not gonna explode, is it?
why not stick it in a chopper and fly it out? if you want, i could--
mount up! duke gives rip another look. rip throws him a cheesy grin. the team mounts up. the weapons case to grizzly. engines ignite. headlights beam. and the convoy rolls out.
you know, i hate all the mother goose, bird dog crap, i just wish they'd let us say, "hey, pete, it's bill, see ya in a few."
just saying, you know, if i ran things.
but we'd be badasses, right bro?
hey duke, ya know how they always tell you to empty your head of distracting thoughts on these runs?
and you know how people sometimes joke that it must be easy fr me to keep my mind empty?
well, the second i try and make myself not have thoughts, i always have 'em. like now, know what i'm thinking about?
the air forces.
you were done with it, not me. look, i loev flying.  duke "mouths" the following sentence as ropcord says it:
i've been flying since i was thirteen years old. ripcord shoots him a look. duke just smiles.
jets, man, jets. you know i always qualify when i'm on leave.
we've done ten years in the army, i just think we should see if the grass really is greener.
funny. real funny.
it's always about you, isn't it? give me one good reason?
won't be saying that when you call in an air strike and i come screaming in to save your--
hey, on the training run weren't there herders around here? this puts duke instantly on the alert.
jesus christ! bird down!
who the hell is that? duke grabs ripcord and starts dragging him out.
duke?
if i die.
i just want you to know.  you never could run worth a damn.
i'm just saying, it's be nice if you could move a little faster. and that's when the cougar blows, a concussive blast. ana turns with the weapons case in time to see duke and rip go ass-over-teacups down into a ditch. she touches the stem of her glasses which zoom in on duke. down in the ditch: duke rolls over and looks at rip.
sure.
what's your unit?
happy to turn this into a turkey shoot. someone off-projector hands hawk a file, he looks at it.
told ya.
hey, you're cute.
what's your name, darlin'?
we are tough .  . but also sensitive. whoa, that's some mucho primo stuff you gave me. rip is high now, his eyes float up to heavy duty who stares back at him. rip reaches out to touch his well-cropped hair.
and a kung-fu grip.
are you kidding me? duke wasn't born, he was government-issued!
duke, duke, don't you get it: they're super secret, they're mission impossible. this tape's gonna self-destruct in five--
i want in too. that way we can spend some bunker time together. a sword suddenly slices across rip's face, an inch away. it's snake-eyes, checking his blade, seemingly innocent. but the message is not lost on ripcord. scarlett looks at duke.
we've been together forever. but not like that. hi, i'm ripcord.
okay, look, i didn't "steal" that blackhawk, i was borrowing it.  duke shoots him a look. hawk steps right up to duke.
four years? my man had some issues. duke shoots him another look, then turns back to hawk.
oh man, i want one of those.
both. scarlett's eyes roll. they descend into the desert combat level, where soldiers train with desert warfare equipment.
who could possibly fund all this?
that's the reason we got our asses kicked. duke betrays nothing. hawk looks at him.
what's the other half? mccullen now appears next to ripcord and walks through him.
jesus! and we realize mccullen is here courtesy of a holo-projector. a ring of cameras provides him with images of the joes.
hey, that's-- duke cuts him off with a look. breaker extracts a full 3d front-view of ana's face from the photo. then on an adjacent monitor, he runs an endless series of photos of women.
you okay?
let us in on this, general. our team just got wasted. i think a little payback is in order.
my hot tub only holds four.
how was i supposed know she was married!? nice rock! hey, are you proposing?
not official until you answer my question. do you love my boy?
now i've gotta find someone to love me, as many times as possible for the next three hours. we push in on the photo, then smash cut back to the present.
what's it accelerate?
i just missed everything you said. how do i look? pretty cool, huh?
don't tell me, snake-eyes?
you can do this whole course with that thing in forty-five seconds?
when i want something, i don't just shoot at it.  when i get a target in my sights, i take it down. his meaning is clear. she holds his gaze, slaps a magazine into her crossbow pistol and hands it to him.
i wouldn't want to show you up.
what can i tell you? i guess i'm just a considerate, humble guy. you'll learn that about me.
i don't want to hurt you.
what? you say something? breaker sits at a chessboard. heavy d sits across from him.
heavy told me she graduated college at twelve. no response from duke, who is trying to get comfortable.
she's like a freaky genius. a deadly, freaky genius.
you haven't kissed anyone? now scarlett looks really furious. rip instantly wishes he could take his words back. duke just shakes his head.
hell with it. he strides across the room toward scarlett. breaker notices.
beach reading, huh? she groans and lowers the book only slightly.
hi, i guess we kinda got off on the wrong foot.  without changing expression she goes back to her book.
okay look, i'm attracted to you. and you, you're attracted to me. and him-- the zen master, he creeps me out, but what i'm saying is--
thank you.
okay, what are you saying?
okay, i'll get back to you on that. and he walks away scratching his head. hawk steps in. everyone comes to attention.
