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#5
FEB 09 |
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“Team Work”
Ben Turner was used to working with the scum the American Justice system convicted of heinous crimes; after all he had been part of the Suicide Squad program for nearly two years now. All in all there were some bad people he worked with that tried their best and then there were those that made him want to tear their throats out. At this very moment he was relishing the very idea of having to hunt down the newest target of the Squad…Captain Boomerang. His muscles tensed under his costume as he stared at the slides shooting on the wall, he barely even heard Amanda Waller speak as she rattled off the list of activities their quarry had participated in over the last few months. Boomerang was a former member of the Squad and Waller wanted him brought in and brought down hard.
“Mr. Turner are you still with me?” Amanda bellowed out at the Bronze Tiger.
Ben sat up straight in his chair like a schoolboy caught talking in class by the teacher. “Yes ma’am, just focusing on the target.”
“Good, because I want no mistakes here people. Captain Boomerang may not look like much but he can be lucky and he can hurt you. Your plane leaves for Hong Kong in twenty minutes. Follow Tiger’s instructions to the letter and those of you with the fancy little bracelets around your wrists won’t have to learn to write with the other hand.”
Amanda gazed at the collection of criminals assembled on the team. They were an odd bunch to be certain. Ben Turner was still her field leader, as the Bronze Tiger he was a master of many forms of unarmed combat, having even beaten the Batman once before, a feat she doubted he could do again but he would give his all for the Squad. He followed orders, even those he didn’t like and, when necessary, came up with unique solutions to moral dilemmas the Squad often put him in; Amanda wanted no one else in his place.
Next, there was Tiger’s new second in command, Penny Dreadful. Penny had joined the team after her former boyfriend, DEO shadow figure and all around pain in Amanda’s ass, Director Bones, volunteered her for the program. Bones actually enlisted all the former members of his former Helix team and they had all died except Penny. He was looking for her to come running back to him with gratitude afterwards, but instead she snubbed the translucent bastard and joined the Squad full time. Amanda would have accepted her on merit of her growing power, which was to take any form of energy, absorb it, and redirect it at an even greater intensity. It just helped her case that she hated Bones as well.
Then there were the new recruits, the folks Amanda couldn’t trust as far as she could throw. It would be up to Tiger and Penny to keep them in line and hope they all made it back in one piece. Two men that should have been rotting away in cells somewhere but instead they were about to earn their freedom by taking part in two missions that could cost them their lives.
First there was Count Vertigo, a manic depressive that possessed the power to keep any man or woman down by causing disruption to the inner ear, thereby causing instant nausea if they moved, and their sense of balance also becomes so upset they are unable to stand. This was the Count’s second tour of duty with the Squad, having found himself in prison once again after he tried to take over the gangs of Bludhaven only to be defeated by the vigilante Nightwing.
Hyena was the fourth member of the new Squad, his real name was Hazem Saleh, but a case of lycanthrope had forever changed him into the ravenous dog-like beast that wished to feast on human flesh. He was currently serving three consecutive life sentences for cannibalism of a third grade class in Miami, Florida. Hyena let saliva constantly roll off his jaws as his eyes fluttered back and forth from Squad member to member. Amanda knew he was looking for his next meal.
Bronze Tiger stood and looked over the group. “Let’s go people, the target won’t wait forever.”
As the team left Amanda grabbed Tiger by the arm. “Ben I just wanted to say that when you find this guy…bust him in the face for me would you?” she said with a large grin.
Tiger smiled back at her. “With pleasure, Amanda; believe me when I say that Captain Boomerang has never felt the pain I’m about to put on him tomorrow.”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH,” Digger Harkness nearly screamed his lungs out as he raced down the streets of Hong Kong. He glanced over his shoulder to see if he was still being pursued by the gaggle of armed security that were protecting Suther Tech Communications CEO Lin Huang. The guards had foiled Harkness’ kidnapping attempt and were now giving chase. Boomerang stopped and threw one well-placed boomerang that exploded a parked car that sent the men flying. “Come after me and you’ll really have to earn yer pay, bitches!”
“Bloody ‘ell,” he gasped as he ducked down an alley to gain some privacy to change out of his Captain Boomerang uniform and into his civilian clothes. “These fellas just take their job way to serious.”
