Baroness

The name or term "Cobra Commander" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Cobra Commander (disambiguation).

It is a rare thing for those within the ranks of Cobra to rise above the position of a lowly foot soldier or a mere pawn to be manipulated by those who hold power far beyond their wildest imagination. For this reason alone it should be obvious that the woman who's been given the title of Baroness is an extraordinary individual. However, it's not the fact that she's merely been able to climb up the ranks that makes her special. In a way, Baroness is Cobra.

Despite being born into considerable wealth and royalty, Anastasia DeCobray still held within her a deeply seated and boundless ambition for power that the strictly patriarchal aristocracy would never allow her to satisfy. After falling in with a group of revolutionaries, Anastasia's lust for power would soon be complimented by a horrifying ruthlessness, one she first began to hone by murdering her entire family. It would not be long before she caught the attention of Cobra, and it was within their coils that her ambitions could finally flourish. Mostly serving as both an intelligence officer and assassin, Baroness proved that there was no length she would not go to to seize more of that power that she so desired. Even with the dangers she posed, her abilities earned her high ranking positions under three separate Cobra Commanders. It's little wonder, then, why after the organization fell that Baroness arose from the ashes unscathed and undeterred, ready to rebuild with herself at the center of everything as the new Cobra Commander!

Even with most of her family dead, her half-sister Erika Le Tene still lives, and bears quite a resemblance to the Baroness. And though most of her relationships have been nothing but charades to get her something she's wanted, she's shared a closeness with the arms dealer Destro that's unusual for her...

Fiction

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Origins

Born into an aristocratic family of Eastern European origin, Anastasia DeCobray was left her family's sole heir after the death of her brother. Because of this, her father arranged for Anastasia to be married to Lord Alberti, a decision he made without her knowledge or consent and informed her of the first time she and Alberti had met. Outraged by this, Anastasia fled to Rome, where she met Umberto Gaspare, leader of a radical revolutionary group known as the Red Hand. Inspired by Umberto and the Red Hand's message of rising up against the ruling class and seizing power for themselves, Anastasia began attending the group's meetings and also began sleeping with Umberto under the condition that he teach her personally everything he knew about violent revolution.

After learning from Umberto, Anastasia returned home on the night her parents were hosting several of their aristocratic friends. Though her mother and father attempted to talk Anastasia into staying, she told them she was disgusted by their idly rich lifestyle and left soon after. Joining her lover outside the estate, Anastasia only had a moment's hesitation before she detonated several bombs she'd planted throughout the DeCobray estate, killing everyone within.

Eventually, she and Umberto would travel to Morocco, where he informed her that things had gotten too dangerous for them to remain together. After this, Anastasia began traveling the world, joining up with any group of revolutionaries, radicals, or terrorists that would have her, working jobs ranging from a trainer, to an assassin, to an arms dealer. Eventually, she caught the attention of Cobra, who, after putting her skills to the test in Berlin, recruited her. Firsts and Lasts Once joining Cobra as an intelligence officer under the codename "Baroness", she quickly worked her way up the ranks, using her role within the organization against those who stood in the way of her ascent and weaponizing her feminine wiles against men both in and outside of Cobra. Baroness profile

At some point, Baroness discovered her half-sister Erika Le Tene. Though she didn't particularly care for or about Erika, Baroness used her connections to give Erika a relatively high-ranking position in Cobra as the assistant to the "Crimson Twins" Tomax and Xamot Paoli. Forked Tongue According to a Crimson Guardsman Baroness had some kind of a relationship with, Baroness only let Erika in so she had one last connection to her old life before Cobra. Changing Colors She also had a semi-friendly relationship with Venomous Maximus, the two sometimes taking rare poisons together recreationally. King Cobra

Baroness was the one sent by Cobra Commander to recruit Major Sebastian Bludd into his organization, though upon meeting him for the first time she took an immediate dislike to the man. She would later suggest he be put in charge of Cobra's Section 10 gulag. Blood Lines

While stationed in Capetown, South Africa, Baroness saw a news broadcast that reported Umberto Gaspare had been captured by Interpol in the Netherlands and was now awaiting trial in The Hague. Flying out, Baroness broke into the facility where Umberto was being held, murdering her way through several guards before finally reaching his cell. Though Umberto thought she'd arrived to rescue him and rekindle their romance, Baroness shot and killed her former lover in his cell and shed a single, bloody tear as she made her exit. Firsts and Lasts

After Emil Zartan successfully broke into President Rumanapar's private plane midflight, Baroness spoke to him through a video call and ordered the politician to not lighten his country's trade restrictions as planned lest Zartan kill him. With her plan to convince Rumanapar successful, Baroness was able to climb further up the Cobra ladder. A week later, she met with Zartan and presented him his payment of one million euros. However, later that night, Zartan ended up getting in trouble with the law and Baroness was forced to let him flee the country with her aboard her private jet. The Origin of Zartan Part 1

