Comics #3

A C.L.A.W. jetpack soars towards Destro's mountain castle, carrying Storm Shadow, who is holding onto a wrapped-up prisoner. It lands in Cobra Commander's throne room, and Storm Shadow cuts open the prisoner's wrapping, revealing it to be Scarlett. A surprised Cobra Commander orders her to be placed in the dungeon. Far outside, a C-130 cargo plane flies towards the castle in the moonlight. The rear cargo ramp opens to reveal Snake Eyes, who jumps from it, parachuting for the castle. Meanwhile, Storm Shadow attempts to show affection to Scarlett. She quickly bites him, prompting him to leave her alone in the dungeon.
Destro is in his chambers longing for the Baroness, but also studying the radar. It reveals that an aircraft just flew by, but states successful airborne insertion to the castle is almost impossible. Nevertheless, Snake Eyes successfully lands undetected. Scarlett pulls a clip from her hair, and frees herself from her chains. Storm Shadow returns to the dungeon only to be ambushed by Scarlett, who quickly escapes. Snake Eyes stealthfully wipes out Cobra guards on the roof, sending one falling by Destro's window. Destro promptly gathers troops to find the intruder. A wounded troop on the roof points the Cobras to the other side of the castle. Once they are out of site, the troop pulls off his uniform, revealing himself to be Snake Eyes in disguise.
Storm Shadow calls forth his three red ninja warriors. Scarlett steals a C.L.A.W. jetpack from Cobra troops. Storm Shadow's ninjas attempt to ambush Snake Eyes, who quickly defeats them, using both martial arts and even a grenade. As Scarlett flies off to escape, she sees Storm Shadow throwing a sword at Snake Eyes. She quickly lands in front of her fellow Joe to take the sword instead. But Snake Eyes reaches around her, claps his hands together, catching the sword and flings it away. The Joes fly off to their freedom, but as they leave, it is shown that Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow both share a similar tattoo on their right forearms.

Different sets of Joe team members are repairing the badly damaged Pit. Gung-Ho is able to avoid a major collapse by hammer a support column into place with his bare fists, Torpedo stops a leak, Cover Girl & Snow Job clean the kitchen and Hawk reveals plans for the new and improved Pit.
In Springfield, Cobra Commander is shooting targets, as Destro asks why the prototype Cobra Tanksmasher, soon to be called the Rattler, is being sent on a mission. Cobra Commander has learned about the funeral of General Flagg and he plans to wipe out the entire Joe force in one attack.
In Switzerland, Major Bludd brings the badly burned Baroness to the Bern Institute of Reconstructive Surgery. She is introduced to Dr. Hundtkinder, who will be doing the surgeries to repair her face and body after being blown up in a HISS tank accident that gave her burns over 80% of her body.
Snake-Eyes, having returned from rescuing Scarlett, collects Kwinn's dead body, along with several mementos and flies them, with help from Wild Bill, to a beautiful spot along the ocean, where Snake-Eyes puts the body and the mementos in a kayak and pushes it out to sea.
At the same time, in Potter's Field New York, Dr. Venom is buried with the winos and John Doe's of New York City.
At Arlington National Cemetery, the entire GI Joe team is assembled and in dress uniform for the burial of General Flagg. After the process and as the body is about to be lowered into the ground, a Cobra Rattler comes screaming at them with its missiles armed. Stalker grabs the flag from the coffin and runs for cover as do the rest of the Joes. Out of nowhere the Rattler is riddled with bullets and crashes. On the nearby hillside is Duke and Roadblock, the new top sergeant and heavy machine gunner, who have just shot down the Rattler and saved all of the Joes.