Boomerang finished changing and shoved his uniform into his duffel bag. He lit up a cigarette and exited the alley; in both directions the security team could be seen scouring the area. Boomerang waltzed past them and got away easily. He returned to his hotel room that he had shared with Floyd Lawton when they teamed together in Hong Kong earlier in the year.
As Digger flopped down on his bed he wondered what had happened to his life. He was at one time a major foe of Barry Allen, better known as the Flash. He was a member of the Rogues and fought with Flash nearly every other week on the streets of Central City.
After being sent up the river one too many times he found himself in Belle Reeve Correctional Institute, a prison known for being able to keep costumed criminals under lock and key. He joined up with the government sponsored Suicide Squad to reduce his sentence and gain his freedom. He saw a lot of blokes and sheilas bite it on missions with the Squad, but he had always made it through alive somehow.
After the Wall got thrown in prison for using super criminals in her unit, Harkness thought he was free of the bitch’s controlling demeanor, but she got released and started her own private Suicide Squad and he somehow wound up going along with that job too.
Thankfully, Wall’s Squad was short lived and Digger got to go back to a life of crime, except somehow now things were different.
He joined up with some of the old Rogues and was tricked by Neron into almost losing their souls; some colorful heroes helped them out there along with Wally West, the new Flash. Digger tried to feud with Wally like he had with Barry Allen but it just wasn’t the same. Maybe the game had passed him by; maybe he was getting too old for all the tomfoolery that he had been playing.
He had taken a job with Deadshot in Hong Kong to make some quick cash and finance a bigger plan to make him enough money to retire. The job went down without a hitch, but somehow Digger was outed as the assassin and had been ducking Hong Kong police all year. Now he was alone, trapped because his passport had his picture plastered all over it and he would be arrested on site and no one in the Hong Kong underworld would use him because of the notoriety the assassination gave him, even though Deadshot was the one who had really done all the work.
Boomerang sighed out loud. “Maybe it’s time for ol' Digger to just turn himself in and sit the rest of my days out in a cell.”
Suddenly the window to Boomerang’s hotel room exploded in a shower of glass. Digger covered his face and screamed in surprise. “What the hell is this!?”
On the floor in front of Boomerang stood the dark brown hairy creature known as Hyena. He sniffed the air and his tongue rolled out of his mouth as he spied Boomerang on the floor by the bed. A low howl emitted from the beast was Boomerang’s only warning of the beast’s next move.
Bronze Tiger stood with Penny on the roof across the street from Boomerang’s hotel. “What the hell is going on in there?” Tiger asked aloud.
“Maybe you underestimated this Captain Boomerang,” Penny replied. “Maybe Hyena has been housebroken by the Captain.”
Count Vertigo floated down to the roof next to Penny and cleared his throat to announce his return. “My dear lady, Digger Harkness is many things, a coward, a brigand, an utter waste of oxygen inhaling flesh, but I doubt he will ever be UNDERestimated. If anything is still left of the poor fool when we go in, I will be surprised.”
“Shut up, Werner,” Tiger said. “He’s had enough time, lets go downstairs, he should be making his way out the back in a minute.”
As the three Squad members reached the parking garage they saw the back door to the kitchen of Boomerang’s hotel fly open as Digger raced across the lot screaming for his life and carrying a duffel bag with Hyena in hot pursuit.
Tiger smiled and turned to Vertigo. “Go get him if you can.”
Count Vertigo’s smug look told both Tiger and Penny what he thought of the order but he took to the air in spite of it. As Boomerang raced towards the street, Count Vertigo swooped down on him to attack.
“Bloody’ ell! What’s this then?” Boomerang yelled in disbelief. He reached in to his bag and threw a red boomerang at Vertigo while barely looking. “Damn gallas need to learn who their betters are.”
Vertigo smiled and easily avoided the crimson boomerang as he readied himself to unleash his sickness inducing power over Harkness. Just then he realized how foolish he had been. Vertigo turned his head around to see the crimson boomerang fly back over his head releasing a red cloud of dust. Vertigo swore to himself and tried to fly away, but he had already inhaled a lungful of tear gas. As his eyes started watering and his nose started running, Vertigo couldn’t concentrate enough to get off the ground.
Harkness smiled to himself as he jumped into through a window to the seafood restaurant and raced through the patrons who stood agape at their evening’s meal intrusion. Boomerang almost laughed out loud as he thought of their boring lives they must lead.