Dealings With Destro

Unhappy with Zartan putting Cobra's secrecy at risk with his antics, Baroness assigned him the task of being her representative with M.A.R.S. Industries, an arms manufacturer that was creating a teleporter known as the M.A.S.S. Device for Cobra. However, when M.A.S.S. was tested on Zartan by sending him to kill M.A.R.S. CEO James "Destro" McCullen's associate Nico Mandirobolis, a flaw in the teleporter meant he was unable to be retrieved. After this incident, Baroness was contacted by Destro, to inform her of this development and that they couldn't be certain if Zartan had successfully killed Mandirobolis. Baroness, however chose to look on the bright side of things and assume Zartan was successful in his assassination. The Origin of Zartan Part 1

With Zartan M.I.A., the task fell to Baroness to assassinate Destro for dealing with Mandirobolis in the first place. Making her way into Castle Destro through the surrounding moat, she approached McCullen as he worked on a satellite and held him at gunpoint G.I. Joe vol. 1 #2 as she explained Cobra's reasoning for sending her to execute him. Though Destro attempted to bargain for his life, Baroness didn't care to hear it and instead asked Destro for his last words, which he used to call his dog Clyde to attack her. Though she quickly killed the hound, Destro still managed to get away, forcing Baroness to chase him down to the castle armory. G.I. Joe vol. 1 #3 She and Destro proceeded to duel with swords until Baroness knocked Destro into a suit of armor, the helmet of which he used to knock her unconscious. G.I. Joe vol. 1 #4

When she came to, Destro had placed her in his familial castle's luxurious "dungeon". Addressing her behind a glass wall, Destro told Baroness he only kept her alive so she could relay to Cobra that he held information that made him an invaluable asset to the organization. That night, Baroness donned a vintage gown and jewelry her captor had left for her and accompanied him to dinner, though not before first making another attempt on his life that he took precautions against. G.I. Joe vol. 1 #5 After dinner, Destro saw fit to give Baroness a demonstration of his M.A.S.S. Device teleporter to prove he'd made a major breakthrough with the device and was thus worth keeping alive. Baroness watched as Destro teleported himself to Nico Mandirobilis' location to kill the man who'd dared break Cobra's code of silence. However, once Destro was warped back, a problem with M.A.S.S. forced him to be sealed in a special suit of armor lest his body disintegrate. G.I. Joe vol. 1 #6

Baroness remained in Destro's custody for some time after witnessing the incident with the M.A.S.S. Device but eventually a team of Cobra Troopers arrived to free her. After they blew the glass wall, Baroness took command of their operation and rescinded their orders to kill her captors, instead having them capture Destro and his assistants alive along with the M.A.S.S. Device. The Betrayers Part 2 Aboard the submarine cruiser Dreadnaught, Baroness discussed the advanced technology powering the sub with Destro while also explaining the terms under which he'd now be working for Cobra. The Betrayers Part 3 While aboard the Dreadnaught, Baroness spoke with Cobra Commander over a video call and informed him that Zartan was missing, as well as the recent developments with the M.A.S.S. Device. Though Cobra Commander was unhappy to hear they'd lost a promising member in Zartan and that his organization was sinking so much money in a project that had yet to yield the desired results, Baroness insisted the M.A.S.S. project would soon shape up. The Origin of Zartan Part 2 Once they reached their destination, Baroness joined Destro on the helicopter ride to Section Zero, a special arctic facility Cobra had constructed specifically to house the M.A.S.S. Device. Inside, she introduced Destro to his new assistant and scientific overseer Dr. Armand "Mindbender" Singh and continued to drive home to McCullen the harsh terms under which he now worked. The Betrayers Part 4

As Destro and Singh clashed against each other, Baroness broke the two of them up and reminded them that her position was tied to their ability to get results and that she'd suffer no more of their childish arguments. With Destro insisting he needed the help of his assistants, Baroness was worn down and agreed to free them. Soon after, the quartet of scientists managed to get the M.A.S.S. Device in what they believed to be a workable state. Though the experiment first seemed to be a success, the test subject disintegrated once he was recalled. The Betrayers Part 5 Fed up with his failure, Baroness decided she'd be better off cutting her losses and pulled a gun on Destro. McCullen, however, tried to bargain for his life by suggesting he do something to prove his loyalty to Cobra. To this end, he wrestled Baroness' gun away from her and shot his assistant Rory MacDougall as a sacrifice to the organization. Though she remained unhappy with him, Baroness felt this was enough to give Destro another chance.

Later, Baroness visited Destro as he attempted to comfort Rory's daughter Glynis, who attacked Baroness on sight. Once a Trooper had knocked Glynis out, Baroness heard out Destro's plan to turn M.A.S.S. around by kidnapping the theoretical physicist Dr. Gerry Orizama. She then changed the subject and asked about the other piece of information Destro had offered Cobra, which turned out to be intel on a top secret American military organization that seemed to have learned about Cobra through Mandirobilis. The Betrayers Part 6 After dispatching Blacklight to kidnap Dr. Orizama, G.I. Joe vol. 1 #14 Baroness welcomed the scientist to Section Zero and explained to him why he'd been taken. True to Destro's predictions, Orizama's help allowed him to get M.A.S.S. up and running and a successful test was carried out. After denying Destro permission to reverse his condition and dismissing Mindbender, Baroness met with Orizama privately and was surprised to find him more than willing to continue working for Cobra, the seemingly unlimited resources the organization had access to proving quite appealing to him. G.I. Joe vol. 1 #15

