which included Zartan, Baroness Anastasia DeCobray, Scottish arms dealer James McCullen Destro, and Australian mercenary Major Sebastian Bludd. This led to frequent power-struggles within the organization, and ultimately the Baroness and Major Bludd enacted a plot to assassinate the Commander, and seize control of Cobra. In a twist of fate, the conspirators recruited Billy to carry out the assassination, but he was intercepted by Destro. Cobra Commander had no qualms about torturing his own son to unearth the conspiracy, yet Billy refused to surrender who had sponsored the hit. Storm Shadow later freed Billy, and they both escaped to New York, where Storm Shadow trained him in ninjitsu. Billy was later caught in the crossfire between the Soft Master and Cobra agent Scrap-Iron, resulting in an explosion which seemingly killed Billy and several others. During a failed assault on the Pit, the secret headquarters of G.I. Joe, Cobra Commander and Destro were separated from the main Cobra force by an explosion and presumed dead. The two escaped and assumed civilian disguises to travel incognito. Cobra Commander was depicted as an average, physically fit Caucasian with a pony tail, large round green-spectacle sunglasses, and a long slender mustache. Although only a convenient disguise at the time, this civilian look would resurface on subsequent unmaskings. A police officer soon recognized the Commander from a picture carried by an accident victim: the Commander's son Billy, who had survived the explosion, but lost a leg and an eye. Unnerved by the discovery, the Commander swore to take responsibility for Billy's condition, and promised to be a better father. Still incognito, the Commander traveled to Denver where he sought out the undercover Crimson Guard agent Fred VII, a mechanical genius. Billy eventually awoke from the coma, with acute amnesia (and a new motorized prosthetic leg built by Fred). After an encounter with the Blind Master and Storm Shadow's cousin Jinx, Billy recovered his memory and immediately rejected his father, whereupon the Commander renounced the organization he had founded, declaring that his ambitions had cost him the only things that truly mattered. Fred VII, in return, shot Cobra Commander in the back, apparently killing him. Fred VII then impersonated the Commander himself, traveling to Cobra Island to vie for control of Cobra with Serpentor (eventually sparking the Cobra Civil War). Unknown to Fred VII, he had been under surveillance by another Crimson Guardsman when he buried