and you get out of that. thing. stalemate. storm shadow doesn't move. ana turns and looks at duke. sets the case down, her voice is gentle.
don't listen to her, duke. was i really going to be your best man?
jesus, you okay?
you're not fine, let me look at that.
take it easy, just trying to help.
and what is that exactly?
you know, not every guy you meet is an asshole. you do know that, don't you? scarlett stops and returns to the sink, he ignores her, cleaning the blood off his face. she softens.
why not?
you almost died. you're allowed to be concerned.
think he's be disappointed.
i don't know how you teach anybody to win at everything every time.
but i do know you can teach someone to get up when they get knocked down. ripcord turn her gently in the mirror.
look at you. still here. maybe this is what he wanted you to learn. scarlett stares at her reflection briefly.
but of course, that would be an emotional response, one that can't be explained or quantified. ripcord turns and heads for the door. scarlett watches him.
the weapons case! everyone stops and looks at ripcord like he's nuts.
remember he had us open the case for him. remember that?
i'll bet that code he gave us like re-activated the tracking beacon or something. looks pass among the group, it starts to make sense.
wow, she traded up, huh? i mean.  financially.
i've gotta level with ya!
gonna be a long five minutes. duke just grits his teeth and keeps firing. then, in the distance, rumbling coming from the sonic roar of jets.
i love that sound.  but then he looks to duke, confusion on his face.
blackhawk's waiting. come on, we've got wounded! and incoming enemy! lots of 'em!
nothing you can do. come on! gunfire bursts around them as ripcord pulls duke away from the ruins of the house.
what about you? don't you get a suit? snake-eyes just looks at him, "are you kidding me?"
millions of dollars, got it. he promptly trips and crashes to the pavement. picks himself up. gets hit by a car. picks himself up again.
sorry! excusem moil won't happen again.
there's no door!
oh, man.  under the scarab, snake-eyes pulls out his glock pistol and fires into the unprotected insides of the front tires, which promptly rip to shreds. the neo-viper loses control of the vehicle, smashes through a guard arm onto train tracks. snake-eyes sees something, lets go, rolls free and crashes into garbage cans just as a metro train barrels into the scarab, which launches into the air, hood-over-tailpipe. duke and ripcord are running too fast to stop. duke manages to leap into the air, his boots barely scraping the top of the train while ripcord covers his face with his hands and plunges headlong into a window on the side of the train.
i went through the train. what happened to you?
you can do that?
how do you say "we're the good guys" in french? meanwhile, snake-eyes evades all the chaos by leaping up under the south base, scaling the iron lattice like a monkey.
where you going?
it's too late! we gotta get off this thing!
what are you doing?
can you find duke?
they're eating him!
you did the best you could.
you got it?
we don't have time for this.
the onl about i dukendly force i care
think, think, think.  at some point they gotta feed us or take us out for the interrogation. when they do i'll jump the lead guard. heavy, you go for his weapon and--
i'm not gonna just sit here!
what if it was one of you? what if they had heavy or scarlett, what would you do? the joes trade looks - rock and a hard place.
we're not doing duke a damned bit of good sitting here. if it was reversed, duke would be kicking down every door between here and the freakin' moon 'til he found me.
they did away with the guillotine, right? they arrive at a door. the door is opened to reveal a man in a wheelchair, back turned. when he spins around, it's hawk.
that's it? they've got duke!
it's gonna be like trying to find whale spit in the ocean. breaker sees a small light flashing on his ball-eyepiece.
that's my boy.
dukes' gotta be in there somewhere.
no, no. duke's our first objective.
that mccullen's got some gadgets. breaker gestures to the ice wall. snake-eyes uses his katana sword to slice a circle in the wall and yank it out, revealing the diving bell cables, but no diving bell.
we find the kill switches and short out the nano-mites.
i can fly anything. you just track those warheads and guide me in. we don't have long until they hit.
do me a favor? save duke. she gives him a nod, then leaves. ripcord grins to himself.
i see it, dead ahead.
uh, i've got a problem. the fire controls are not in here.
i mean i can't see them anywhere!
fire! shoot! blast away! still nothing, the missile streaking onwards towards the earth.
teine.
teine! teine! teine! it's not working!
how many different ways you want me to say it?
teine! and at last the pulse laser fires. blasting the missile out of the sky. the cloud of nano-mites floats aimlessly away.
just doing my job. guide me to the other drone.
man, i freakin' saved moscow!
second drone in my sights.
taine! but nothing happens. scarlett's voice yells in his head.
don't yell at me!
teine! the laser pulse fires, blasting straight at the missile which is lost in the atmospheric haze below. for a moment, he can't tell if he hit it or not.
actually, i think i'm just about close enough.
cur magh! the canopy explodes. rip shoots back down into the atmosphere as the nano-mites devour the night raven, then float away.
good. cause i think i'm about to get arrested.
i'm good. they all laugh. rip steps up to her.
so how do you feel about this?