Eventually, Cobra Commander saw fit to conduct a personal audit on Baroness via a remote drone, wanting to see for himself what the hundreds of billions his organization had sunk into M.A.S.S. had actually accomplished. Though the device wasn't up and running at the moment of the Commander's audit, Baroness ordered Orizama to get it ready for another test while she showed the Commander the money printing plates, priceless artifacts, blackmail material, and various other materials they could have only acquired through teleportation. Though he admitted these were nice, the Commander was concerned about a planned exploratory mission to the Nevada desert for the purposes of gathering information on the secret military unit Destro had informed her of, a mission she'd ordered without informing her superiors. Before the Commander could press the Baroness on this though, Destro interrupted them to voice his displeasure with being held against his will and having Baroness steal the credit for M.A.S.S., which ultimately earned him a spot in Cobra's Section 10 gulag when Glynis spoke up to reveal she was just as knowledgeable about M.A.S.S. as her father's murderer.

As the audit continued and Cobra Commander spoke with Orizama, Baroness received a report from another scientist about non-Section Zero Cobra Troopers on the perimeter of the base. Deducing that these were assassins sent by the Commander to kill her if she didn't prove herself, she had the coordinates for the teleport set for directly behind the Troopers. With the team of Vipers taking care of her would-be assassins, Baroness asked her Commander if he was satisfied with her project's progress. Though he was, the Commander wanted her at his side and gave Glynis, now codenamed Copperhead, command over the project. Realizing that Copperhead leaked the details of her planned Nevada mission, Baroness lashed out and nearly killed Glynis before the Commander got her to stay her hand. G.I. Joe vol. 1 #16

Baroness attended a meeting of Cobra High Command at a Russian manor. While there, she heard the sounds of weeping coming from the women's restroom and investigated to find that they were coming from her half-sister Erika Le Tene. Disgusted, Baroness reminded Erika that she only had her position because of their relationship and ordered her to shape up, as having her nearly identical sister bawling her eyes out in a bathroom didn't particularly reflect well onto her. Forked Tongue After Erika managed to escape Cobra, she fell in with G.I. Joe, the mysterious military unit Destro had uncovered. Using their resemblance to one another, Erika was sent to a suspected secret Cobra base in disguise as the Baroness. Changing Colors

After G.I. Joe forces had managed to seize the Dreadnaught, the ship's captain contacted the Baroness aboard an escape sub to inform her they'd lost the submarine cruiser. Though Vicuna thought the Dreadnaught destroyed, Baroness informed him they were still receiving a signal from the ship and passed this information along to Cobra Commander. After he furiously ordered Vicuna and his men to take back the Dreadnaught, Baroness was ordered to come to his quarters later that night as there was going to be a change in the Cobra hierarchy. G.I. Joe vol. 1 #22 To her shock, this change was not her long awaited promotion, but rather the reveal that Destro had been made an official member of Cobra! Enraged, Baroness nearly killed Destro but she was separated from him by a pair of Vipers and warned by Cobra Commander that she was to put aside her differences with Destro or else he'd be forced to choose between them. M.A.S.S. Destruction, Part 1

At Cobra Section Prime, Baroness received word that the M.A.S.S. Device had somehow become compromised and passed it along to Cobra Commander. Though Baroness thought it best to look to the Cobra Council for guidance, Cobra Commander decided they needed to act quickly and destroy Section Zero. Though she did express concern that this would mean those stationed on Section Sabine would be trapped, Baroness was primarily concerned about what losing the M.A.S.S. Device would mean for her reputation. Cobra Commander reassured her that the destruction of Section Zero wouldn't reflect poorly onto her, however, as with Destro around they could easily build another M.A.S.S. Device at any time. M.A.S.S. Destruction, Part 4 Baroness, however, had little confidence that Destro could do this without Dr. Orizama and ordered those who'd escaped Section Zero's destruction to find and bring him back. After receiving Copperback's report that Orizama had been killed, Baroness was summoned to meet with Cobra Commander, who asked that she accompany him to Section Twenty. M.A.S.S. Destruction, Part 5 At Section Twenty, Baroness asked her Commander if he was sure G.I. Joe agent Chuckles' change of heart and choice to join Cobra was genuine. Sidewinder She later retrieved Chuckles from Section Twenty's cafeteria and escorted him to a meeting with Cobra Commander. Constrictor

Baroness, along with the rest of Cobra High Command, was secretly poisoned by Xamot as part of an elaborate plan to take down Chuckles and carry out a coup against Cobra Commander. She, however, was hardly incapacitated by it, as she'd been taking poison such as this one recreationally. After Tomax explained to her that Chuckles had assassinated Cobra Commander and, in an attempt to save his brother's skin, poisoned High Command, Baroness expressed doubt and refused to believe his story. After confirming the Commander's death, she sent a team of Vipers to the base's old submarine dock, the only unsecured way out of Section Twenty. However, it soon dawned on her that the submarine down there was equipped with nuclear weapons and realized that Chuckles was intending to detonate those. Now ordering her Vipers to evacuate High Command, Baroness dragged Tomax onto the plane even as he begged her to let him go back for Xamot, feeling that forcing Tomax to live with the fact that he couldn't save his brother's was an appropriate punishment for him. King Cobra

