The Joes track down Snake-Eyes' signal and head for his location. Storm Shadow runs from Snake-Eyes, on his way to find and kill Hawk. Storm Shadow blows up a blast door with a grenade just as the Joes arrive. Storm Shadow runs right toward them and ignores their orders to stop by leaping over the heads. Snake-Eyes does the same and the Joes are forced to run after them. Snake-Eyes tackles Storm Shadow, but the Cobra ninja sets off a flash bomb, momentarily blinding Snake-Eyes. The Joes catch up just as Storm Shadow escapes through another set of blast doors. Mainframe gets the doors open via computer, and Flint, Beach Head and the others get inside, fanning out to find where Storm Shadow's hiding. Just as Beach Head says, "This Kung-Fu crap is highly overrated," Storm Shadow jumps down from the rafters, landing between Beach Head and a Joe "greenshirt". The ninja positions each of his swords at the throat of the two men, ordering the Joes to allow his access to the nearby elevator. The door slides open, revealing Kamakura who jump-kicks Storm Shadow, giving the two hostages a chance to try and overpower Storm Shadow. The Cobra ninja knocks out the greenshirt and Beach Head, pushing them into the elevator. As Snake-Eyes arrives, Storm Shadow kicks Kamakura to the floor. Just before the door slides shut, Storm Shadow slashes at Snake-Eyes with his sword, cutting his face. Bleeding from the wound to his once-healed face, Snake-Eyes freezes before angrily firing his machine gun into the ceiling at the elevator. The other Joes stop him, reminding him he could hit the captured Joes.

The Joes hurry up the stairs to find where the elevator leads. Mainframe sends the elevator to them, but when the doors open, the Joes finds Beach Head and the greenshirt unconscious. The greenshirt is no longer wearing his uniform, prompting the Joes to assume Storm Shadow's in disguise. After most of the Joes run off, Snake-Eyes and Shipwreck discover the greenshirt's uniform up in the elevator shaft. They've been tricked. Meanwhile, Storm Shadow escapes on one of the Joes' motorcycles.

Back at the Joes' headquarters, Duke and Hawk meet and discuss Storm Shadow's escape. "At least we stopped the assassination attempt," Duke says. "It's a good thing you contacted Snake-Eyes." But Hawk says that he didn't contact him. He had even given orders to keep Snake-Eyes out of the mission, and most people didn't know Storm Shadow was at the base. He says that G.I. Joe is a team, and not anyone person can be there for every mission. "If all someone does is fight... there's never any time to heal. And that man's got a lot of healing to do." As Hawk speaks, we see Snake-Eyes return to Scarlett's family home, half of his face bandaged. Scarlett hugs him and Scarlett's brother -- who wasn't very fond of Snake-Eyes -- shakes his hand. As Hawk and Duke wonder who called Snake-Eyes, we see Storm Shadow practicing with his sword at a Cobra base.

At the Dreadnok branch in Chicago, Zartan calls to see if everything is being prepared. It is, according to his sister, Zarana, who isn't too interested in Cobra Commander's concerns. Zartan tells her good-bye and that he and Zanya will see her soon.

The other characters aren't really used in much depth, though both Flint and Beach Head seem to be in charge. Beach Head still seems like his cartoon self, acting angry and tough, but usually for the sake of comedy. As in the last issue, Stalker isn't used as much as he could be, but that's mostly a matter of the writers' decision.

As the story ends, Hawk explains that not every Joe can be expected to take on too much, telling Duke why he purposely left Snake-Eyes out of the mission. This may also be Josh Blaylock's way of telling the reader that Snake-Eyes may not be focused on as constantly as he was in the Marvel series. We also learn that someone tipped off Snake-Eyes to Storm Shadow's presence, and no one knows who. This will hopefully come up again, but one possibility may be that Storm Shadow himself did so, only adding to the suspicion that the "good" ninja is in there somewhere.

Reprinted in:

• G.I. JOE: Reckonings (December 2002). A trade paperback collecting issues #6-9.