Phoenix Talon moved away from the trapdoor, looking around the attic. A slanted roof rose on either side. The floor wasn't finished, just exposed rafters and fiberglass. Chests and boxes littered the room; a lot of junk and old furniture. And a vent with horizontal slats that looked like it led to the outside world. Explosions behind him suggested the helicopter was working on enlarging his hole. The hinges holding the door up were blown away, and the whole thing fell down. He took cover near an old steamer trunk.
    Hanging off the chopper on cables were several other Joe members, who dropped down and began their advance while the copter began to search. Hawk was still holding Scarlet's head, which still seemed able to talk. Lone Eagle could track Phoenix Talon through the dust easily now.
    "He has gone this way!"
    "Cover the exit," Hawk ordered.
    The chopper came to a hover, on guard.
    Phoenix Talon scaled the chest and started running across it, when suddenly someone hit him hard from behind and knocked his legs out from under him. Snake Eyes had found him.
    Crap.
    Phoenix Talon let off a flash of light, which didn't keep the toy from kicking him solidly in the chest. Ninja are trained to fight in total darkness, after all. Phoenix Talon gripped his bokken and went for him, but Snake flipped him, almost got a lock on his arm. As Talon got back on his feet, Snake launched a vicious kick toward his knee, then came at him with a knife in one hand and a gun in the other.
    Phoenix swung, knocked the gun out of his hand just before the strong electric charge in the bokken could explode the bullets. Snake Eyes didn't seem worried at all, bringing his knife into play.
    It was let go of the bokken or lose three fingers. It flew off toward the edge of the chest, lost in the shadows. Phoenix went for him, caught his hand and forced it over to one side and snapped a blow toward his elbow, which bent at an unnatural angle. Snake Eyes dropped the knife; they were face to face. Pheonix Talon head-butted him, but as he was falling Snake Eyes did a leg entangle and flipped him off the edge of the chest; he barely caught himself and rolled back onto the surface. A grenade landed right in front of him.
    He kicked it hard. It flew off and exploded in the distance.
    "They must be over there!" someone yelled. He also became aware of a yowling, screeching sound; the chopper had disturbed a nest of bats that seemed to be engaging several members of the team. Go, bats.
    Phoenix Talon tried a flying kick, which Snake Eyes eluded easily, came up behind Phoenix and kicked, a glancing blow. Phoenix Talon whipped out his climbing line and used it to entangle Snake Eyes. The helicopter was launching fire at him now, forcing him away from his opponent.
    He ran, jumped for the chopper rail, missed, and landed back on top of the chest.
    "We've got him cornered down here, have you handled the bat situation?"
    "Oh my go—!" Evidently not.
    "We're moving in!"
    Enough of this. Phoenix Talon headed for the vent. He didn't want to leave his bokken, or an unfinished fight, but he knew he was in pretty bad shape. He hauled on the bottom slat, bending it enough for him to squirm through as laser fire dotted around him. Then he was through, hanging off the side of the house.
    "Banzai!" Halo Jumper leaped from the rooftop, missed him and landed hard, knocking off the reattached leg again.
    "Not your day, boy," Phoenix Talon muttered. He was out of swinglines, but still had the cables on his mirrors; it wasn't what they'd been designed for, but he managed to get up to the roof, snapping a cable in the process. He headed for the rain gutter and looked around him.
    A giant mechanical head, shoulder, and arm, wearing the costume he had seen before, lay on the ground, causing another wrenching perspective shift. The ceiling was about ten feet above him, and he realized that the entire place had been constructed to make it look like he was six inches tall.
    He hadn't changed size at all!
    No windows, just flourescent lights. The place looked like an aircraft hangar. He saw doors in the distance, maybe large elevator doors for heavy equipment. He slid down the gutter, ignoring Halo Jumper's cries, alerting the rest of the team. Phoenix Talon let off his smoke bomb to help hide his dash for the doors.
    The door had a complicated electronic lock. He knew how to break that. The door opened; he was inside a control room, with banks of television sets. A guy in the Toy Man costume turned around. He was in the middle of saying, "It seems you are more resourceful than I—" when Phoenix Talon planted a fist in his face, bruising his knuckles on the faceguard, but sending the man back into a computer bank with a very satisfying THUMP.
    Then he stood looking around. The cameras showed every room, including infra-red. The guy had been playing pretty fair, since he'd known where Phoenix Talon was the entire time. The GI Joes returned to normal size and collapsed as soon as he punched the Toy Man.
    He saw from the corner of his eye the man getting back up, an unnaturally fluid motion, like he was moving on a lever sunk into the floor. Then a hand landed on his shoulder.
    "Oh, is that your kung-fu grip? What button do I press to get that to work?" A fist landed right on his kidney, and Phoenix Talon finally went unconscious.

    He woke up. He was lying on top of Copley Place, his bokken beside him, his body a mass of bruises. On his chest was a broken Snake Eyes doll. No one else to be seen.
    He called base.
    "Hey, Needle? I'm down at Copley Square. Can you come get me?"
    "Sure, where the hell have you been?! Never mind, I'll find out when I get there," she added.
    It was Friday afternoon.
    "Why didn't he kill me?" Phoenix Talon wondered out loud when he'd hung up. "I'm gonna kick his ass!"
    "Holy shit, what happened to you?" was her reaction on seeing him.
    He explained about the meeting, and everything that had happened. Peter and Jenkins had just been shot and left, and the temp had grabbed Phoenix Talon. The AMC people called several times during his time "away," wondering what had happened. The team had been looking for him, of course, without any luck; Needle brought him back and let him tuck himself into bed for a while.
    She woke him up when the evening news came on. Several of the TV stations announced that they had dramatic footage of Phoenix Talon's combat against "a serious new threat." WBBC dedicated a whole hour to it. The entire elaborate fight sequence had been well-edited and looked very professional. Every station said it had been mailed to them.

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