The Joe team has found Major Bludd and the Baroness hiding out in a small mountain town along the Italian/Swiss border. Snow Job keeps track of them in their hotel from the mountains. Duke and Roadblock watch them from a restaurant across the street. Roadblock is appalled at the chef's sorbet citron. Clutch and Cover Girl stand ready in a Porsche parked nearby. Major Bludd walks out and catches a cab. Clutch and Cover Girl follow him to a telegraph office, where Bludd makes a call to Cobra Commander. The Major threatens to tell Destro of the Commander's plot to kill him unless he is paid two million dollars in a gucci suitcase. He insists that it be paid to him, in Italy, by the Commander himself. The furious Cobra leader is forced to comply. At the Bern Institute of Reconstructive Surgery, the Baroness appears with a new face, and a new costume.
The Joes follow the two Cobras to Lucca, Italy. Roadblock is much more impressed with the cooking in this Italian town. Due to the town's annual costume festival, Cobra Commander and his bodyguard walk right by the Joes, looking rather indistinct. Major Bludd and the Baroness drive to the town, their henchmen locked in a car-chase shootout with Clutch and Cover Girl. Duke and Roadblock attack them as they drive in, but they escape to meet with Cobra Commander. The Commander's guard reveals himself to be Storm Shadow in disguise, who easily wipes out Bludd's henchmen. The Cobras threaten each other, with Storm Shadow holding a sword at Major Bludd, and the Baroness holding a gun at Cobra Commander. The Joes attack, but the Baroness and Commander escape in a limousine. Storm Shadow and the Major escape on a parade float, and the Joes follow in the Porsche and a VAMP. The chase goes along the mountain road, but with some crazy downhill driving by Clutch, the Joes cut-off the limousine. Nevertheless, three of the Cobras escape on the parade float, abandoning Cobra Commander. The story ends with him standing between Clutch and Roadblock with his hands in the air.

A group of Joes guarding Cobra Commander have parachuted onto a park range in the Rocky Mountains. They have their supplies dropped to them from a C-130 cargo plain. These supplies come in large crates, one marked as the pre-fab fortress, the other unmarked. Cobra Commander does not see how any sort of protection can be supplied at this site. Duke reassures him that after the Commander helps them put together the fortress, they will be just fine.
Major Bludd and the Baroness return to Cobra's headquarters. Destro realizes that if they are to take control of Cobra, both the Commander and the unquestionably loyal Storm Shadow must die. Major Bludd reveals that he planted a homing device on Storm Shadow's sword handle, and the Baroness plans to send Wild Weasel and Firefly to go kill him. However, the ninja is already on his way to rescue Cobra Commander. By calculating the C-130 cargo plane's flight range, and using Cobra spy satellites, Storm Shadow has found the Commander in the Rocky Mountains.
At the pre-fab fortress, Cobra Commander reveals some of his helmet's features. These include an opening straw hole to drink from, and a lining of plastic explosive. He does not reveal the short-range radio receiver built into it, which keeps him in contact with Storm Shadow. The cobra ninja tells the Commander that he is on his way, and to have the Joes take him outside for some "fresh air." The Joes grant his request, only to be ambushed by Storm Shadow flying a C.L.A.W. He carries the Commander away, but the jetpack is damaged by Roadblock's fine shooting. The Cobras must land, since the C.L.A.W. only has enough fuel left to carry one person back to the Cobra cargo plane. Storm Shadow is left to fend for himself. Duke reveals the unmarked crate to be holding a Sky Hawk, and takes off after the C.L.A.W. Gung-Ho and Roadblock go after the ninja, but Gung-Ho gets slashed in the process. Roadblock manages to beat up Storm Shadow. Two F.A.N.G. helicopters are launched from the Cobra cargo plane flying overhead. They are easily taken out by the Sky Hawk. However, the C.L.A.W. makes it back up to the cargo plane, and the Sky Hawk does not have enough ammo left to stop it. The Joes find a mailing receipt on Storm Shadow, addressed to Chokoloskee, Florida. Unknown the Joes, Wild Weasel and Firefly have followed Storm Shadow's homing beacon to Chokoloskee, mailed specifically to the lair of Zartan.