Cobra Civil War

Following the death of Cobra Commander, a meeting was called where Baroness announced the Commander's death to those present, all of whom were candidates to succeed him, herself included. Given the highly unusual circumstances under which the old Commander died, the Cobra Council decided to hold a contest wherein whoever caused the most misery for G.I. Joe the would be made the new Commander, information Baroness also relayed. Cobra Civil War #0 After this, Baroness personally oversaw the staging of the accident that Cobra would use to explain the death of the Commander's civilian identity. G.I. Joe vol. 2 #1 Even though she was a candidate for Commander, privately Baroness felt that an old, highly patriarchal, and inherently misogynist organization like Cobra would never allow a woman to attain a position of leadership. However, this would not stop her from taking part in the Contest. Cobra vol. 2 #1

Baroness began her efforts by dispatching her agent Blacklight to track down and kill Joe Team Bravo in Panama. G.I. Joe vol. 2 #1 After taking care of a few "problems" facing Cobra in Ecuador by assassinating and stealing the funds of a local drug kingpin, Baroness returned to Cobra HQ to find Serpentor and her fellow contestant Major Bludd still hanging out there three days after the Contest began. Disgusted by their seeming idleness, she ordered them to get out and at the very least pretend as though they cared about the contest. She later received a call from Blacklight, who informed her that the Joes had managed to kill his spotter and wound him, forcing him to retreat. Furious, Baroness refused to hear Blacklight's promise that he could still complete his mission and decided she would travel to Panama herself with a platoon of Vipers to finish the job. However, she soon discovered there were only two Vipers available, as all the others at the base were either taken by Major Bludd on a mission to Russia or guarding Rodrigo Vargas. Furious, she accused Vargas, Bludd, and Tomax of conspiring against her in the Contest and ordered Vargas to leave the facility before confronting Serpentor, demanding to know what he was doing here since he wasn't a contestant. Cobra vol. 2 #1 After making sure to let Major Bludd have it the next time she saw him, Baroness heard Serpentor out when he offered her information from his mole inside the Joes, something he'd already been doing for the other contestants. With this information, several Joes investigating Baroness' activity in Ecuador were killed, earning her more points in the Contest. Cobra vol. 2 #2

Traveling to Paris, Baroness met with Zartan to receive intel he had collected. Though this shape-shifting clone of Emil Zartan attempted to flirt with her, having gained knowledge of the original Zartan's history with her, Baroness was having none of it and forced him to hand over a USB drive that would allow her to infiltrate a facility in Bear Lake that several Joes displaced by The Pit's destruction would be heading towards. Once the Joes arrived, Baroness had her Vipers commandeer the R.H.I.N.O. that was stored at the Bear Lake facility, using it as mechanized support as they roamed the base looking for Joes to kill. After killing Mooch, Baroness rode in the back of the R.H.I.N.O., barking orders and shooting at any Joes who dared show their faces near her forces. After Roadblock managed to disable the R.H.I.N.O. by smashing the front of it with a disarmed Davy Crockett though, Baroness was knocked unconscious and taken prisoner by the Joes. G.I. Joe vol. 2 #5 Taken onto a helicopter, Baroness was horrified to learn that the Joes planned on hiding out in Springfield, a now abandoned town Cobra used as a front that the Joes had previously discovered. Though she tried to warn them against this plan, the Joes forged on ahead, choosing to hole up inside the local bank, even as some of them echoed Baroness' sentiment that something felt off.

Kept separate from her captors by the gate that helped to protect the bank's vault, Baroness struggled to choke down the rations she was fed before informing Hawk that Springfield was more than a mere front. It was once used a testing grounds for Cobra to test various social scenarios on, using the populace as lab rats. She taunted the Joes that they were now Springfield's newest test subjects, a prediction that panned out when a B.A.T. that was left behind in the town began attacking the team. G.I. Joe vol. 2 #6 As the Joes fell back into the bank's vault, Baroness continued her taunting, warning them that the B.A.T. is impervious to anything they were packing, as the machine was built to survive something as strong as a nuclear blast. During all this posturing, Baroness insisted that she had nothing to fear from the B.A.T., as it was programmed not to kill members of Cobra. This eventually set off Hard Drive, who was able to detect the transmitter implanted into Baroness' neck that kept her safe from the B.A.T. and cut it out, meaning that Baroness would share the Joes' fate should the B.A.T. be able to break into the vault. However, Hard Drive was able to call in an airstrike that leveled the bank and take the B.A.T. with it, Baroness and the Joes surviving due to the bank vault's resilience. G.I. Joe vol. 2 #7

