Oktober Guard, Part 3

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G.I. Joe: Cobra vol. 2 #20
Cobra2-20 regcvr.jpg
"Oktober Guard, Part 3"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published January 2, 2013
Cover date December 2012
Written by Mike Costa
Art by Antonio Fuso and Werther Dell'edera
Colors by Arianna Florean and Esther Sanz
Letters by Neil Uyetake
Editor John Barber and Carlos Guzman

With Ronin captured by the Oktober Guard, Chameleon, Flint and Lady Jaye must infiltrate a familiar manor to save her.

Synopsis[edit | edit source]

Going through customs at Vladivostok Airport, Chameleon gripes about her unflattering fake passport photo, while Lady Jaye wonders to Flint whether the anxious, traumatised intelligence agent is ready to enter a potential combat situation. Flint has faith in her, and believes that her knowledge of the former Cobra installation the Oktober Guard are operating out of will be crucial, but Lady Jaye is still unsure — especially about the prospect of infiltrating the base with just the three of them.

Sadistic Oktober Guardsman Gorky has Ronin tied to a chair, preparing to interrogate her. He knows that Ronin has training to focus her mind and resist torture, but threatens to cut her meridian branches and disrupt her concentration; rather than killing her if she refuses to talk, he says he will take her eye, hand and toes before letting her go, unable to walk or balance ever again.

Before, Gorky is part of the Russian army's special forces, specialising in stealth and assassination and willing to take on targets others would refuse. His skill means that he is chosen to pursue rumors of other, even more deadly and invisible soldiers and see what he can learn of their ways; and after killing assassins sent to take him out for asking too many questions, he is invited into a ninja clan to train with them. The man trained in the ninja arts for many years, and was stripped down to his core, bringing him closer to the men he trained with than brothers... and after learning everything he can, he kills all of the other ninja with him, hunting down those who left before him before returning home to Russia.

Having told Ronin of who he is, and how he has killed more ninja than any man alive, Gorky now demands to know what she has to tell him. At that same time, Chameleon guides Flint and Lady Jaye through the Russian woods to an entrance to an old, sprawling sewer system — the same one that she escaped through over a year before. Passing by the skull of a dead crocodile, the G.I. Joe team make their way to the bottom of the manor, where Flint determines that they'll have to go room to room to find Ronin; despite Lady Jaye deeming it a terrible plan, she and Chameleon make their way through the ground floor while Flint searches the second. Flint soon finds trouble, running into Colonel Shtern and the Guard in the midst of planning an attack on Section Ten and forcing him to open fire; this prompts Gorky to go to their aid, leaving Ronin where she is. Seeing her chance, Lady Jaye goes in to rescue her teammate, but is caught by Daina coming in the room's other entrance; meanwhile, Flint is overpowered by Shturmovik, and Chameleon is captured by Gorky, forcing Lady Jaye to surrender.

Back in the Gemini in America, Clockspring and Firewall recieve Lady Jaye's signal, telling them that their teammates have been captured. Firewall proposes pursuing the option of diplomatic back channels and trading for their teammates using a cover story, and though Clockspring is doubtful of whether the Russian government would agree to a trade — and certain that they wouldn't be willing to give up Chameleon, a former Cobra agent who doesn't legally exist — the administrator has no better options or consolations for the IT specialist. In desperation, and willing to do anything to save Chameleon and the others, Clockspring turns to the one person he can think of who can possibly help... the intelligence unit's untrustworthy prisoner, Tomax Paoli.

Featured characters[edit | edit source]

Characters in italics are shown only in flashback. (Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes[edit | edit source]

"Listen. Flint. You know I'll follow you wherever. But storming this place, just the three of us..."
"There's four of them. Those odds aren't so bad. And we don't leave a man behind."
"That's the Army Rangers."
"No. That's what's right."

Lady Jaye and Flint

"You are comfortable? Is joke. You will not be comfortable again, before you die."

Gorky

"Flint and Lady Jaye... maybe we can get them back. But Chameleon... she's going to die. Or she'll be a prisoner for the rest of her life. You're the only person I can think of... the one person who can help."
"Well. That puts us both in quite a predicament, doesn't it?"

Clockspring and Tomax Paoli

Notes[edit | edit source]

Continuity notes[edit | edit source]

  • The Cobra base that the Oktober Guard are operating out of is revealed to be the Russian manor in which the meeting of Cobra High Command in G.I. Joe: Cobra II took place — hence why Chameleon is able to help on the mission, as she was part of Cobra at the time of the meeting.
  • Chameleon really doesn't like commercial flights, as previously established in Cobra vol. 2 #15.
  • The trigram symbol of the Arashikage is shown during Gorky's flashback, and he claims to have killed more ninja than any man alive. Ronin was shown to have ninja training, or something similar, back in Cobra vol. 2 #18.
  • The Joe team passes the skull of one of Croc Master's crocodiles, who were lurking in the sewers for the aforementioned High Command meeting. Chameleon shot him and his crocs multiple times in Cobra II #3; while the man himself survived, evidently at least one of his pets didn't.
  • The Oktober Guard target Section Ten, the gulag that Major Bludd was running when he was introduced in G.I. Joe vol. 1 #17; it has since been decommissioned, which happened in Cobra vol. 2 #8.
  • Clockspring's particularly concerned about Chameleon thanks to his crush on her, which has been ongoing since his introduction in Cobra vol. 2 #13.

Real life references[edit | edit source]

  • Gorky claims knowledge of meridians and the Chong Mai Channel, elements of traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture.
  • Shtern names the weapons system seen last issue as the "Czar-Pushka"; this is the Russian name for the Tsar Cannon, a famous, and enormous, artillery piece displayed in the Moscow Kremlin.

Covers (2)[edit | edit source]