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jamalgripperton46290 · 1 year

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Sweet Puddin' (Harley Quinn x The Joker)

Jamal Gripperton's Masterlist

A/N (if you haven't already read it go read it now then come back)

A/N - HAPPY KINKTOBER ONCE AGAIN PPLS! (we got lots of kinky stuff going on in this one). This fic contains spoilers for the Suicide Squad movie so if you haven't watched it yet and you want to, this is your sign to click off.

P.S -I have never read the comics or seen any other movie besides suicide squad and know nothing about the dc universe so this might not be that accurate or whatever, just a small heads up. Google also told me that The Joker's name is Jack Napier, so we're going with that.

(This chapter is dedicated to our second ever commenter, but the first on Wattpad, ow10306010. Maybe you'd read this on another bus trip someday, who knows?)

•••

Reading a book and sipping espresso was Harley Quinn, who was in her cell, which now had a bed. After defeating the Enchantress and the Enchantress 'brother with the 'Suicide Squad' aka Deadshot, herself, Katana, Killer Croc, El Diablo, Captain Boomerang and Colonel Rick Flag. The air in her cell was the same as before she'd gone with the others to "save the world" at the risk of their lives, under Amanda's command. Cold, stale and funky smelling. It was still deathly quiet as before, only the occasional whirring of her espresso machine tore through the deafening silence of her solitude.

So yeah, I guess you could say that her life was better than a couple months prior. There was at least something else to do except hang off the tattered cloth that was tied to the upper bars of her cell, or when that was taken away, mope around on the floor. It was lonely, hell, it always was. Doesn't seem like that would change either considering she witnessed the helicopter her Puddin' was in blow up.

She was completely alone now, with no one that would care enough about her to have a single thought of her that wasn't negative after The Joker had passed. Flipping through the pages of her book as she read to take her mind off the loneliness she had and drinking a lot of espresso were her only ways to escape the burning in her heart.

Said burning was connected to the ticking time bomb, that once the whole thought of being lonely for the rest of her life and probably not ever escaping the literal and figurative prison she was in, would detonate on her already corrupted mind, thoughts and being. Erasing every one of the few faded memories she had left.

Just like what she did to The Joker.

"I did everything you said, I helped you!" Harleen spoke out breathlessly.

"Ah... you... helped me... by erasing my mind, what few. Faded. Memories I had?"

"No, you left me in a black hole of rage and confusion" The words fell off his tongue, laced in venom, spite and rage.

"Is that the medicine you practice? Doctor Quinzell?"

"What are you gonna do, you gonna kill me Mr. J?" Harleen had tried to hide her fear but failed as her tone and eyes gave her away.

"Oh, I'm not gonna kill ya, I'm just gonna hurt ya, really, really bad."

"You think so? Well, I can take it"

The Joker snapped the brown belt in his hands and placed it between her teeth.

"I wouldn't want you to break those perfect, porcelain capped teeth, when the juice... hits your brain." He whispered the last part and gripped the mysterious items in his hands.

Then, he pressed them to her temples.

The memory made the bile at the back of her throat even more sour as she pushed the thoughts back and tried to put her mind back to her book but unfortunately, failed to do so as more and more memories came rushing to her at full speed.

Nine huge, bubbling tubs of Ace Chemicals sat far below the platform Harleen and The Joker were stood on. Harleen stared at the tubs blankly as The Joker stood a few feet behind her. Smoke or steam, she couldn't tell, floated above the tubs, small lights encircled them as well.

"Question..." The Joker's voice spoke out from behind her. He never failed to make her weak, no matter how little or how much he did.

"Would you die... for me?" He walked a few steps closer to her, so did Harleen.

"Yes" Harleen replied almost immediately.

"That's too easy..." The joker paused to think for a second.

"Would you... Would you live for me?"

"Hmm?" He spoke again once she didn't reply for a few seconds.

"Yes"

"Careful, do not say this oath, thoughtlessly."

"Desire becomes surrender, surrender becomes power." The Joker continued in a hushed, whisper like tone.

"You want this?"

"I do" Harleen replied.

"Say it, say it, say it, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty..." He whispered.

"Please?" Harleen's tone was on the brink of begging.

"Oh God, you're so... good."

The Joker took a few steps back and Harleen's back was facing where the tubs were. She leaned back and begun falling, falling into the tub of bleach whit chemicals and to her probable demise. He stared over the edge after Harleen fell into the tub.

While walking over to the door, he paused, letting out a frustrated sound, he turned around and took off his jacket, walking over to the edge of the platform again and jumped off, into the tub. He pulled Harleen's body up to the surface and connected their lips in a searing kiss.

As he pulled away, Harleen gasped for air and The Joker started laughing maniacally.

Harley shook her head, as if clearing her head of all the other memories of him. Suddenly, the wall behind her had blown up and multiple armed people speedily walked in, shooting every guard in sight. After successfully breaking into her cell, a masked man walked towards her, Harley stood up from her bed and blandly stared at him as he took off his mask. Underneath the mask was The Joker.

"Puddin'!" Harley wrapped her arms around him joyfully.

Although she was confused how he was here and how he wasn't dead, when she watched him be blown up. Excitement still flooded her, he was here. Here in her arms, next to her. Living and breathing. Harley couldn't believe it.

"Let's go home" He drawled out.