The story opens with Storm Shadow being boated out to Alcatraz, where he is to be held prisoner. Of course, he doesn't plan to stay. The plot then moves to the Florida Everglades, where the Commander, Destro and the Baroness are on their way to meet Zartan. They discover that his headquarters is a super-high-tech structure, made out to look like a run-down junky shack in the swamp, via holograms. In the Gulf of Mexico, G.I. Jane, the Joe freighter, is hauling a group of Joes out to the Everglades. Here we meet some new Joes. Their mission is to discover the place that Storm Shadow sent mail to last issue. In the Bethesda Naval Hospital, Gung-Ho notices that Snake Eyes has the same tattoo that Storm Shadow has. This alerts command that there's a link between the Joe commando and the Cobra ninja. The Joes at Alcatraz go to twice the alert.
At his headquarters, Zartan shows the Cobras that Storm Shadow mailed him the tracking device that Major Bludd had put on his sword. The Dreadnoks who are manning the radar then notice some low-flying aircraft nearing the base. Firefly and Wild Weasel are sent out to stop the intruders. A squad of Joes disembark from the Dragonflies into the swamp, Tripwire face-first. They are immediately attacked by a Cobra Water Moccasin. When things look grim, a Joe S.H.A.R.C., piloted by Deep-Six, leaps from the water and makes short work of the Cobras.
Zartan is asked to prove his loyalty to Cobra and stop the Joe intruders himself. At Alcatraz, the Joes go to check on Storm Shadow and find an empty cell. Meanwhile, Junkyard starts barking and runs off into the swamp, and the Joes follow him to find that he has treed Firefly and Wild Weasel! Almost as soon as the Cobras are taken into custody, Junkyard goes running off in a craze again. Deep-Six has returned to the Jane, and Wild Bill is dead-set on congratulating him. However, the S.H.A.R.C. pilot flat-out ignores him, making the Dragonfly pilot nearly start cussing and swinging fists. Zartan has walked to his back door only to see Junkyard sitting outside, looking at him with cute curiosity. Zartan pulls out his pistol and aims it at the Joe dog.

There are two separate storylines in this comic, one involving a chase in the Florida Everglades and the discovery of Zartan's lair, and the other, the Origin of Snake Eyes.
Not much happens with the Everglades story. It provides comic relief between the more serious story of Snake-Eyes' origin. Firefly and Wild Weasel escape from Mutt, Torpedo and Tripwire, who chase after, attempting to recapture them.
Junkyard leads Destro, Baroness, Zartan, and Cobra Commander after the Joes. Or so they think. Junkyard actually leads the Cobras into a pit of quicksand, which they fall into.
As for the Origin of Snake Eyes, this story occupies much of the comic. Hawk and Scarlett research the meaning of the tattoo that is on both Storm Shadow's and Snake-Eyes' arms, the I-Ching. But they fail to comprehend its meaning. Stalker says that he had seen that tattoo before as well. He begins the story of Snake-Eyes.
Stalker was the leader of a Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) unit in Vietnam. On one mission, they lost three of the six members. Stalker, Snake-Eyes, and Tommy, with the unpronounceable last name, were the surviving three. Tommy and Snake-Eyes were really close. Tommy always tried to talk Snake-Eyes into joining the "family business" back in Japan after the war.
As they were getting extracted by helicopter, they were ambushed. Snake-Eyes was wounded. Tommy went back and carried Snake-Eyes to the helicopter amid heavy Viet Cong fire. As Tommy was pulling Snake-Eyes on board the chopper, that is when Stalker said he first saw that tattoo. He saw it on Tommy's arm. Afterward, Stalker called the Records Division and found that Tommy's unpronounceable last name translated directly into English as Storm Shadow.
Snake-Eyes got sent home because of his wounds, but no one was there to meet him at the airport. Hawk, who was just a junior officer at the time, was sent to retrieve him and tell him that his mother, father, and twin sister had been killed by a drunk driver.
