The boy named Billy was born
to a loving mother and a father losing his grip on reality. His
father's
growing insanity would become a curse that would affect Billy's entire
life. Some time before Billy was born, his father's beloved brother,
Dan,
died in a car accident. Billy's father was devastated, and barely
acknowledged
that his brother was drunk at the time, had returned home from Vietnam
with a death wish, and a family of three was killed in the accident as
well. His brother's death pushed the man over the edge, helped along by
his failed business and dwindling finances. He hired a man to kill the
surviving son of the family in the other car, and nearly bankrupted the
family to do so. After Billy's birth, his mother learned what her
husband
had done, and was outraged and horrified. Soon, Billy's father left,
taking
Billy with him. Traveling the country, he began his plan to stop the
government
and big business from destroying "the little guy". It began as a
pyramid
scheme to sell products to gain power and money, but over time it
became
more. Billy's father began to attract followers who, like him, had
faced
failures in their lives, and were ready to listen to a man willing to
circumvent
government and to blame failures on everyone but himself. As he
traveled
the country, having meetings in seedy motels in small towns full of
disenfranchised
"little guys". He soon named his organization "Cobra"
and Billy's
father
was now known only as "Cobra Commander". All the
while, he dragged
Billy
along with him. At first, the child didn't understand what his father
was
doing. He was even told that his mother died years before. But as Billy
grew older and his father gained power in a nice little town called
Springfield,
the boy started to realize who and what his father was. Eventually,
Billy
couldn't stand what his father was doing and ran away. He never made it
out of Springfield and fell in with a small resistance group of
townspeople
who didn't want anything to do with Cobra. Over time, Billy blocked out
the painful memories of who his father really was.
After Cobra had
become an
international
terrorist threat, the G.I. Joe team
stumbled upon Springfield. Scarlett,
Zap and Snake-Eyes were captured. The Joes
found themselves drugged,
and
in a jail cell with young Billy. He never told them his name, but he
helped
the Joes escape. He stayed behind in the town hoping to continue
fighting
against Cobra's control. Years later, Cobra agents Major Bludd and the Baroness
sought out a young
member of the resistance group to turn into
an assassin. They hoped to kill Cobra Commander and usurp his power.
Neither
they nor Billy knew that he was the Commander's son. The two Cobras
ruthlessly
trained Billy, molding him into the assassin they needed. Billy was
soon
set to strike at a Cobra rally, as one of the Young Cobras -- a group
that
warped local children's minds to serve Cobra when they grew older.
Billy
was carrying a bouquet of flowers for the Commander, but among the
flowers
was a pistol. The boy stepped up to the Commander and pulls put the
weapon.
But Destro recognized who the boy was, and
couldn't watch him kill his
own father. He lunged at Billy and knocked the gun away, saving Cobra
Commander.
Face to face with the Commander, Billy heard his voice and recognized
his
father. Cold and heartless as ever, Cobra Commander ordered an inquest
to learn who put Billy up to the assassination. Billy was strong
willed,
however, and refused to identify his accomplices. The Baroness and
Major
Bludd were pleased of course, but the ninja Storm
Shadow was disgusted
that those responsible would let the boy be punished on his own. Storm
Shadow also admired the boy's integrity. Billy was thrown in a cell
beneath
Springfield, and was surprised when Storm Shadow arrived, made quick
work
of the guards and helped the boy escape. Billy convinced Storm Shadow
that
the ninja couldn't stay either. He agreed and they both headed to New
York,
and Storm Shadow's personal training dojo in the city. Cobra Commander,
meanwhile, quickly gave up on his son, and returned to Cobra's business.
Over the next
few months,
Storm
Shadow trained Billy in ninjitsu. He not only taught Billy to fight, he
also taught him the honorable ways of the ninja. He came to see Storm
Shadow
as a surrogate father. Even so, Billy decided he had to confront his
father.