The Joker scooped her up into his and carried her back to his car, placing her body onto the seat. Pressing his foot on the gas, the car's engine roared beneath them. As the pair speedily cruised through the pretty empty streets, The Joker grew more and more impatient, moving one of his hands to Harley's thigh, groping and kneading it as he drove.

The hunger that had bubbled through him the entire time the two had been separated festered in him, bubbling up like boiling soup on the stove. He couldn't just wait 'till he got home to pounce, but he had to. Pressing his foot even harder against the gas, a race against the clock until the insatiable hunger in him bubbled over, leaking all the emotions he'd been holding until he had Harley back in his arms.

God, he missed her. He could barely keep the already destructed little shards and pieces of his sanity together as he worked relentlessly to get her back in his arms. He missed her body, the amount of control he had on her and how he had her wrapped around his pinky finger. If he could, he would pull over right now and fuck her into an oblivion until she's a crying, squirming, overstimulated mess.

However, The Joker didn't want to just pull over and fuck her senseless on the side of the road in the confined space of his car. He wanted it to be in the comfort of his own home, behind closed doors and against a large, comfortable mattress in the plush, soft sheets of his bed. So, he pushed his desire for her away and continued driving.

Soon, the sun had gone and welcomed the cold embrace of the moon and night. The streetlights -which were now on- cast a warm glow below them, lighting up the roads and sidewalks.

After what had seemed like decades, they arrived at The Joker's house which was -obviously- much bigger than a normal house, a mansion if you will. He hastily parked the car and led her back to his room. Sinful thoughts flooded his mind even more every step they took closer to the comfortable, solitary confines of his room, Harley seemed to be thinking about things similar to what he was, judging by the rose tint that spread across her face and the sudden silence of her sly comments and small giggles.

Opening the door to The Joker's bedroom, Harley was pinned against the wall as The Joker's lips were smothered and slotted between her own. Teeth clashing and tongues sliding against each other, the lewd sounds of their lips meeting filled the room along with the occasional moan or groan. The kisses were full of desperation and lust, his hands were also full of desperation and lust as they aimlessly roamed Harley's body, groping the soft, fleshy skin.

"Take off those clothes, doll" Jack spoke slightly breathlessly after he pulled away from the kiss.

A grin grew on Harley's face as she peeled off her clothes while maintaining eye contact with him. Jack sat on the bed, hungry eyes devouring the sight before him as the tent in is pants grew larger. Slowly taking off the last of her clothes and tossing the garments somewhere, Harley innocently batted her lashes at him, her lip caught between her teeth.

"Come to daddy" Jack slurred as he took off his shirt.

Harley giggled at his words as she walked up to him. Jack motioned for her to get down on her knees, so she did. She looked up at him through her lashes, patiently waiting for him to say something.

"Show me how much you missed me" He whispered in a seductive tone.

After hearing those words fall from his lips, she began to unbuckle his belt and push his pants down. Beads of precum leaked out of his rosy tip, taking it into her mouth and paying special attention to the slit. Jack groaned at the feeling, tilting his head back as he'd remember the euphoric feeling of her lips wrapped around him.

Bobbing her head up and down, her saliva dripping down his length and pooling at the base. Harley gagged slightly once the tip deliciously hit the back of her throat. Groans slipped off Jack's lips as pleasure engulfed him like a warm blanket of ecstasy. He continued pushing her head down and fucking her throat as lewd sounds floated around the room. As Harley continued is cock twitched in the warm cavity of her mouth, just before shooting hot, sticky sperm down her throat.

"Go on, swallow it all" Jack growled, hazy eyes watching her as she did so.

A smirk grew on his face as he lifted her up and placed her on the bed, her back against the plush material. Slowly, he spread her legs apart and inched his face closer to her throbbing, dripping core. Harley let out a shaky breath as her eyes followed his, practically drowning in anticipation of what he was going to do.

Harley softly gasped at the sensation of Jack shamelessly spitting on her sex, her arousal mixing with his saliva. Still maintaining eye contact, he dragged his now flattened tongue from her weeping hole up to her throbbing clit, swirling his tongue around the sensitive bud. Her thighs twitched slightly at the feeling, soft whimpers escaping her throat as he sucked her clit.

As Harley's hips rolled and thighs twitched in pleasure as Jack tongue fucked her tight hole, he wrapped his arms around her thighs, forcing them apart and still as he worked his mouth quicker. Drawing out more moans and whimpers from Harley's soft, plump and swollen lips. (the ones on her face ya dirty dawg) Jack slurped, sucked and licked at her fluid leaking cunt, making her hips buck and her fingers grasping at the messy strands of his hair, tugging and pulling at them. As Jack continued eating her out, Harley un-knowingly tried to push his head away from her aching core, too engulfed in her pleasure to notice that she was.

"If you want me to eat you out 'till you cum then don't try to push me away" Jack mumbled against her pussy lips before delving right back in, tongue and all.

The more he worked her pussy, the closer she got. It was pure ecstasy, her eyes rolled to the back of her head as she clenched around his tongue, a symphony of moans and chanting of his name as if he was a god that was about to condemn her to the fiery pits of hell.

Jack groaned as her cum painted his tongue, his taste buds practically exploding from the taste, making sure to slurp up every drop of her delicious nectar. Pulling away from her wet core, her slick covered his lips and dripped down his chin. Jack then connected their lips together in a slow and sensual kiss, their tongues sliding and lips connecting and disconnecting. Harley pulled away and chuckled softly at the look in his eyes.