With nothing left for Snake-Eyes, he went to Japan to take Tommy up on his offer to join the "family business". This "business" turned out to be a ninja clan. The Hard Master, Tommy's uncle, was the "chairman of the board". The Soft Master, Tommy's other uncle, was "vice-president in charge of finance". And Tommy (Storm Shadow) was called the Young Master.
Snake-Eyes undertook the training to become a ninja and excelled. He was eventually allowed to get his arm tattooed with the I-Ching, the symbol of the family. In fact Snake-Eyes became so good, that the Hard Master was going to name Snake-Eyes as the heir to the family business instead of Storm Shadow.
When the Hard Master was assassinated, Storm Shadow fled the family compound and became the obvious suspect. It was revealed that the Hard Master had actually been imitating Snake-Eyes' heartbeat and breathing in a process called "Donning the Chameleon's Mantle". So that meant that Snake-Eyes was the actual target. This made Storm Shadow even more of a suspect because it was assumed that he became jealous of Snake-Eyes and wanted to kill him.
And that is where Part 1 of the Origin of Snake-Eyes ends.

Destro has stopped Zartan from shooting Junkyard. He wants to see why a dog is alone out in a swamp and staring out into the trees. The Joe team is out in those trees, angry that Junkyard is giving them away.
In Spanish Harlem, New York City, a young boy walks into a small oriental restaurant and pulls out a gun. The owner, an old Japanese man, plays along with the boy, and calmly yet quickly grabs the gun, drops out the magazine and tosses the boy $50. He claims that he likes to buy empty pistols. The man drops the gun into a box of pistols that he has collected over the years. The whole time, Snake Eyes has been inside the restaurant in disguise, holding onto an uzi.
At Joe Headquarters, Hawk and Scarlett have been trying to figure out what the tattoo that Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow share means. Stalker enters to tell them of his experience in Vietnam with the two soldiers. The Cobra ninja was then known as "Tommy," and he and Snake Eyes were strong friends. Tommy talked a lot, but Snake Eyes mostly thought of his family, especially his twin sister. One day during a helicopter pick-up, the group of Army L.R.R.P.s was ambushed, and when Snake-Eyes was wounded, Tommy went back and saved his life, carrying his wounded body through a bullet barrage.
In Florida, the Cobras have decided to search the swamp for any Joes. Junkyard leads the Cobras along. Firefly and Wild Weasel have since escaped from where the Joes left them.
Hawk tells of his first meeting with Snake-Eyes. He explains that when everyone came back from Vietnam, no one was at the airport to greet Snake-Eyes. Hawk had to deliver the news that Snake-Eyes' family had recently been killed in a car crash. Back in Spanish Harlem, the old man starts a historic tale about Snake-Eyes. The future Joe had gone to Japan, following his friend Tommy, and met his family. Its members included the old man, known as the "Soft Master," the man's elder brother and leader, the "Hard Master," and Storm Shadow, called the "Young Master." There, Snake-Eyes went through the vigorous training to become a ninja. He became superior in most skills, but the Young Master was still superior with the bow. He could even shoot squirrels on the opposite side of a wall with an arrow. Storm Shadow's violent ways became abhorrent to Snake-Eyes, and their friendship weakened. One day Snake-Eyes was training with the Hard Master on ways to impersonate people through a way of changing breathing patterns and heart beat, called "Mantle of the Chameleon." While he was impersonating Snake Eyes, an arrow flew through the wall, killing him. As he died, he claimed that Storm Shadow was innocent, yet all evidence pointed to him. The future Cobra even fled the family business.
In Florida, the Cobras continued to follow Junkyard through the swamp right into a quicksand pit!

The two storylines from #26, the chase in the Everglades and the story of Snake-Eyes, are continued.
When we last left Destro, Baroness, Zartan, and Cobra Commander, Junkyard had led them into a pit of quicksand. They are eventually able to get out and continue the pursuit of Torpedo, Tripwire, and Mutt, who were in turn chasing after their escaped prisoners, Firefly and Wild Weasel.
