods her head in understanding. "Good." After Onesi rises, the Mortal gets to her feet. "I am confining you to quarters until the Commander arrives, Mortal. You will be under guard. Should they not like what you do, they are authorized to kill you. Akin, Nason, show our new guest to her quarters. If she gives you any trouble, take her out"
Both men snap to attention, "Yes, SIR!" The two men lead the Mortal out of the small office. The rest of the men look at their leader in awe. He just took down a Mortal, at least that's how the story would be told over time. In fact, Lt. Onesi would become known as the only Cobra Officer to ever defeat a Mortal. "What are you all looking at? Get to work." For the first time in a long time, all the Vipers snapped to attention, saluted their Lieutenant, and responded with a resounding, "Yes, SIR!" Then each made their way to other areas in the Nest.
_______________________
Time: 0828. Location: South America, somewhere along the Amazon River.
In the com room of the bunker, the spin cycle is on full blast as Kosa and Fintak retell the story exaggerating details with each retelling.
"Holy shit, man. Did you see that? I mean shit, the Lt. fucked her up, man. She looked scared."
"I've never seen that much white in anyone's eyes."
"I'm pretty sure she pissed herself. At least that's what Akin said."
"Fuck, man. Remind me never to piss him off again."
As the two continue to relive the experience of watching their commanding officer teach the Mortal a lesson in humility, the officer in question walks in. "Anything to report?"
"No, Sir," replies Kosa.
"We haven't picked up anything in the last 72 hours. We're monitoring every channel, and we hid the BAT outside, running full 360-degree sweeps in infrared and thermal. We've noticed that animals seem to be returning to the area but nothing human or formerly human."
"What about the Commander's signal?"
"It's still repeating. The signal strength is increasing, which could be evidence that whatever is sending it is itself nearing our location."
"Is there a way to triangulate location based on the signal strength?"
Kosa and Fintak look at each other, then at their Lieutenant, then back to one another. "Damn it, Kosa, why didn't we think of that?"
"Cause it was too easy." The two men turn and begin to type furiously. Computer screens pop to life with new windows full of charts and code.
"What the hell are you guys talking about?"
"Well, sir, it's what you said about triangulating location. If we can isolate the signal and pick it up from multiple satellites or ground sources we should be able to do just what you suggested. We just need to."
"Got it."
"Feed it."
"Fed."
"Verifying. We've got a lock. Sir, we've located the source of the Commander's signal. It's coming from the Pacific, -16.751247,-78.134766. Slightly South West of Puerto De Lomas, Peru."
"Peru? Shit, that's."
"Over 1000 km away, Sir."