"Get on your hands and knees baby, you know how. Face down, ass up" Jack growled out with a grin on his face.

Harley did exactly as he said, her hands gripped the cozy sheets that lay beneath her, the same sheets that would soon be covered in bodily fluids. Jack grabbed his length, rubbing the tip against her increasingly wet folds before slamming all of it into her tight, warm hole which made her loudly moan. Placing his hands on her hips, Jack started thrusting his cock in and out her pussy. The lewd sounds of skin meeting, moans and the wet, squelching sounds of his dick pumping against her hole of fat and human flesh filled each and every corner and crevice of the room.

"Fuck yeah, take my cock like the slut you are" Jack groaned as he continued jack-hammering his appendage into her fleshy cunt.

Resting her cheek against the plush mattress, Harley moaned in response, unable to form words with the pleasure that surged through her. The ecstasy was almost blinding, more moans slid off her puffy lips as his tip brushed her cervix. Jack slowed down slightly and pulled out a small, sharp blade then dragged it across her soft, pale skin. The dark, crimson fluid leaking out the wound, a stark contrast to her porcelain skin. Harley whined at the sensation, pain and pleasure that molded and mixed together which felt strangely euphoric.

He continued to glide the blade across her prior unbroken skin, Harley's blood painted her back like an artistic mosaic painted by the hands of God himself. Licking up the crimson that flowed out of the fresh wounds, Jack groaned at the delectable taste, his thrusts speeding up as he chased his release. Sounds of pleasure erupted from her, moving her hips back as he thrusted into her.

"Uh huh, just like that, back up onto my cock" Jack growled into her ear, sending tingles down Harley's spine.

A soft giggle came from Harley, which quickly changed into a moan as he wrapped his hand around her neck. Still plunging his dick into her arousal-dripping hole, Jack sucked, licked and nibbled at the supple, sensitive flesh. Speeding up his thrusts, more moans, groans and whimpers came from the pair as they both inched closer to their release. More thrusts that deliciously hit her g-spot, choking, praises and sounds of pleasure later, the pair got closer and closer to their sweet release.

"That's right, cum all over my cock baby, all over it" Jack moaned out, his tip kissing her cervix.

Harley's pussy spasmed, fluttered and twitched around his cock, her moans growing louder as he sped up even more. His cock mouthwateringly filled her up as tears of pleasure rolled down her hot, red cheeks.

"Mhm, milk my fucking cock" Jack moaned as his hands gripped her hips like a vice.

He thrust his hips forward a few more times before emptying his load deep inside her. Euphoria, ecstasy and pleasure flowed through their veins, engulfing them in pure dopamine. Both of them were breathless as they lay next to each other on the blood and bodily fluid soaked sheets, just basking in the presence of each other now that they were finally back together.

•••

Word count: 2.8k

Sup lil chickadees? We are back again with another kinktober fic, feeding you lil birdees with your well deserved S M U T. Hope y'all liked this one as much as our other chapters and the chapters to come.

Also, if you wanna tell us any ship suggestions you can always just comment and the ask box will always be open.

Welp, see ya soon and remember kids, don't mistake sugar with salt when you're making cupcakes.

- Jamal Gripperton and BeezyBee <3

#harley quinn #the joker #harley x joker #smut

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ladyvillainous · 2 years

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Midway City: Some Kind of Suicide Squad

Inclusion of my OC Suzanna Walker AKA Fade into the Suicide Squad. She is a former colleague of Rick Flag, a childhood friend of Harley Quinn, a former member of the Joker's gang after his escape from Arkham and Harley’s transformation and now a member of the Task Force X team. She will also be getting up close and very personal with our favourite Aussie, Captain Boomerang.

Description

Follows the events of the 2016 movie after their bumpy arrival in Midway

Midway City Part 2 of 4

Warnings

I think every member of the Suicide Squad is a warning all by themselves but to be clear there will be violence, swearing, a complete lack of morals or ethics of any kind at times. Spoilers!

Word Count: 6354

After an exceptionally dramatic entrance to the city the group pulled themselves from the wreckage of the chopper miraculously unharmed, other than a few cuts and bruises, neither of the pilots had been as lucky.

Motioning them forward Rick barely gave anyone a second to process what had happened instead pressed them onto their target, there was a lot of ground to cover considering they’d landed much further away than intended.

Falling into step the task force was sandwiched firmly between Alpha and Bravo squad, despite the threat of the nanites Rick was taking no chances. He had every expectation of needing to use that deadly force sooner rather than later, expecting the whole lot of them to turn on him or run at the first opportunity presented.

Fade couldn’t help but wonder the same, while she’d been able to remove her device Waller and Rick knew damn well that threatening to pop Harley’s head would be just as effective. Despite having assured Rick, she still had his back, the way he was treating her suggested he didn’t exactly believe her or whatever was eating at him was affecting him more than she realised. If she was truly honest with herself, she wasn’t sure which way she’d go when it came down to it either. The man leading them was not the same man she’d known, without knowing why, it was difficult to trust him in return.

They were moving quickly but quietly through the abandoned streets, trying to make sense of what they were seeing. Rick had told them it was a terror attack, and they knew the city had been evacuated, but the stillness was chilling. Fade couldn’t help but wonder what the hell they were walking into when they turned a corner and discovered a downed but mostly intact troop carrier plane, its wings bent at strange angles in the middle of the street.