He left his teacher a note, and started on his way, hitch-hiking back
to
Springfield. Eventually, Billy was picked up by a driver who had
earlier
picked up Joe member Ripcord's girlfriend,
Candy. Soon, they both
realized
the driver was drunk, and Billy saw a vision of death. At a railroad
track,
the driver lost control of the car. The car crashed before hitting the
train, catching on fire. Escaping Springfield as they approached, was
the Soft Master. He was being chased
by Cobra agents Firefly, Scrap-Iron
and
the Dreadnok Buzzer. He turned back to
help those trapped in the car, but the Cobras
caught up to him. As he tried to help the passengers (now unconscious)
out of the car, Scrap-Iron fired a missile at him. The old ninja master
stopped the first rocket himself, but Scrap-Iron fired another. The car
was hit and exploded, and those inside were presumed dead. The car's
driver
and Candy were both killed, but Billy survived -- just barely. He spent
months in a coma, and lost a leg and an eye.
Billy
eventually came out
of his coma, and was surprised to find his father by his side. Cobra
Commander
had discovered Billy's survival and found his son in a hospital outside
of Springfield. Vowing to be the father he had never been, he took
Billy
to the undercover Crimson Guardsman Fred VII.
Fred was a mechanical
genius,
and the Commander asked him to build a prosthetic leg for his son. Fred
did so, and Billy could walk once again. At first, Billy didn't
remember
his imprisonment in Springfield and his training under Storm Shadow,
but
he stumbled upon the martial arts school of the Blind Master -- a
member
of the same clan as Storm Shadow. This sparked Billy's memory and he
recalled
all that had happened. He confronted his father and then stormed away,
not wanting anything more to do with him.
Billy began
training once
more,
this time under the Blind Master and his student, Jinx.
Billy also
learned
that Jinx had ties to the G.I. Joe team. He vowed that he would not
betray
his father to them, but Jinx told him they would not ask him to do so.
Later, Jinx took Billy to the Presidio, an Army base in San Francisco.
He thought he was being forced to take lessons in speaking French, but
he found his way to a secret basement of the Language Center building,
where Hawk and other Joes waited for him. Hawk
brought Billy to meet
with
Ripcord and Storm Shadow. He told them what had happened to Candy and
the
Soft Master. Just then, Hawk received word that Scarlett and Snake-Eyes
-- who had been on vacation in Grenada with Flint
and Lady Jaye -- were
killed after stepping on a land mine. Storm Shadow was skeptical. He
didn't
believe a ninja would be so careless as to stumble upon a land mine. He
eventually learned that they had faked their own death so they could
embark
on a secret mission to rescue Stalker, Quick Kick and Snow
Job from a
Borovian
gulag. The Blind Master had helped them deceive the others. Storm
Shadow
decided he had to help his friends, and journeyed to Borovia, with
Billy
and Jinx in tow. They all succeeded in rescuing the captured Joes, and
returned home to San Francisco. For a time, Billy continued to train
with
Storm Shadow and helped he and Jinx run the Arashikage Martial Arts
Academy
in downtown San Francisco.
Months later,
the three ninjas were called
upon
again by the Joe team. In the aftermath of the Cobra Island civil war,
unscrupulous officials arrested much of the G.I. Joe team, and locked
up
Hawk and General Hollingsworth in a mental hospital in Virginia. The
remaining
members of the team went underground, and staged a rescue. Billy, Storm
Shadow and Jinx joined them, and soon the Generals were freed and the
team
was cleared of any wrongdoing. Some time after that incident, Jinx was
met at the Presidio by an armed woman, claiming to be Billy's mother.
She
brought her to the Martial Arts Academy and she and Billy acknowledged
that it was, indeed his mother. She had tracked him down after years of
searching. She relayed to the ninjas the story of how her husband came
to leave with Billy. She asked Billy to come home with her, hoping to
start
over. Billy agreed, and for a time he lived with his mother. Soon he
began
attending college, and began enjoying a normal life. That wouldn't last
for long.
On the
way to class one morning,
Billy was stopped by the Cobra agent Raptor. Raptor told Billy that his
father had been killed a few years ago by Fred VII. Fred had in fact
been
posing as Cobra Commander for some time. They made their way to Cobra
Island
where they confronted Fred along with other Cobra operatives in the
Island's
land-locked freighter. It was then, that the true Cobra Commander
returned.
