POWDER KEG: COLD RECON

The message from Cobra Commander was unusually simple.

G.I. Joe had deployed a prototype winter combat vehicle into the mountains for cold-weather testing. Designated the Snow C.A.T., the heavily armed all-terrain vehicle was intended to give the Joes mobility and firepower in conditions that could stop conventional forces cold.

Cobra had an operation planned for the region.

Before it could begin, Cobra Commander wanted one thing from Zartan:

Find a weakness.

At the Dreadnok compound, Zartan had barely finished reviewing the intelligence when Buzzer and Ripper volunteered.

“We’ll find the bloody weakness,” Buzzer said.

Ripper grinned. “Give us ten minutes with the thing and there won’t be enough left to worry about.”

Zartan stared at them.

“You buffoons would blow it up before you learned anything useful.”

He turned toward the doorway.

“For this, I need someone who actually knows what he’s doing.”

Powder Keg was already there.

Long before joining the Dreadnoks, Powder Keg grew up in Vail, Colorado, where skiing and snowboarding weren’t recreation so much as a way of life. Years later, those skills made him a natural candidate for Cobra’s elite Snow Serpents. He excelled in Arctic warfare, survival and demolitions.

There was only one problem.

Powder Keg hated being told what to do.

Cobra’s regulations, rigid command structure and endless procedures eventually became more than he could tolerate. He walked away from the Snow Serpents and ultimately found something far more suited to his temperament among Zartan’s Dreadnoks.

The discipline disappeared.

The skills didn’t.

Zartan slid a photograph of the Snow C.A.T. across the table.

“Cobra Commander wants to know how to kill it.”

Powder Keg studied the photograph.

“Don’t need to kill it.”

Zartan raised an eyebrow.

“Just need to figure out where it breaks.”

Two nights later, high above the Joe testing area, Powder Keg tightened his bindings and looked down the mountain.

Far below, the Snow C.A.T. crawled across the frozen terrain while a Joe test crew put the vehicle through another series of maneuvers.

Powder Keg pushed off.

He descended fast.

Trees flashed past as he carved through deep powder, using the mountain itself to conceal his approach. A Joe sentry caught movement between the trees and reached for his radio.

Too late.

Powder Keg pulled a grenade from his belt.

Not fragmentation. Concussion. 

The blast rolled across the mountainside. Snow erupted into the air, swallowing the observation post in a wall of white while Powder Keg shot through the cloud and disappeared downhill.

He wasn’t there to fight the Joes.

Not yet.

For the next hour he shadowed the Snow C.A.T., watching every turn, climb and stop. He studied how the vehicle handled steep grades. How quickly the crew reacted. Where equipment was mounted. Where armor ended and mechanical components began.

Then he saw something.

Powder Keg stopped behind an outcropping of rock overlooking the vehicle. His snowboard stood buried upright in the snow behind him as he removed the small camera Zartan had given him. 

He recorded all the information needed. 

That was what Cobra Commander wanted.

The Snow C.A.T. continued across the valley, its crew completely unaware that a Dreadnok was watching from above.

Powder Keg tucked the camera back into a pouch on his belt. A sly grin crossed his face. Mission accomplished, now he had to get home. 

And if the Joes discovered him along the way?

He still had plenty of grenades.