She stayed at Harley’s side, the foreboding air affecting even the blondes usually loud and exuberant personality, leaving her quiet and withdrawn.

Digger had been walking a short way in front of them by himself so when he sped up falling in line with Slipknot and leaning towards the man to talk quietly, Fade couldn’t help but wonder what he was up to. She struggled not to judge him for his choice of conversation partner, whatever they were talking about, she’d pretty much decided Digger was ok at this point but palling around with Slipknot was going to be a big red flag for her.

The two men slowed, Fade and the others walking past them as they crossed the road, a small frown on her face. Digger caught her eye shooting her a quick wink and a small smile that did nothing to assuage her suspicions.

As they entered the alley on the other side of the road, passing a downed fighter jet perched in the middle of the street as if it had always been there, a commotion broke out behind them.

Turning she watched as Digger and Slipknot pivoted flooring the soldiers nearest them with a roll of her eyes and a grunt of annoyance.

The soldiers at the head of the pack immediately converged on the rest of the task force, pointing guns in their faces, issuing orders to hold their position ensuring they didn’t take advantage of the sudden uproar.

The rear guard moved up to engage but Digger hadn’t apparently accounted for Katana’s presence, only managing to loose one boomerang from the depths of his jacket before she chased him down with her sword drawn.

Racing away from her with a comically terrified look on his face, she pinned him to the wall with her blade across his throat. Slipknot capitalised on the group’s distraction, firing one of his grappling hooks upwards flying up to land on the building above. Rick calling for the soldiers to hold their fire, the man didn’t make it to the next building before Rick denoted his nanite explosive. His body slammed into the neighbouring building before swinging back, a cautionary tale suspended between the buildings above them.

Fade couldn’t find it in her to be sorry, instead turning her attention back to Digger to see if Katana had slit his throat or not, surprised to see he’d surrendered remarkable quickly a look of disgust on his face as his eyes tracking Slipknots swinging body.

Rick was beyond pissed, his every movement screamed tension and fury as he rounded on the group as a whole, but his point had been made already no one else was going to make that mistake again this evening. Strolling away from the irate man Fade reached Digger as Katana released him in disgust when the criminal expressed an interest in her relationship status.

“So, you’ll just flirt with anyone? And here I thought I was special” She smirked at him, as Katana stalked away from them both refusing to even look at Fade.

Digger smirked at her slipping his weapon back into the depths of his coat and straightening it after the brief tussle, tugging his collar up around his neck.

“Well, ya don’ see me feelin anyone else up dya love?” he leered at her, falling into step at her side as Rick moved the group on.

Fade sniggered at the man shaking her head exasperatedly “So what was all that about anyway?”

“What dya mean?” he murmured looking at her with interest.

Fade raised an eyebrow at him “You seem like you might actually have your wits about you. I don’t buy that you seriously thought Flag would hesitate”

The man shrugged a glint in his eye as he answered “Nah but figured I’d check, getting rid of some dead weight in the process is just a bonus”

“What did Slipknot do to you?” Fade enquired intrigued, far as she was aware he’d only met the man an hour before.

“I done a lotta bad shit in me time” Digger sniffed, tucking his hands in his pockets, declaring quietly but forcefully “But I don’ hurt women… I mean not unless they ask nicely”

Fade was surprised at his assertion, a thief and a violent one at that but with some morals, who would have thought.

Catching up with Harley and Lawton as they trooped after their fearless leader, the latter dropped back to fall in line with them “Nice try and all, but think we need to deal with the problem in a more constructive way”

Digger snorted “Yeah and how do we do that then?”

Lawton nodded towards Harley who was talking in hushed tones with Diablo and Croc “Craziness has a friend on the outside”

Fade frowned “Mr J by any chance?”

“Yeah, he’s on his way” Lawton nodded “Don’t know when or where, just be ready”

Digger nodded with a grin but Fade scoffed “You can’t rely on the Joker for help, he’s coming for Harley end of sentence. The rest of us are dead weight” She turned to Digger echoing his earlier words to impress her point on the man. He scowled at her but nodded, he’d never met the man but had heard stories, what Fade was saying seemed consistent.

“Harley said..” Lawton started but Fade shook her head at him “For all of Harley’s training sometimes she fails to see what’s right in front of her nose because she doesn’t want to. He’s only interested in what he wants and right now that’s Harley. Best not get in his way because he will not hesitate to cut through anyone, whatever she might say to the contrary”

“Weren’t you part of his gang?” Lawton asked confused “Surely he’d want you back too? Especially if you’re tight with Harley?”

That had Fade laughing out loud a grim look on her face as she responded, “Being tight with Harley is exactly why he wouldn’t want me around, how do you think I ended up in belle Reve in the first place? I wasn’t useful to him anymore so I was fucked I just didn’t see it quickly enough”

Rounding the next corner, they came to a halt behind Rick, eyeing a Jeep with a hole blasted clean through it leaving behind some sort of spikey black trial apprehensively. Whatever had done that was nothing any of them had ever seen before. GQ called over the radio that there were people up ahead, Rick responding and following up quickly. The task force following behind at a more measured pace, none of them eager to get into what the hell was going on in this city. Though Fade wouldn’t mind a little action, the evening having been quite dull other than the chopper crash and Rick blowing up Slipknots head as far as she was concerned.