He hadn't died years ago, but had been in hiding, biding his time until
he returned. He threw others into the freighter with the rest of the
"traitors".
Calling his past decision to go straight "irrational," he disowned
Billy
as his son. He planned to seal the freighter and kill all those inside.
Billy shouted to his father, "You kill more than just a ship full of
people
if you kill us! You kill your own humanity!" The commander just
laughed.
"That was killed long ago," he said, "when my own son tried to kill
me!"
Using explosives, he then buried the freighter under the rubble of the
island's volcano. Some time later, Cobra troops found the buried
freighter
and they discovered that though there were many bodies inside, two
could
not be accounted for: Billy and Zartan. It
appeared that Billy had once
again cheated death. He and Zartan made their way to Scotland where
they
hoped to get Destro's help. They managed to arrive just as Cobra
Commander
was staging an attack on Castle Destro. The Joes were there as well,
expecting
trouble and trying to help Destro. Billy and Zartan managed rescuing
Destro
and Chuckles during the attack. After a
chase through various
countries,
they joined forces with the Joes, along with Storm Shadow and the new
G.I.
Joe Ninja Force team. Together they stopped Cobra Commander's plans.
Billy spent the
next few
years
traveling around the world, happy to avoid conflict and have some peace
for once in his life. He eventually found his way to Destro's new
castle
in the mountains of Trans-Carpathia, and spent some time there as
friends
with Destro, Zartan and the Baroness. Around the same time, Cobra
Commander
was taking control of the nation of Borovia. Though he know backed a
legitimate
government, he became worried that Destro, in nearby Trans-Carpathia,
was
a threat to him. Using Dr. Mindbender's
expertise and the Brain-Wave
Scanner,
the Commander managed to brainwash Destro, the Baroness, Zartan, Storm
Shadow and Billy. He now had the original "high command" of Cobra back
in power, albeit against their will. Billy, too, joined them under his
father's control. A short time later, the G.I. Joe team was team was
disbanded
by the U.S. military. Soon afterward, Cobra forces fell to a unified
attack
by regular military forces. Most of Cobra's "high command" disappeared
in the wake of the conflict, as did Billy. In the years following,
Billy
broke free of his father's influence, though he remained emotionally
scarred
from his brainwashing.
In 2001,
Billy was using the name William
Kessler
and living in Scotland when the reinstated G.I. Joe team enlisted his
aid
to help rescue Snake-Eyes and Scarlett, who had been captured by a
revived
Cobra. A short time later, William requested membership (officially or
unofficially) from the Joes, vowing to help stop his father. Some time
later, William received word from Storm Shadow that he needed
Snake-Eyes'
help to make the final break from Cobra Commander's mind control and he
headed to the commando's cabin to ask for his help. By the time
Snake-Eyes,
Kamakura and Billy reached their fellow ninja, he had again been
subjected
to the Brain-wave Scanner by Cobra Commander himself. A fight followed,
but in the end, Storm Shadow chose to return to the Commander's side.
Months later, Storm Shadow had
finally broken
free of the Commander's mind control and headed to Japan to distance
himself from his past and embrace the Arashikage traditions once again.
Billy reunited with his old mentor, who now trained a young woman,
Junko Akita, as his new apprentice. She and Storm Shadow also became
lovers. When Junko was kidnapped by the Red Ninjas, Billy and Jinx
helped Tommy discover Junko had been taken to the Red Ninja's retreat
in Tibet. Along with Budo, Snake-Eyes and Kamakura,
the ninjas made
their way to Tibet and found that Junko had been brainwashed by the
evil ninja Sei Tin. After a brutal battle with the Red Ninjas, Billy
and the others could not stop the disturbed Junko from leaping to her
death into a ravine inside the cave retreat. The surviving Red Ninjas
pledged their loyalty to Snake-Eyes once again, as they had months
earlier when he was declared their new leader. Days later, a ceremony
was held in the mountains honoring those who had died in the battle. It
was there that Snake-Eyes turn leadership of the Red Ninjas over to
Billy. The last remaining ninjas resolved to become the foundation of
the new Arashikage clan, and Billy pledged
to carry on their traditions.