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Scarlett's Strike Force issue 3 - Transformers Wiki

The Joes strike Cobra's temple headquarters, as Quick Kick faces off with Storm Shadow, and Skywarp makes his move.

Synopsis

With Spirit leading the way, Roadblock's G.I. Joe team continues their trek through the Arctic jungle, tracking Cobra footprints back to their hidden temple headquarters. As they travel, Salvo makes clear her objection to Roadblock's earlier decision to let Croc Master and Raptor escape, believing Spitfire should have followed them, but Roadlock is insistent that the team stick together. Moments later, they arrive at their destination, and the Joes get their first glimpse of what they'll be fighting, thronged in a crowd around the temple: Cobra's reptile-mutant "Vipers". Happy to have something to shoot, Salvo's sour mood lifts a little, and the entire team charges forward...

...all except Quick Kick, who hangs back with his new caveman sidekick "Friday", having sensed a familiar presence lurking nearby. Impressed that Quick Kick has detected him, Storm Shadow emerges from the underbrush, and the two men engage in their long-awaited rematch. Ready for Storm Shadow this time, instead of being ambushed as in their previous encounter, Quick Kick takes the upper hand at first; Storm Shadow counters by hurling a flurry of darts at him, but Quick Kick snatches them all out of the air and flings them back at him, leaving his opponent wounded, but primarily, stunned by his opponent's skill. As they continue to fight, Friday attempts to come to Quick Kick's aid, but is sucker-punched by Storm Shadow's own new pupil, who has been waiting in the wings: Tempest, the female ninja who previously held Storm Shadow's name, who explains to a confused Quick Kick that she has entered Storm Shadow's tutelage after being defeated by him in battle. Announcing that they have stalled Quick Kick for long enough, Storm Shadow drops a smoke bomb, and he and his apprentice disappear.

Aboard Lemuria, Shipwreck has taken to the treadmill to try and lose some weight, but as he tries to keep up with Gung-Ho, he is startled by a call over the comm from Scarlett, and trips and falls. Scarlett angrily informs him that the new geothermal power grid he installed has gone down, and power is going out all over the ship. One of the first locations to go dark is the brig, which allows the imprisoned Snake Eyes and Agent Helix to escape, but as the pair steal through the darkened corridors, Helix quickly realizes from the precise, tactical nature of the blackout that it is the work of someone on the inside. It's not long before the two are found by the Joe responsible: it's Skywarp, who caused the blackout to free Snake Eyes and Helix so they can accompany him to meet with Duke in Washington, D.C.. He instructs them to find a means of transportation; when Helix suggests that he could carry them, the flustered Skywarp says that only Rock 'n Roll is allowed to ride inside him.

Storm Shadow and Tempest return to the Cobra temple to report that they have successfully delayed Quick Kick. Cobra Commander is pleased, knowing that the Joes outside will not press on any further into the temple until their martial artist teammate has rejoined them—a valuable delay that buys Cobra the time they need to put the final phase of their plan into motion. Crystal Ball holds a small, lumpy sphere of rock in his hands and prepares...

Outside, Salvo is losing her patience with Roadblock's leadership again, as he refuses to let the team move forward without Quick Kick. Fortunately, their missing teammate soon arrives, but Roadblock insists they secure their rear escape route before moving inside the temple. Salvo isn't having it; through with following orders, she instead turns her guns on the temple wall. Through the hole she blows in it, the altar that Crystal Ball has been working his dark magics on is revealed, now surrounded by Vipers enacting another ceremony. Salvo forces Spitfire to join her in disobeying Roadblock, instructing him to fly inside and take out the Vipers before they can complete their ritual. Spitfire does so, mowing the snake-men down, but unfortunately, this was part of Cobra's plan; the spilled blood of the Vipers flows into channels sculpted in the floor which form the image of the serpent-god Golobulus, and the ritual is complete. Tremors rip through the temple, and it begins to collapse, forcing the Joes to retreat without any Cobra prisoners.

Elsewhere, Cobra high command have gathered for their moment of victory, now standing atop a vast rock of the same material Crystal Ball was holding! Even as Destro and Doctor Mindbender declare the whole scheme lunacy, the continuing tremors explosively launch the rock free from the ground, up into the heavens. As a new moon takes its place in the sky, Cobra Commander exults in victory, declaring that with this action, Cobra's god will be born from the stars, and shall devour the earth!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

G.I. Joe

Cobra

Others

Agent Helix (10)
Polly (11)
Shipwreck (12)
Gung-Ho (13)
Scarlett (14)
Dial Tone (15)
Skywarp (18)

"Friday" (2)

Quotes

"You heard me?"
"No. I smelled you."

—Storm Shadow is detected by Quick Kick

"Good soldiers follow orders. Great ones know when not to."

—Salvo justifies herself

Notes

Continuity notes

Snake Eyes and Helix are in the brig following the events of G.I. Joe vol. 5 #8.
The ninja now known as "Tempest" is the second Storm Shadow, originally introduced in the Action Man mini-series, then featured prominently in Revolutionaries and First Strike. Evidently, she ceded the name back to Storm Shadow when he defeated her.
It's not precisely clear from the art and story what exactly happens at the end of the issue – the "new moon" is drawn without clear surroundings and in the same shape as the small rock Crystal Ball holds earlier, making it perhaps appear as if Cobra have shrunken themselves down to fit onto it. The issue's script, released by writer Aubrey Sitterson via his Patreon, clarifies that Crystal Ball had merely been holding a small clump of the same material.

G.I. Joe references

The ululating cry of triumph Cobra Commander bellows at the issue's climax, "Cobra-Lalalalalala!", is taken straight from G.I. Joe: The Movie, in which it is the war cry of the citizens of the hidden civilization of Cobra-La, ruled over by Golobulus, the serpent god whose resurrection appears to be the villains' objective in this storyline.

Other Hasbro franchise references

Snake Eyes and Helix are, of course, playing an improvised game of Dungeons & Dragons in the brig. The ever-silent Snake Eyes, ironically enough, wants to play a music-wielding Bard!

Errors

Just like we've already pointed out with Destro in previous issues, Doctor Mindbender and Tempest were both part of Joe Colton's failed invasion of Cybertron during First Strike and were imprisoned on the planet when their schemes were thwarted. Yet here, just as with Destro, they appear as if that never happened. What kind of security are they running up there on Cybertron...?

Other trivia

Well, good luck hoping for an ending to this story, because this is the final issue of Scarlett's Strike Force, cancelled as a result of low sales, on the heels of Aubrey Sitterson angrying up Joe fandom by making some controversial statements about 9/11 on Twitter, and being reportedly forbidden by IDW from doing any press for the book. That's what you call your self-fulfilling prophecy, there.
Sitterson later published his scripts and notes for the canceled issues on Patreon.
The Joe characters would next appear in "Last Stand", the backup story accompanying Unicron #2.

Covers (3)

Cover A: The Joes fight their way through a huge crowd of Vipers, by Harvey Tolibao and Chris Allo
Cover B: Cobra Commander, Crystal Ball, and the Vipers, by Nelson Dániel
Retailer incentive cover: Quick Kick and Storm Shadow partake of sushi and sake after a brutal fight, by Vasilis Lolos