Entering a somewhat wider than usual alley they paused behind a car, watching Rick talking to the other soldiers but making no attempt to participate, they were just there to do as they were told after all not offer opinions or suggestions.

Digger lent his arms on the roof of the car, Lawton to one side Fade on the other, Harley approaching and leaning an elbow on Lawton’s shoulder between the two men. Lawton was watching with interest as Bravo squad ducked out into a much smaller alleyway to their right.

“Ey I like these odds mate, you just say the word” Digger muttered to Lawton, Croc stopping next to Fade who raised an eyebrow at him and moved closer to the Aussie, still not entirely sure what to make of the giant reptile. He looked just as likely to take a bite out of her as look at her but if he noticed her movement he didn’t react.

Gently cuffing Digger upside the head with her hand to attract his attention Fade hissed quietly to him “Forgotten about the bomb in your neck already shithead?”

The man shrugged at her offhandedly, Harley’s voice attracting her attention as she tried to push Lawton into making a move. Fade moved to caution her but noted the man didn’t seem to be having any of it, telling her to hold that thought and brushing her off, heading over to talk to Rick. Relieved that at least someone was thinking sensibly Fade frowned at Harley, a far too innocent “What?” tumbling from her lips. Harley enjoyed playing the dumb blonde, but Fade knew her too well for that, shaking her head at her, the woman at least had the decency to crack a shifty smile knowing she’d been caught.

Fade watched Lawton walk away, his attention caught on something or someone at the end of the alley, squinting in the dim light she couldn’t make out much but a few dark shapes. Suddenly, the figures started running towards the group, strange yowling sounds issuing from them, as more appeared from around the corner they hadn’t known were there.

Alpha squad opened fire Lawton following suit, gunfire ripping through the darkness taking down the figures who just kept multiplying.

Glancing at one another the group of criminals weren’t sure what to do, should they join in, hang back or take advantage of the situation. The distinctive crack and hiss of a can being popped open attracted Fade’s attention. Amused she watched as Digger started another beer, ducking down behind the car slightly and edging away towards the alleyway Bravo team had headed down moments earlier. Harley unholstered her gun, her bat cradled over her shoulder but made no move to help, simply waiting and assessing the situation. Fade followed suit, unclipping her side arms, and thumbing off the safety catches, just in case.

They were saved from deciding when several of the creatures or whatever they were managed to slip past the soldiers, sprinting towards them with weapons raised.

Harley was the first one in, gunning several down with an accuracy that people never expected from her. Croc moved around the car they’d been leaning on and engaged, no need for weapons he just piled in with his fists using brute strength to bring the creatures down.

Fade lingered still behind the car keeping an eye on Harley, but the woman was more than holding her own. Diablo sighed and walked away removing himself from the fight, Digger having now entered the alleyway watching the action with his beer in hand.

Fade heard a stifled complaint from the Aussie looking round to see one of the creatures had jumped down from the roof above him, knocking the beer out of his protesting hand. Checking once more that Harley was doing ok not that she had any real doubt, she moved to help him as several more creatures disengaged from the pack running straight for him. His attention diverted as he engaged with the one that had spilled his beer with boomerangs in hand.

Raising her guns Fade picked of the ones nearest to her, their strangely bubbling black heads shattering with each hit. She wasn’t as pin precision accurate as Lawton, but she didn’t specialise as a sniper in her former life because she wasn’t a decent shot.

Continuing to pick the creatures off, she sidestepped towards the alleyway half an eye on Digger as he used his boomerangs to slice into the first creature before whirling to decapitate a second and third that had appeared behind him.

It was difficult to keep track of the others in the chaos that had erupted around them between the gunfire shattering the previously still night, creatures screams rending the air, Crocs roars and the unmistakable sound of a bat hitting its mark created a cacophony of sound that assaulted the senses.

Reaching the alleyway Fade side stepped Digger as he took out the fourth creature that had tried to pin him to the wall, the man aware of her presence but expertly moving around her as if they’d been working together all their lives. Taking aim Fade squeezed off round after round, dropping the half a dozen running towards them from the next street over with practised ease. There was no sign of Bravo team, but Fade couldn’t help but wonder if they seen the last of them considering the creatures were spilling ceaselessly from the direction they’d headed.

Abruptly the noise stopped as quickly as it had started, the silence descending around them once more. Checking the alleyway with her guns still raised a flash of pink on the floor by her boot caught and held Fade’s gaze.

Holstering one of her firearms she stooped to retrieve the small pink plush unicorn, shocked to discover that was what she’d seen disappearing into Digger’s Pocket earlier.

Checking once more that the alleyway was cleared, she turned back to the man in question with a confused look on her face. When he saw what was in her hand he murmured “Pinky” softly almost reverently, plucking the toy carefully from her hand and tucking it safely back into his coat furtively.

“I have so many questions” Fade muttered, the confusion and disbelief colouring her tone and written all over her face.

The man shrugged but she noted he couldn’t quite meet her eyes and despite the gloom there was a definite pink tinge to the man’s complexion. Snorting out a quick laugh she strode past him back to the others declaring “You know what? I don’t want to know”

The distinct sound of a bat hitting tarmac cut through the sudden silence, Fade making her way over to her friend and finding her pulping one of the fallen creatures into dust “What are these things anyway?” she murmured staring at the thing in distaste.