Transferred to an armored car being escorted by two Humvees, the convoy transporting Baroness was ambushed when an IED stuck to the back of a cow in the middle of the road went off. After the armored car was knocked off the road, Baroness freed herself and killed the soldiers transporting her before taking off into the woods. Concerned that they might be out to kill her, Baroness killed the Vipers she encountered in the forest before finding Krake, the man responsible for her salvation. Given that Krake was a fellow contestant though, she assumed he had arrived to kill her and told him to get it over with. Krake, however, instead knocked her out, feeling that humiliating her would serve him better. Soon after this, Krake would be named the winner of the contest and the new Cobra Commander. G.I. Joe vol. 2 #8

After retrieving Serpentor for a meeting with their new Commander, Baroness received orders to travel to Mexico and order the Cobra chemical weapons plants there to begin producing defoliants as well. She and Serpentor then stood side-by-side with their new, more militant Commander as he posed dramatically atop a H.I.S.S. tank. Cobra vol. 2 #8

During Cobra's invasion of Nanzhao, Baroness watched security footage of G.I. Joe agents Snake Eyes and Helix single-handedly take on a Cobra camp and the mech suits within alongside her fellow high-ranking Cobras. Furious over the glibness with which Major Bludd was treating the situation, she warned him to get out of her sight before she killed him. She later met with Cobra Commander as he overlooked the warehouse full of cultural treasures that he'd accumulated during the invasion and received a new mission from him. Cobra Command, Part 3 Having long held the Cobra Council in contempt, Cobra vol. 2 #1 the mission she was given to assassinate this group who were supposed to keep Cobra Commander in line was one she took great pleasure in. She started with a councilman who had a mansion in the Pyrenees, posing as one of his many lovers to get close to him. After killing his guards and his other groupies, she shot him in the gut and forced him to tell her where the other were located under threat of prolonging his suffering. Once she'd gotten what she wanted from him, she detonated the explosives she'd planted throughout the mansion, destroying it. Cobra Command, Part 6 Baroness carried out her mission with ruthless efficiency, working her way down the list in only a matter of days. As she reached the final member of the Council in Santa Cruz, Argentina, she indulged herself in his death, making it slow by lying him on his stomach and causing him to strangle himself with a rope that was tied from his ankles to his neck. As she monologued to him about how much she enjoyed getting to witness the agonizing final moments of an unjust, decadent dictator such as himself, she was cut off by the sudden appearance of a G.I. Joe agent who'd been tracking her down to find out who these men she'd been killing were. The two women fought, with the Joe agent eventually pinning Baroness to the ground. Baroness then bit down on what the Joe assumed was a poison capsule but was actually the antidote for the poison she proceeded to splash into the Joe's face. Thinking quickly, the Joe grabbed Baroness again and kissed her in hopes of getting some of the antidote out of her mouth. The bit of poison that had gotten on her along with the smaller dose of the antidote weakened the Baroness, stopping her from killing the Joe but still allowing her to get away.

After her mission was done, Baroness returned to Nanzhao, where she revealed to Major Bludd that Serpentor had sold him and Tomax out for plotting a coup against the new Commander. Before she could kill Bludd though, he tried to expose Serpentor as being in on the coup plot as well, confusing Baroness long enough that Bludd was able to pull a gun and wound her as he made a break for it. After Bludd managed to shake his pursuers by jumping off a waterfall, Baroness ordered her Vipers to hunt him down as well as figure out where Tomax ran off to in his private jet. Cobra Command, Part 9

Baroness served as a liaison between Cobra and G.I. Joe commander Hawk's superiors. Using the disastrous way the situation in Nanzhao was handled as an excuse, Baroness was able to get this man to take Hawk out of power and severely slash G.I. Joe's operating budget. In return, Baroness promised him that Cobra would fully fund his upcoming campaign for U.S. senate. G.I. Joe vol. 2 #12 However, after Cobra released files that announced G.I. Joe's existence to the world, Baroness asked her contact, in his role as the White House's G.I. Joe liaison, to corroborate the leak publicly. While he was hesitant to do so, not wanting to ruin the lives of American soldiers, Baroness didn't care and ordered him to go through with it. Deep Terror Conclusion However, after the White House liaison refused to confirm G.I. Joe's existence, Baroness confronted him in his home office after his wife and children went to bed and presented him with a choice; use the gun in his desk to kill himself or let her fake his suicide before killing the rest of his family. Deep Terror Epilogue

Blacklisted

Baroness stood alongside Cobra Commander as he contacted Serpentor, furious over the failure of his Coil to eliminate the Arashikage ninja that had betrayed Cobra. As the call ended, Baroness brought up to Cobra Commander her concerns over Cobra currently being in need of a country to call home. While the Commander assumed Baroness was trying to suggest Cobra conquer a nation, what she actually meant was that they buy one! Target: Snake Eyes Part 1 To this end, Baroness met with Prince Rudolph aboard his yacht to negotiate the purchase of his principality of Tryolvia. While Baroness initially balked at Rudolph's initial price of 40 Billion British Pounds and made a counteroffer of 40 Billion US Dollars, the two eventually settled on 40 Billion Euros. After negotiating a price, Baroness pitched Tryolvia to Cobra Commander but also informed him that Prince Rudolph insisted he be paid up front in hard cash or cash equivalent before he handed anything over. Target: Snake Eyes Part 2