Firefly builds a trap to ensnare his pursuers, only to have Junkyard set it off. The Cobras eventually group back together and continue to chase the Joes, only to find out that they have disappeared into the swamp.
That is when Zartan utters his line, "Time to call out the Dreadnoks".
As the story of Snake-Eyes' background continues, Hawk reveals that after he told Snake-Eyes about his family's death, he hadn't heard from him for six years. When he and Stalker were putting the GI Joe team together, they decided to track Snake-Eyes down.
They found that he had retired to the seclusion of a cabin in the High Sierras and was living with his pet wolf, Timber. They talked him into coming with them and joining the GI Joe team.
Scarlett first met Snake-Eyes when the three returned to headquarters. She was putting the new recruits through their paces in hand-to-hand combat drills. When she fought Snake-Eyes, she could tell how good he was, because he let her win. He was so good, he didn't have anything to prove.
Scarlett and Snake-Eyes became friends, more than friends in Scarlett's mind. She was slowly falling in love with him.
Then months later, the GI Joe team was training on a desert mission. The team was split into two helicopters. The choppers were flying low and kicking up alot of sand. One of the choppers got sand sucked into its intake and the engine stalled. The helicopter lost control and hit the other with its main rotor. This ignited the fuel tank. The resulting explosion hit Snake-Eyes directly in the face and throat. The wounds were so great that his face was permanently scarred and he could no longer speak.
Now the story of Snake-Eyes having been told, we are taken back to the present where he is talking to the Soft Master in New York. The Soft Master reveals that he is investigating the death of the Hard Master (#26). He wants to know why the Hard Master denied until his death that the killer was Storm Shadow, despite evidence to the contrary. One bit of evidence is the killing arrow, which came from Storm Shadow's personal supply.
As he is telling this to Snake-Eyes, Storm Shadow crashes through the window and takes the arrow from the Soft Master. Thus starts a foot chase of Storm Shadow by Snake-Eyes through the streets of New York. The chase ends in a face-off with knives on top of a subway car speeding along its rails. Storm Shadow, whose back is to the oncoming tunnel, tells Snake-Eyes, that he loves him like a brother, but won't let him stop him (Storm Shadow) from doing what he has to do, he will kill him if necessary. Snake-Eyes dives back, bringing Storm Shadow with him and saving his life.
Storm Shadow realizes that Snake-Eyes saved him, so he tells him what his important task is. He reveals that the only reason he is a member of Cobra is because he knows that someone in Cobra was the actual killer of the Hard Master. He has spent years working his way up in Cobra to find out his identity.

In the Florida Everglades, the Cobra big wigs, thoroughly angry at Junkyard for leading them into quicksand, manage to pull themselves out. The Joe team is desperate to recapture Firefly and Wild Weasel. The two Cobras, however, have set up a nasty tiger trap to finish off anybody coming up the swamp trail. Junkyard runs by his Joe masters, zipping down that trail, setting off the trap. The Cobra saboteur and pilot run to see what they've caught.
At the Pit, Hawk continues with his stories about Snake-Eyes. He recalls the day he and Stalker went up to Snake-Eyes' mountain cabin to recruit him for the G.I. Joe team. They found him out catching rabbits bare handed. Scarlett then starts her tale of how she first met Snake-Eyes. She was fascinated by the master soldier, and wanted to know more about him. A friendship grew. Months later, flying by helicopters to a hostage rescue, she recalls how the Huey she and Snake-Eyes were in had a tail-rotor stall. As the helicopter spun towards the ground, she was snagged to the chopper door. Snake-Eyes went to help her, but the Huey was hit by the rotors of another aircraft. The aviation gas exploded, causing a stream of burning vapor to slam into Snake-Eyes' face. The two Joes survived the crash, but Snake-Eyes' face was ravaged, and his mouth could only open and close in complete silence.
