Knight Errant
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| "Snake Eyes, Agent of Cobra Part Four: Knight Errant" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | IDW Publishing | ||||||||||||
| First published | April 15, 2015 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | April 2015 | ||||||||||||
| Written by | Mike Costa | ||||||||||||
| Art by | Paolo Villanelli | ||||||||||||
| Colors by | Joana Lafuente | ||||||||||||
| Letters by | Neil Uyetake | ||||||||||||
| Editor | Carlos Guzman | ||||||||||||
With Arashikage assassins all around, Ronin tries to get Billy to safety even as Snake Eyes closes in on them.
Synopsis[edit | edit source]
After seven months of life in Thailand, Ronin was finally starting to feel at peace... but all that is over now, as she and Billy Kessler-Latta have been found by Arashikage ninja intent on killing her charge. Diving from the upper floor of the hospital where Billy was being treated, she kills several of the attacking ninja before swinging back inside on a lower floor. Returning to Billy's floor and locating his hiding place, she gets them moving, dismissing Billy's proposal that they stay where they are and hole up instead; when he brings up his broken leg, she notes that they always think of something.
After leaving Las Vegas, Billy and Ronin had to keep moving: south into Mexico through Yuma and San Luis, then getting on a plane out of Cabo San Lucas, connecting through Havana. It was risky and expensive to pay the bribes needed to get through, but they couldn't risk trying to lie low; the heat would never be off, and they needed to run before their pursuers could get eyes on them. They were able to rest for four months outside Turo in Canada, which Billy hated... but there, she first realised that he had fallen in love with her — a very dangerous situation to be in, meaning that she had to be careful not to give him any ideas. After Ronin's Canadian contacts collapsed, the two made a road trip across the country to Vancouver where she obtained Thai passports from a group of former Royal Thai Army rangers... though she had to kill two of them when they wouldn't stop prying.
At an Indonesian airfield, Erika Le Tene asks a pair of confused aircrew to charter a flight with them... moments before Snake Eyes, who had been stealing a plane, knocks them unconscious, dismaying Erika with the realisation that he's making her go with him. As they fly towards Thailand, Erika begs Snake Eyes for some indication that he isn't just going to kill Billy or serve him up to Cobra... but the ever-silent warrior dives out of the plane without even acknowledging her words.
A dilaudid-drugged Billy happily proclaims his love for everything around him as Ronin helps him to limp to the edge of the city. The pair are ambushed by more Arashikage, and telling Billy to walk for the river, Ronin stays back to fight them off; she manages to subdue all her foes, though one of them slices her pistol in half, forcing her to rely on her sword. Eventually, the two reunite at the riverside, where Ronin explains that she was hoping that the monsoon would hit and wipe out their trail before anyone could follow... but even as the rain starts to pour, the Arashikage's leader Storm Shadow steps out of the shadows, intending to kill them both! Stepping between Storm Shadow and Billy, Ronin kisses Billy on the lips before shoving him out of harm's way and charging at the ninja. The two duel, but Storm Shadow has the upper hand; and though he praises the tenacity that he doubted she had, he stabs her through the chest, killing her. With Billy's protector dealt with, Storm Shadow moves to kill the dazed man... only for Snake Eyes to emerge from the shadows behind him...
Featured characters[edit | edit source]
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Cobra | Arashikage | Others |
|---|---|---|
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Quotes[edit | edit source]
"Hey, excuse me. I'd like to charter a plane with you guys."
"Maafkan saya, apa yang kau lakukan di sini?"
"Okay. Well, there's actually a ninja stealing your plane right now. He doesn't need me as a distraction, but I'm hoping that if I'm over here talking to you guys, he can't compel me to come along."
- —Chameleon tries to distract an aircrew member.
"Even in the midst of all this — his world upended, years of running for his life — he's at peace. I will die for this man. Because I was given orders to protect him at all costs, and that's my mission. But I'll die for him anyway. He's the only good thing I have left in this life."
- —Ronin won't say she's in love.
"The monsoon is starting. If we get lucky, it'll hit and wipe out our trail before they can follow."
"Well, this will be disappointing for both of us, then. Only cowards leave fate up to luck. And I was hoping for a little exercise tonight."
- —Ronin and Storm Shadow
"You were nearly recruited. But ultimately you were passed over. Do you know why? You struck me as a quitter. And your tenure with the idiotic G.I. Joes seemed to bear that out. Such a novel feeling, to be proven wrong. Thank you."
- —Storm Shadow praises Ronin, even as he ends her life.
"Ow. What... what the hell was that about?"
"A final romantic gesture. I find it so charming the way you westerners express doomed nobility in the face of death, as if that's the only moment it matters. As if every moment is not the moment of your death. We must always be prepared for death."
- —Billy Kessler-Latta and Storm Shadow
Notes[edit | edit source]
Continuity notes[edit | edit source]
- Storm Shadow claims that he and the Hard Master passed on recruiting Ronin into the Arashikage; Cobra vol. 2 #18 implied that she had been trained by a non-Arashikage ninja clan in Japan.
Real life references[edit | edit source]
- Ronin and Billy's road trip apparently involved Tim Hortons and bad poutine.
Other notes[edit | edit source]
- The man at the airfield that Erika speaks to is saying, in Malay, "I'm sorry, what are you doing here?".
Covers (2)[edit | edit source]
- Regular cover: Storm Shadow descends on Snake Eyes, by Paolo Villainelli and Joana Lafuente.
- Subscription cover: Snake Eyes is unmoved by the Baroness's feminine wiles, by Drew Johnson and Romulo Fajardo Jr..