As 40 Billion Euros worth of gold, hard currency, bearer bonds, and valuable artwork was loaded onto the Neptune Bonanza to be transferred to a bank in the Seychelles, Baroness and Cobra Commander toured the future Cobra HQ of the Palast Dessen Viirenvrost. All throughout this tour, Baroness reassured her Commander over and over again that Tryolvia would be worth the hefty price that was being paid for it. What Baroness failed to anticipate though was both G.I. Joe and the Arashikage attacking the Neptune Bonanza, a conflict that lead to the boat sinking with all it's riches still aboard before it reached it's destination. Target: Snake Eyes Part 3 After word of the Neptune Bonanza's sinking reached her, Baroness made sure to try and get out of Tryolvia and her furious Commander as fast as she could. As she headed for the border on a motorcycle, she received a call from Cobra Commander and, despite her attempts to convince him to let her lead a salvage mission, Cobra Commander informed Baroness that her relationship with Cobra was now over. As she was fired, a small squad of Viper-piloted Flight Pods attacked Baroness, using their missiles to send her flying off of a bridge and into the river below. Baroness was prepared for this, having previously stashed scuba equipment beneath the water that she promptly retrieved and used to get away. Target: Snake Eyes Part 4

Though she was now marked for death, Baroness still sought to redeem herself in the eyes of Cobra by recovering the Neptune Bonanza's sunken treasures. After seeking out a Captain Viktor Bekuna and getting him to agree to captain a salvage operation in the now extremely treacherous and stormy seas surrounding the Bonanza wreck, she sought to acquire the Argo Vidale salvage vessel by kidnapping the grandchildren of Sir Anthony, who's company owned the ship. After leaving her meeting with Sir Anthony, Baroness paid a woman to dress as her in order to lure out assassins sent by the Coil to kill her so she could kill them first. Crush Depth, Part 1

The Neptune Bonanza salvage operation got off to a rough start, the sea and weather proving even worse than anticipated, causing many delays that Baroness was none too happy about. Once they finally reached the site of the wreck, Baroness followed the Sting Raiders and [[Eel]s down as far as her diving gear would allow before stopping just before reaching her limit to act as a relay between the Argo Vidale and the divers. Crush Depth, Part 2 As the crew began bringing up the shipping containers, the weather caused the crane operator to lose control, causing the container to crash onto the deck and bust open, revealing billions of dollars in cash within. Realizing Baroness had misrepresented what exactly they were salvaging, Bekuna and his crew began trying to strongarm Baroness into giving them a bigger cut. Though they appeared to back down after Baroness killed one of them, the crew continued to act up, at one point even going so far as to "accidentally" lose control of the crane again in order to smash her with one of the containers. Once the salvage operation was finished, the crew staged a full on mutiny against Baroness, breaking into her room and attempting to kill her. Crush Depth, Part 3 After shooting her way through several mutineers, Baroness learned that this mutiny coincided with both the Coil and G.I. Joe's new Special Missions unit attacking the Argo Vidale as well. After appearing to get away by stealing a Sting Raider, Baroness doubled back to the other side of the boat where Topside was waiting in a raft for his fellow Joes to return. She then abandoned and left her Sting Raider inoperable before killing Topside and stealing his raft while the Argo Vidale went down along with the Neptune Bonanza's loot. After two days stranded at sea, Baroness saw a helicopter on the horizon and shot a flare to grab its attention. For better or worse, the helicopter belonged to Cobra, who still rescued her despite her being on the outs. Crush Depth, Part 4

Now somewhat back in Cobra's good graces, Baroness was accompanied by Cobra's new P.R. specialist Mary Craft and a team of Vipers as they sat in a luxury yacht off the coast of a Somalian pirate village, hoping to gain information on the captain of the slavers who'd kidnapped Mary's son. As the pirates cautiously approached the yacht and the trap was sprung, Baroness sat by as Craft demanded the pirates give up a man amongst their ranks named Abdi Zakaria. When the pirates were unimpressed by Craft's story of a previous Cobra Commander's dealings with pirates and the village was promptly destroyed, Baroness asked again for Zakaria. Once Abdi gave himself up, Baroness roughed him up a bit before he told the women he would never give up his former captain, as he'd put his life on the line for his. After Mary told him a story about the dangers of being indebted to another man, Zakaria gave her the name of the pirate's contact in the Yakuza, who would know where the captain was now better than he would. Baroness then promptly shot him, joking that she'd taken the lesson about never being in another man's debt to heart.

As they flew to Japan, Craft chewed Baroness out for stopping her word-of-mouth marketing from spreading by killing the mouth. Baroness failed to understand why they needed Craft and her stories, thinking that since the world at large already knew Cobra as a legitimate geo-political force they didn't need to waste time telling stories to petty criminals. Craft then explained she was doing this to earn Cobra respect amongst the criminal underworld before telling another story about a former Cobra Commander with the moral that people will treat you the way they perceive you. Baroness merely rolled her eyes at the story and stated she has never been perceived in a way that wasn't exactly the way she wanted to be perceived and criticized the former Commander's method of dealing with disrespect. G.I. Joe vol. 3 #12 Once in Japan, Baroness and Mary Craft met with the Yakuza contact. At this meeting, Craft shared a story that claimed a former Commander was responsible for starting the Yakuza in the first place, which meant that Cobra understood them far better than a bunch of lowly human traffickers ever could. As they left the meeting with the slaver captain's location, Baroness prodded Craft by stating that she was beginning to enjoy this jet-set criminal lifestyle, though she of course disagreed.