She wasn’t the only one with questions turning as she heard GQ’s raised voice “The brief said terrorists, you wanna start explaining this?”

“The man’s got a point Flag, what aren’t you telling us? Fade agreed readily, GQ only looking slightly uncomfortable that the criminal was agreeing with him.

Rick rounded on her at once “Oh look she speaks! So now you’re interested in why we’re here, not like you’ve been paying attention up until this point is it Fade”

Holding up her hands in mock surrender Fade wandered away, conceding that she didn’t really care and didn’t need the drama. Hopping up onto the boot of the nearest car she dropped back onto the window her arms under her head, ankles crossed letting the arguing wash over her without any further comment.

It didn’t take long for the posturing to begin Harley wandering away to hop up next to her with a roll of her eyes “Men!” Fade just nodding. Thankfully it was over quickly though Fade did find herself slightly more interested when Rick squared up to Digger, the man held his ground looking far more intimidating than she’d given him credit for. Rick was just starting to look slightly concerned when Croc stepped up to him with a growl the man walking away quickly with a scowl on his face. With a quick glare at them all he growled “Get moving” pausing only to make sure they were following his command before heading into the alleyway Fade and Digger had cleared earlier, no doubt heading after Bravo unit.

Hopping off the car Fade looped an arm around Harley’s shoulder, the pair of them prancing after the men with a silly giggle, finding what levity they could under the strange circumstances they found themselves mired in.

***

It took them less than ten minutes to reach their destination meeting no more opposition along the way, they even had time for Harley to do a little shopping which Rick was none too thrilled about. He was even less thrilled that Fade found it amusing, demanding to know what the hell was wrong with them all. After Harley had departed after the others and her prize Fade fell into step next to him muttering “What exactly were you expecting?” he didn’t respond merely glaring at her and striding away, Fade shrugging at Lawton when he shot her a questioning look.

Their destination turned out to be the John F Ostrander Federal Building, Fade didn’t know who that was and didn’t much care all she knew was it was a huge black and glass skyscraper and that they had to get right to the top in order to find HVT1, who was apparently cowering in a vault up there.

For a moment she allowed herself to wonder who it was that was up there, but it passed, it was surprising how much she couldn’t’ bring herself to give a damn about these days. Harley had told her back at Arkham, while she was still the doctor and Fade the patient, that it was a trauma response to everything that had happened to her. To cope with the loss of control she simply stopped caring, Fade couldn’t deny it was somewhat freeing and a lot less stressful whatever the reason.

It made it easier to deal with the constant pissing contest going on between Rick and Lawton that was for sure. When the latter charged in headlong to the building accidentally smashing the glass door as he did so, she could tell Rick was annoyed having to chase after him. If the man could just get out of his own head for more than thirty seconds, he might actually realise Lawton was helping him but he was just too busy hating on the guy.

Following the others into the lobby she loitered by the security desk as they checked the feeds, losing track of Harley for less than a minute when the tell-tale ding of the elevator rang out catching everyone’s attention. The Blonde rising skyward with a little wave that had Fade laughing even as they all scrambled for the stairs.

It was a testament to how sweet and endearing the crazy woman could be, that when she strolled out of the elevator having taken out half a dozen creatures with a sugary “Hey guys… Come on, let’s go” that the men simply rolled their eyes and followed after her, both impressed and concerned at the same time.

Used to the woman’s antics Fade could only chuckle at their dumbstruck faces, Lawton in particular was looking somewhat smitten, but he’d have to watch that. The Joker would rip his head of if he knew the man had made eyes at his woman.

Making their way through the abandoned office space a warning came over the comms about movement and the next second they were being set upon by those same creatures, raining through the ceiling tiles above them.

Splitting up they moved in all direction’s bullets flying in the confined space, Digger was at a distinct disadvantage needing space for his weapons to be the most effective, but Fade was impressed that he was just as competent with close combat despatching several creatures in quick succession.

He was lucky however that Fade was nearby when a creature came flying towards him with a knife drawn because in the sudden chaos, he hadn’t seen it. He turned just as the creature leapt, knife bearing down on the man’s heart, or at least where it should be, but Fade got there quicker.

Slapping a hand down onto his shoulder she phased the pair of them, Digger’s assailant crashing through him and into the office behind via the glass door. Removing her hand from the Aussie he resolidified with a somewhat horrified squawk, Fade turning and putting a bullet in the creature’s head before it could rise.

“What the fuck did ya do ta me?” he shrieked eyes wide as he patted himself down as if concerned he might be missing vital parts of his anatomy.

Fade turned back to him with a grunt “I think you mean thank you” Before stalking away from him with her guns outstretched felling the creatures as she moved towards the other end of the office.

She heard Rick’s shout turning to see him disappear from view pulled to the floor as Lawton called out “They’re after Flag again”

“What do you mean again?” Fade hollered back confused, she probably ought to pay slightly more attention as it would seem she was missing vital information.

Lawton, Harley, Digger, Croc and Fade converged on the CO, Lawton shouting instructions to them as they protected him from the creatures.

Rick was shouting at them to let him go no doubt hating that the very criminals he was so disdainful of were saving his life yet again, if what Lawton had said was true.

Thankfully the experience wasn’t too emasculating for him as the majority of the creatures were dead or dying, Alpha team able to finish them off without any need for help from the task force. Which was just as well as the only one left to help them was Diablo and he was merely standing to one side watching, still refusing to engage.

