Zarana

Have you seen me?

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Zarana holds the power in her relationship with her brother Zandar. A criminal hustler with a natural talent for deception and manipulation and a skill with bladed weapons, Zarana and her twin have been running confidence games and hustles since they were teenagers, something enabled by her uncanny ability to disguise herself with even the most scant resources. Since joining up with the Australian Dreadnok biker gang, the two have started using the gang's stolen holographic technology to enhance their deceptions further and keep them out of trouble with meddling soldiers.

"We do not need to hear your life story."

"Your life story we do not need."

"Your money will suffice."

"Just give us your money."

-Zandar and Zarana, "Threat Matrix, Part 2 of 4"

Fiction

Born into poverty in London, Zoe and her twin brother Zack grew up in an abusive orphanage, refusing to speak to anyone but each other. Out of fear of being separated from each other, the two fled the orphanage as teenagers, making a life for themselves on the street by begging, stealing and pulling hustles; it was here that Zoe took the lead in their relationship, protecting the smaller and weaker Zack from being picked on, as well as discovering her talents of disguise and deception. Eventually, however, the twins fled to Australia using tickets bought by Zarana's admirers in order to escape arrest by the London police; on arriving, the two soon fell in with the vicious Dreadnoks, taking on the names Zarana and Zandar and making use of their stolen technology to enhance their particular skills. Zandar and Zarana profiles

Some time after the Dreadnoks' leader Zartan abandoned them, Operation: Deadfall, Part 3 Zarana and Zandar travelled to New York City to engage in an arms deal with the biker gang known as the Heathens on Randall's Island on the instructions of "the One". This was picked up by G.I. Joe's Threat Matrix program, leading the team to interrupt the deal before the twins recieved their payment. The two fled on their custom Dreadnok motorcycle, which contained holographic technology that they used to turn themselves invisible to evade the Joes, Threat Matrix, Part 2 but explosives fired at them by Duke disrupted their cloaking and made them visible once more. The twins attempted to fight back, but Quick Kick knocked them out with his nunchaku, allowing them to be arrested by the Joes. Threat Matrix, Part 3 In the aftermath, it turned out that the weapons that the Dreadnoks were selling to the Heathens were worthless junk, though they protested that they had done exactly as "the One" instructed them. Threat Matrix, Part 4

At some point, the twins reunited with the other Dreadnoks, and were eventually approached by Crystal Ball, a member of Cobra High Command, who sought to use the gang to help him take over the Inner Mongolia region of China; the Dreadnoks agreed in order to establish their own "outlaw nation". Zandar and Zarana profiles In order to lure the G.I. Joe team to Crystal Ball's headquarters, the twins disguised themselves as the native Mongolians "Ying" and "Yong"; though Cover Girl was suspicious of their British accents, they managed to bring the Joes to the Dreadnoks' manor, where the rest of the gang ambushed the team; while the Dreadnok heavies engaged the Joes, Zandar and Zarana slipped out. G.I. Joe vol. 5 #2 After the G.I. Joe team escaped in a jeep hot-wired by Cover Girl, the Dreadnoks pursued them on their motorbikes, with Torch riding in Zarana's sidecar. G.I. Joe vol. 5 #3 The Dreadnoks were fended off by the Joes' resident Transformer Skywarp, at which point the earth started shaking and split open; though Zarana and Zandar recognised what was happening and ordered the others to retreat, the gang were all grabbed by a "Fatal Fluffy" when it emerged from the ground, dragging them in. As Zarana was pulled under, she yelled that Crystal Ball would pay for lying to them. G.I. Joe vol. 5 #4

The Dreadnoks managed to escape from the monster, as the Fatal Fluffy "didn't like the taste" of them. When a United States army transport taking the Baroness and Crystal Ball to the Hague was attacked by Cobranarchists, Zandar pretended to be a civilian trapped by rubble from the anarchist's bombs, with Zarana calling for help. When Duke ran over to rescue him, Zarana knocked the ex-Joe to the ground with a bladed weapon, and the Dreadnoks prepared to take custody of Duke's prisoners. G.I. Joe vol. 5 #8

Notes

• In classic G.I. Joe media, Zarana and Zandar are the siblings of Zartan, something not really possible in IDW continuity thanks to Zartan's esoteric origins.
• The two being English comes from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero cartoon, where the Dreadnoks — characterised as an Australian biker gang — were inexplicably portrayed with Cockney accents.

External links

• Zarana at the TFWiki
• Zarana at YoJoe.com