Baroness led the mission to rescue the children kidnapped by the traffickers, having several Cobra helicopters pluck the boat out of the water while Vipers eliminated all of the crew members before dropping the ship onto a beach where news crews waited to report on Cobra's attack against human trafficking. On this beach, Mary spotted her son Isaac and began running to him but before they could be reunited, Baroness suckerpunched Mary while several Vipers took Isaac aboard a helicopter. She then broke the news to her that both she and Isaac now belonged to Cobra for the rest of their lives and made no secret of her delight at Mary's despair over now being trapped in this organization. As they flew back on board a plane, Baroness noticed Mary holding a copy of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, which she claimed was a prop for a story she never got to tell. Though Mary wasn't in the mood, Baroness prodded her to tell it anyways. Baroness listened closely to Mary's story of how Dante had written the book as a metaphor for Cobra and how he believed it could eventually grow from it's criminal roots into something virtuous and divine. As she finished, revealing the contemporary Cobra Commander had Dante killed as he couldn't envision Cobra growing out of "Inferno", Baroness fell silent, unsure of what to make of this tale. G.I. Joe vol. 3 #13

Return to Cobra

Baroness led Cobra's efforts to take over the town of Warrenton, a small town in Ohio that had fallen into large scale poverty. Blaming this on the failings of the town's leadership, she easily won the townspeople to Cobra's side by offering them a way out and killing those who'd failed them. Homefront, Part 2 Baroness then had falsified information on Cobra's activities in Warrenton leaked to the newly public facing G.I. Joe team, who's first mission would send them there. Once they arrived, Cobra forces would shoot down the Joes' transport and capture their leader Duke. Homefront, Part 1

With Duke captured, Baroness had him restrained and attempted to make him renounce his status as a "Real American Hero" and the U.S. in general on camera for a Cobra propaganda video. When he refused, Baroness had a pair of W.O.R.M.S. drag him away and strap him to a gurney. When Duke then refused to give Baroness the code word that would send an all clear back to base, and thus news crews from across the country to Warrenton, she introduced him to Dr. Mindbender, who would be helping to force the password out of him. Homefront, Part 2 As his machine began manipulating Duke's memories, Baroness complained to Mindbender that she wished she'd been able to torture him rather than have to sit around and wait. Once he did finally let a code word slip, Baroness prepared to shoot Duke but was stopped by Mindbender, who wanted to study his body. Homefront, Part 3

Deciding she'd kill him by bleeding him out instead, Baroness left in a huff to retrieve her knife. On her way, she received a call from Destro, who informed her that the Ohio National Guard had just been mobilized, along with a phalanx of Dragonflies from G.I. Joe's base on Governor's Island. Concluding that the code word they'd gotten signaled an ambush rather than an all clear, Baroness asked Destro why he was telling her this rather than letting her fail and further his own position. Desto explained he'd done so out of romantic interest, and as Baroness told him they'd discuss this later, she found herself held at gunpoint by the Joes' newest recruit, Hashtag. Homefront, Part 4 After mockingly explaining to the naive girl how easily Cobra turned Warrenton against its own country, she quickly disarmed her and shot her in the leg. Before she could finish her off though, Duke and Cover Girl appeared and sent Baroness fleeing. She then detonated the bombs she'd had planted throughout the town and used the resulting chaos to cover her escape. On her way out, she received a call from the Commander, who informed her that her failure meant she would not be getting the promotion she desired. Homefront, Part 5

Asked to take a leave of absence after Warrenton, Baroness was invited by Destro to meet with him at his castle in the Scottish highlands. After dinner, Destro explained he'd invited her out there because he was disturbed by the Commander's decision to appoint Michael "Mad" Monk to head up Cobra's new station in Manhattan. This was disturbing he thought, because Monk had received the incredibly rare score of a one on the Lome Test, a test of one's ability to reshape the world around them. This meant that a man who completely lacked the ability to impose his will upon others was now in a position of authority, something that could lead to the complete destruction of Cobra. Since this meant he'd lose his biggest client, Destro asked that Baroness join him in taking down Monk. Threat Matrix, Part 1

After spending the night at the castle, Baroness awoke in bed alone, a B.A.T. maid informing her that Destro requested she meet him down on the moor after she'd had breakfast. Once there, Destro continued to plead his case against Monk, telling her that he'd been recklessly using his B.A.T. technology in Manhattan. Having tracked down the M.A.R.S. executives who'd sold him the drones, Destro had some of his personal B.A.T.s load them into a gigantic skeet launcher and use them as target practice. Baroness would join him in this activity. Threat Matrix, Part 2 Later that night, Baroness and Destro were beginning to get frisky when suddenly Destro received a taunting call from Monk. The castle was then shaken by explosions and before either of them could react, the door was blown down and Cobra Commander stood there, accusing Destro of selling his organization out to the Joes. Threat Matrix, Part 3 When the Commander demanded to know if Baroness was in on this alleged betrayal or if she would stand by Cobra, she took the Commander's side. However, after Destro fled behind a small army of B.A.T.s, Baroness met back up with him and aided his escape from the castle. Promising that she would help the Commander see that Destro only betrayed Cobra to help save it and that they would then take down Monk together, she sent him on his way. Threat Matrix, Part 4