That all changed when they reached the open area beyond the offices.

As they stepped out onto the walkways more of the creature appeared opposite and above them, raining gunfire down upon them the glass barriers doing little to protect them. Harley screamed, out of bullets she had no choice but to duck back into the office her hands over her head. Digger too hit the deck his weapons almost useless inside the building with no room to manoeuvre, leaving those with guns and ammunition to return fire.

“We have to pull back” Fade shouted at Rick, the man nodding and starting to push his team back into the office when Diablo stepped forward.

Fade knew his powers had something to do with fire, but she would never have expected to see it pour from his hands, racing towards the enemy and engulfing them. The heat from the flames was overwhelming the rest of them now cowering back onto the floor, cringing away from the extreme heat but it got the job done.

Once he pulled back, they dragged themselves off the floor most skirting round Diablo with shocked and horrified expressions, heading back into the office now the walkways were impassable, still aflame.

Harley of course launched herself at the man hugging him and depositing a swift kiss to his cheek, the woman was fearless. Though as Fade passed the man she felt no fear, his wrath hadn’t been directed towards them but outwards, the thought strangely comforting.

They ended up in the service stairwell climbing the remaining thirty floors in relative silence, each of them out of breath and tired by the time they reached the top, from both the climb and the fight. They were only too happy to sink into the chairs in the open area outside the VIP room, while Rick fetched their target out into the open, Alpha squad heading up to the roof.

Fade watched Rick disappear through the locked door noticing how he suddenly appeared nervous with curiosity, whoever it was they were extracting she had a feeling it was going to be interesting.

Dropping down onto the sofa behind her, effectively stealing her seat, Digger patted his lap invitingly, with a snort she curled herself into his chest uncaring what anyone else thought, dog tired and in need of some human contact.

If he was surprised by her acquiescence Digger didn’t show it, simply curling an arm around her back and hugging her to him his thumb rubbing gentle soothing circles onto the exposed skin at her waist her jacket and undershirt having ridden up slightly.

Fade stifled a yawn and snuggled deeper into his loose embrace, one hand coming up to wrap around his shoulder her face nuzzling into his neck, the man almost purring in response but covering it with a small cough that made her chuckle dryly.

She could smell the sweat and grime from the evening’s exertions clinging to his skin, but it was undercut with some unknown brand of musky cologne he was wearing, the lingering smell of beer and the undeniable scent of Digger himself, she was surprised to find it wasn’t at all unappealing.

She was so comfortable in fact that Fade’s eyelids were starting to droop when Rick re-entered the room proceeded by Lawton, who’d chased the man into the room impatiently. Digger started when Waller entered the room behind them, Fade snapping her head up and climbing off his lap fully awake and alert at the sight of her.

If anyone was in any doubt of the moral standing of the members of task force X after today’s events the arrival of Waller in their midst would have immediately reminded anyone why they were considered the bad guys. The group could not have looked more unfriendly and intimidating if they tried, moving as one towards their jailor like an angry snake poised to strike.

Rick was looking very uneasy at the sudden shift unaware that until this point, he’d been seeing the friendly side of the criminals, Katana’s hand falling to her sword at once. The only person that didn’t look concerned was Waller. Surrounded by a bunch of people who wanted you dead would intimidate most people, but this was her way of life and she never backed down from a fight.

Seeking to diffuse the tension Rick spoke up “Let’s go home” Fade almost pitied him, what a thoughtless thing to say to a group who were to be sent back to prison with only a few years lopped off their sentences.

Digger took immediate issue with his words talking softly but with a dangerous edge to his voice Fade hadn’t heard as yet, the tone sending a thrill of fear through her.

“Yeah, let’s go home that sounds good, you guys want to go home? Hmmm? Or do you want to go back to prison” he looked at the others his entire being radiating danger.

Harley eyed the woman in front of her declared menacingly “I’m not going back to prison”

“All I’m saying here is that we kill the pair of them before they kill us” Digger continued conversationally, Katana making to push past Waller at casually delivered threat but the woman held her back with a whispered “I got this”

Raising her hand to display the app that donates the bombs in their necks Waller waved it at them taunting them “You all made it this far, don’t go getting high spirited on me and ruining a good thing”

If looks could have killed the woman would have been six feet under, taking the win she barged past Croc making her way to the door to the roof, stopping short when Fade stepped into her path arms crossed over her chest staring her down. The women stared at each other tensely for a moment, Waller knew her nanite was out, the woman was counting on her not wanting to see Harley’s head pop. Her eyes darted sideways to Digger a calculated look on her face, Fade tracking the movement. Waller had noticed Fade cosily wrapped around Digger as she exited the vault, she suspected she could use him as leverage too. Rick coughed drawing Fade’s attention away from Waller her eyes flickering up to his, he said nothing, but his eyes were pleading with her. For the first time this evening she could see the man she used to know, the man that came to Belle Reve to recruit her into this nightmare, even arranging a new bed for her.

Silently he reminded her of the promise she made to have his back, and in that moment, she realised there were still things, still people she cared about. Rick being one, Harley another and maybe Digger and the others, newly acquainted as they were these situations had a way of bonding people together. Holding his gaze her jaw clenched tightly, she stepped sideways allowing the woman to pass without further impediment or comment.