Back in Florida, Firefly and Wild Weasel discover that Junkyard had set off their tiger trap, but escaped unscathed. They are then immediately ambushed by the Joe team, who are then immediately ambushed by the team of Cobra leaders. In New York City, Snake-Eyes is still at the restaurant of the Soft-Master. Storm Shadow attacks through the window, escaping the Joe commando's bullet barrage via the cellar passage. Snake-Eyes takes off in a foot chase down the streets of the Big Apple. At the Pit, Scarlett hears the police report of a fight between a masked man with an uzi and a ninja in white. She immediately leaves to go try and help. Storm Shadow, meanwhile, has jumped on top of a passenger train, with Snake-Eyes close behind. The train nears a tunnel, but the white ninja's back is turned to it. Snake-Eyes allows Storm Shadow to leap at him, moving him out of danger from the upcoming tunnel, saving his life. The cobra ninja realizes that his former friend has repaid his life debt to him, and leaves in peace. Before he goes, he tells the Joe commando that he did not kill the Hard-Master. Someone working for Cobra was the murderer. That is why he joined Cobra, so he could learn who the assassin was, and someday avenge his uncle's death.

In the Gulf of Mexico, the Joe team of Torpedo, Trip-Wire, Mutt and Junkyard return to the Joe freighter, G.I. Jane. Duke and Roadblock are flown in by Dragonfly to lead the attack on the Cobra base in the Everglades. At that base, Zartan and his Dreadnoks decide to abandon Cobra Commander and head north. Destro and the Baroness ride a Water Moccasin out to where the Baroness has had Cobra supplies delivered. These supplies include a squadron of Rattlers. In their car at a railroad crossing, two policemen sit and wait for a train to pass. (These authorities look disturbingly like Laurel and Hardy.) They notice an army man riding atop a train car. He asks them if they know where route 56 is. They say that they're sitting on it, causing the soldier, Breaker of the Joe team, to call out to Steeler and bang on the roof. This alerts the MOBAT tank secretly riding in that cart to come crashing out onto the road, scraping the police cruiser's side. The infuriated police chief orders a pursuit of the Joe tank. Back on the Jane, a group of Joes hop onto the WHALE and roar out onto the ocean, heading for the Everglades.
The Cobra Rattlers have since taken off, but the Baroness decides to not join the conflict and instead heads north to Springfield to prepare a triumphant return for the Commander. In truth, she will go directly to Major Bludd's cell, and ask him how badly he wants his freedom. At Zartan's lair, Firefly discovers that a section of Zartan's radar control board includes remote controls for a robot army of Cobra troopers and HISS tanks. Cobra Commander takes the controls and sends the android army against the approaching MOBAT. The police chief even joins the fight. Rattlers flown by Destro and Wild Weasel also enter the fray. The Joes realize that the Rattlers use infa-red detectors to target with, and that by hiding in the trees and cooling down the tank's engine, they won't be seen. The Rattlers lose track of the Joes, but destroy the police cruiser. The policemen run off like crazy. The WHALE then arrives at the scene, and gets strafed by a rattler, wounding Deep-Six. The Joes manage to shoot down Destro's Rattler, and the battle ends.
Cobra Commander gets picked up by Wild Weasel, and Firefly and Destro are left to get out on their own. Neither one of them is happy.

The WHALE is at a dock in Ehrlinger's Cove on the gulf coast of Florida. There the Joes plan to do some repair work on it. The citizens on the docks try to make fun of the army men and their broken boat. Roadblock carries an armor-plated panel to the end of the dock, with three young pranksters hanging on the end of it! In the Everglades, Firefly and Destro plan to return to Cobra headquarters and get revenge on Cobra Commander, who abandoned them there last issue. In Springfield, Cobra Commander has returned to a cheering crowd and parade, the people not knowing of his failure in Florida. One person, the boy Billy, plans to have his revenge on Cobra Commander for what he did to his father and the boy himself. At a giant rally that night, Cobra Commander reveals the Crimson Guardsman. They are highly trained soldiers that are young, intelligent and seemingly good citizens. They will have normal looking families and acquire jobs in business and politics, but the whole time working undercover for Cobra!