Cobra Commander

Somehow managing to avoid capture after the fall of Cobra, Baroness managed to stay out of trouble for several years until she was finally caught in Monaco, arrested on reckless driving charges. After this, she was taken in by the newly reformed and international G.I. Joe and secretly held prisoner without trial aboard their new underwater base Lemuria. G.I. Joe vol. 5 #5 After discovering an anarchist group in Greece organizing under the banner of Cobra, Scarlett attempted to interrogate Baroness about whether or not Cobra had begun reforming but she refused to give up any information, only complaining about the quality of the food and the fact that she was being illegally held prisoner. G.I. Joe vol. 5 #2 Though she was the only one who knew that Baroness was aboard the Lemuria, Scarlett saw fit to share this information with her second-in-command Roadblock, who was slightly disturbed by them holding someone prisoner without trial. Because of this, Roadblock would leak Baroness' location to the now ex-Joe Duke, G.I. Joe vol. 5 #5 who would soon arrive to free her and her fellow prisoner Crystal Ball so that they could be tried for their crimes. As she was escorted out, Baroness taunted Scarlett by promising that they'd see each other again soon. G.I. Joe vol. 5 #7

While en route to their trial in The Hague, Baroness seemed completely unconcerned about her situation, teasing Duke about his fall from grace before a mob of Cobranarchists suddenly descended upon the armored car, aiming to free Baroness and Crystal Ball from captivity! G.I. Joe vol. 5 #8 Once they were let out by the Dreadnoks, Baroness ordered Crystal Ball to make himself useful before strongly chastising the Dreadnoks for their sloppy tactics, causing the bikers to shape up long enough for them to capture Duke. Before she got a chance to kill him though, a G.I. Joe team led by Scarlett arrived and shot the gun out of her hand. Ordering the Dreadnoks to kill them, Baroness and Crystal Ball slipped away in the chaos of the ensuing firefight and made their way to a serpentine temple where the Cobranarchists had been congregating. Addressing them and promising a new world order, Baroness took the stage alongside Crystal Ball, Destro, Dr. Mindbender, and a Dire Wraith sorcerer before donning a hood and declaring herself the new Cobra Commander! G.I. Joe vol. 5 #9

With Miles Mayhem away on Cybertron with the rest of the Iron Ring, Cobra Commander took the remaining members of V.E.N.O.M. under her organization's wing, earning their loyalty by having Scrap-Iron rebuild their destroyed vehicles. She then sent the three of them to back up Firefly as he broke into the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg to steal a certain antediluvian artifact that was on display there, his louder than expected methods earning him his Commander's ire. Ordering Firefly to make a much more subtle entrance this time, Cobra Commander next directed him and V.E.N.O.M. to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art for another heist. G.I. Joe: First Strike Though the V.E.N.O.M. agents were defeated and captured, Firefly was still able to accomplish his mission with help from Storm Shadow and his ninja. Now that Crystal Ball had the necessary artifacts, Cobra Commander demanded an update from Cesspool to see how their efforts to melt the polar ice caps was going before strongly correcting Destro when he referred to her by her old title. M.A.S.K.: First Strike

As Crystal Ball and the Dire Wraiths opened a portal to Cobra-La, Cobra Commander ordered the Wraiths to force several unwilling Cobranarchists inside, making them reemerge as Vipers. With the portal remaining stable, Cobra Commander turned on the Wraiths and allowed her new soldiers to feast upon them. Ignoring Destro's horrified reaction to both her betrayal and the anarchists' transformation, she ordered Crystal Ball to round up the rest of the Cobranarchists and force them into the portal as well. Scarlett's Strike Force #1 After chastising Destro for almost interrupting a crucial ritual that Crystal Ball was performing, she heard his report that G.I. Joe had found them. She then ordered Destro to send Croc Master and Raptor to take care of them. Scarlett's Strike Force #2 After Storm Shadow and Tempest returned from slowing down Quick Kick and, thus, the rest of the Joes, Cobra Commander heard their report and, after again criticizing Destro, asked Crystal Ball if the time was right for the "Ascension". After Spitfire unknowingly kicked this Ascension off by gunning several Vipers down, causing their blood to consecrate the alter they were gathered around, Cobra Commander and her closest followers gathered atop a mysterious rock that then shot up into the sky as she dramatically declared this marked the beginning of her empire's rise and the birth of Cobra's god. Scarlett's Strike Force #3

When next seen, Cobra Commander took part in a meeting of Earth's heroes and villains, who'd come together against the looming threat of Unicron. Unicron #5

Clueniverse

Carlos Guzman had two different framed pictures of the Baroness in his office, like you do. Clue #1 Clue #6

External links

• Baroness at YoJoe.com
• Baroness at TFWiki.net