Hyena trampled through the restaurant in pursuit, his nose still bleeding and his hair still burning from the first explosive boomerang that caught him in the face in the hotel room that enabled Boomerang to escape. At first he was going to do like the Bronze Tiger asked and subdue Boomerang, but now he would devour his liver and pancreas. And if Tiger didn’t like it then he would feast on his flesh as well.
Hyena turned the corner to the kitchen as people were running for cover. The smell of cooked fish, sauce and other odors filled the air and made it hard for him to keep Boomerang’s scent. He drifted towards the counter where several pieces of tuna were gutted and ready to be cleaned. Hyena’s tongue rolled out as the hunger over took him and he shoveled raw fish down his maw.
“Good stuff, eh?” Hyena heard Boomerang’s voice from the backdoor. “Go on and have a good eat ya bloody dingo!” Boomerang launched a blue boomerang at the stove, which was when Hyena smelled the gas. He dove for the window as the boomerang sent a spark off the iron stove, which in turn ignited the gas in the kitchen creating a fireball that engulfed the entire kitchen.
Digger rested a few blocks away from the fiery restaurant to catch his breath. A beautiful redhead in white spandex and a long trench coat walked past a fire hydrant towards him in the streetlight’s glow. “Mr. Harkness, perhaps you’d like to stop running around and talk to us?” she said.
Digger smiled wickedly and moved towards the shadows so he could reach into his bag unseen. “My dear, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to spend some quality time talking to you. Why I would even hazard a guess that after a minute or two of fine conversation you’ll be jumpin’ in the bonker frame with ol’Digger for some fun! What the hell, let’s skip the small talk and just fast forward to the part where I knock you out before we have sex.” Digger raised up his hand to throw a yellow Boomerang, but Penny unleashed a volt of electricity that destroyed it in his hand.
“Forget it, Harkness,” Penny said. “I can absorb any kind of energy you throw at me and return it in the form of electricity. There’s nothing you can throw at me that I can’t handle and I have enough electricity stored up to take you out tonight.”
Digger grabbed three more boomerangs out of his bag and let loose. “Sorry, Sheila, I don’t lay down for no one!” The boomerangs flew at Penny from three different angles; she jumped up and over the one at her kneecaps and fried the second in mid air with a bolt of electricity. As she landed she destroyed the third a mere yard from her face.
“Nice try, now its my turn.” As Penny spoke she powered up and then heard a blast behind her and felt a spray of water. “Oh no,” she said softly. The one boomerang she had dodged had blasted the fire hydrant off and she was sprayed by gallons of water. She looked down to the puddle collecting at her feet. “You bastard…” Penny felt herself jolting as her electricity mixed with the water. The resulting shock knocked her unconscious.
Digger laughed out loud and turned to make his escape. Suddenly a shadow moved to his left. “Going somewhere, Digger?” Tiger said from his hiding place.
Digger threw his hands out in search for a hug. “Ben Turner, you damn abo, give yer ol mate a hug!”
Tiger smiled. “The Wall wants you to come home, Boomerbutt.” Tiger punched Harkness so hard that he was out cold for four hours.
As Boomerang finally started to wake up he saw that he was on a small plane. Around him he saw army medics tending to burn wounds on Hyena, Vertigo was throwing up in a stainless steel basin, and Penny was still trying to get her hair to stop standing on end. “Strewth but that’s a good go round!” he yelled and hopped out of the chair. “Where’s that damn Wall at then? Let’s get this over with already!”
Bronze Tiger walked towards Boomerang with a look of disbelief on his face. “You almost sound happy to be here Harkness. I figured you would be crying the whole way back to the U.S. about not wanting any part of the Suicide Squad again.”
Boomerang started to change into his uniform from his duffel bag, smiling the whole time. “Are you kidding? That’s the most fun I’ve had in months! Besides, any chance to give Wall some more chances at having a stroke is what I live for nowadays. So Chief, what’s up first? We going after terrorists? Kobra? Them blokes in Afgany maybe?
Tiger smiled. “No, an old friend of ours has gotten a little out of hand. We need to put him down, once and for all and I thought you would be ideal for the mission.”
“Old friend, aye?” Digger furrowed his brow. “And who might that be then?”
“Deadshot.”
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The End...
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