Back in Florida, Destro and Firefly have made their way to Ehrinlger's Cove. They plan to steal the WHALE from the Joes, who have just about finished repairing it. They jump on the hovercraft from behind, surprising Cutter who tries to knock out Destro with a hard left-handed punch. He breaks his hand on Destro's polished beryllium steel facemask, and is easily defeated. Firefly mans a machine gun turret and opens fire on the Joes at the end of the dock. They use the armored panel that Roadblock was working on for cover. Destro mans the controls and drives the WHALE away. Luckily, Wild Bill was just arriving with repair supplies on the Dragonfly. He drops the supplies and Duke jumps into the cockpit and starts chasing after the WHALE. Cutter and Roadblock hop into a fishing boat and head out for the Joe freighter, G.I. Jane. In the chase, the Laurel and Hardy-like policemen from last issue are walking down the interstate, and get knocked off by the WHALE. Cutter arrives at the Jane, and drives it towards the docks at high speed. He then activates the hydrofoils on the Jane and shoots across the docks and over land, passing right over the two policemen, who pretend that they saw nothing. Destro shoots the Dragonfly with his wrist rockets. Wild Bill manages to land it on the G.I. Jane. Destro and Firefly then secretly escape from the WHALE by floating away in a couple of emptied depth charges.
The WHALE is brought on board the Jane, but carrying a bomb that the Cobras left behind. Trip-Wire jumps onto it, since he sees nowhere to put the bomb, and no time to defuse it. Roadblock grabs it from the Joe and hurls it through a ventilation shaft where it flies out overboard and explodes. The Joes have totally lost Destro and Firefly, who continue their escape in a stolen fishing boat. They plan to head to Springfield.

Zartan and the Dreadnoks have been keeping watch at McGuire Field, and see a Joe Dragonfly land. Zartan uses his holograms to disguise himself as Hawk to see first-hand if the landing Dragonfly was the one that attacked them in Florida. After talking to the deceived Wild Bill and Doc, he is sure of it. He informs Cobra Commander, who becomes convinced that Mcquire must be where Joe headquarters is.
On Staten Island, the Crimson Guardsman "Smith", actually Fred I, has established a home right next to Fort Wadsworth to see if it is the Joe headquarters. He brings his family with him, which includes his son Sean and daughter Heather.
When Doc and the injured Joes arrive at the Pit, and see Hawk there. They realize that the person they saw at McGuire Field couldn't have been the real Hawk. Someone was trying to deceive them.
Using "Arbco Circus" trucks, Cobra arrives at McGuire field, and unloads their weaponry, planning to wait until late night to attack. In Springfield, the Baroness and Major Bludd find Billy digging through secret files. The Baroness knows how much Billy hates the Commander for what he did to Billy's father and the torture Billy received in Dr. Venom's dungeon. She realizes that maybe Billy can help them betray Cobra Commander. Crimson Guardsman Smith is told to abandon his Fort Wadsworth spy post, since Cobra thinks they already found Joe headuarters. This infuriates him, causing him to miss seeing all the Joe vehicles drive right by his house, heading for McGuire Field.
At McGuire Field, the Dreadnoks, tired of waiting for Cobra to attack, decide to have a little fun and start tearing apart aircraft parked at the base. Buzzer accidentally causes an F-14 to explode, alerting the base of hostile presence. Seeing his cover is blown, Cobra Commander orders the attack, but the Joes arrive just in time to chase them onto the field. The Cobras get blown apart from behind. Cobra retreats rather quickly.
Destro and Firefly have made it to New York in their stolen fishing boat, and plan to have their revenge on Cobra Commander when he least expects it.