The group followed Waller up the stairs a tense silence overcoming them, Fade wasn’t sure what had been said in the secure vault between Lawton and Rick, but the soldier looked rattled and the assassin disappointed. It was an interesting turnaround that no one would have predicted, though considering the two men had been circling one another all evening watching the other closely, they were almost bound to catch themselves out at some point.

The chopper was already hovering when they exited onto the roof, wind whipping violently around them, the roar of the rotors deafening, but it was just possible to hear Alpha teams repeated attempts to hail the vehicle, each going unanswered.

Anxiety bloomed deep in Fade’s gut, something wasn’t right, looking over to Rick she saw the same concern mirror on his face their eyes locking moments before he muttered “Our birds been jacked” as if confirming her thoughts.

Reaching hastily for his gun he screamed over the din “Light it up!”

Alpha team reacted instinctually opening fire, but they weren’t prepared for the automatic machine gun mounted on the back of the chopper. Scattering they leapt for cover, the task force hunkering down behind some metal ducts on the floor, as the soldiers continued to return fire.

The sound of the guns was thunderous, but even over the racket a single sound sliced through the air, a shudder cutting through Fade like a knife at the familiar yet terrifying manic cackling laugh of the Joker. It made every hair on her neck stand on end as she shuddered, eyes drawn to Harley who heard it too, pure joy lighting up her face, he’d come for her. Fade saw Lawton shaking his head trying to get her down, but Harley could only think of getting to him. Standing she stepped out, the covering gunfire arching widely creating a clear pathway for Harley to traverse.

“Harley don’t!” Fade called breaking through to her friend who rushed to her “Come on, he’s come for us” pulling her out into the centre of the roof.

Joker’s feverish joy at the sight of his queen dimmed when he saw Fade with her, a cruel nasty look flashing across his face that Harley missed.

“Not me Harley, he’s here for you” Fade informed her with a shake of her head.

“What?” Harley shrieked over the noise confused “No of course for you too, you’re with us. Come on”

She tried to tug her along with her, but Fade dug her heels in pulling her hand from Harley’s, still shaking her head, eyes locked on the Joker.

Frustrated the Blonde rounded on her “Come on we have to go! I know you think he’s mad with you, but he’ll forgive you, I know he will. He’ll do it for me”

Fade laughed mirthlessly at the comment “I’ve not done anything to be forgiven for, I never betrayed him, he betrayed me”

Harley dismissed the notion completely “He wouldn’t do that you must have made a mistake”

Fade grabbed her friends’ hands beseeching her to listen to her even if she couldn’t believe it “He set me up. If you think it all the way through, you know it’s true!”

“No!” Harley shouted, eyes tearing momentarily before recovering herself and ripping her hands away “This is your last chance, we’ve got to go!”

Fade nodded sadly stepping back from her “Then go”

Harley’s face broke, torn between her friend and her love, turning towards the chopped Joker motioned for her to come to him. Unconsciously she leaned towards him, taking one step and then two like a moth drawn to a flame. Dropping down besides Lawton with a defeated broken sigh Fade chose not to watch her climb the steps or run towards the ledge, taking a flying leap onto the rope dangling from the chopper.

“Why didn’t you stop her?” Lawton asked her, but she could see in his face he already knew the answer.

Fade just laughed without humour “Speaks a man that’s never tried to stop Harley from doing exactly what she wants”

The gunfire stopped as the chopper rose freeing them from their hiding places, allowing them to stand turning as one to watch Harley cavorting on the rope. Laughing and waving to them from the rope she clung to, dangling fearlessly, high above the city a flaming building at her back, it was almost poetic.

Fade was disappointed, but not surprised that the woman had left them, at least she knew she was safe now Joker would see to that at least. Though safe was not a word usually associated with the clown prince of Gotham she knew he wouldn’t hurt Harley, he couldn’t. Fade recognised where many didn’t that Harley was the one with the power in their relationship, even if she couldn’t see it herself. The man had said it himself surrender becomes power and Harley had surrendered to him heart mind, body and soul.

Waller strode forward furious that Harley had managed to disarm her explosive and escape, calling for Deadshot she demanded he kill her immediately.

Fade looked round alarmed but he shook his head “She ain’t do shit to me”

Gritting her teeth Waller insisted she had a contract for him offering him the one thing he wouldn’t be able to refuse his freedom.

When Lawton paused considering her offer Fade shoved past him stepping towards Waller with a snarl “Over my dead body”

Waller unholstered her gun, aiming it directly at Fade’s forehead “That can be arranged” but the criminal just laughed stepping forward until the barrel was pressed against her flesh “Bullets don’t work on me remember”

Waller smiled the action strangely chilling “We’ve been developing neurotoxin laced bullets designed to kill not just incapacitate. Are you sure you want to test me? A Bullet to the brain is a messy way to die”

Eyes widening in horror Fade raised her eyes to Rick, the man having the decency to look ashamed but nodded, confirming the bullet were real. She knew Waller well enough to know the woman never bluffed and would go to any lengths to get what she wanted however extreme, so she was left with only two options. Either she died trying to protect her friend and then Harley would die anyway, or she stepped to one side saved herself and still Harley died, however this played out there was nothing she could do to prevent Harley’s death. Turning to Lawton she begged him silently not to do this, but he didn’t even hesitate nodding to Waller and striding across the roof.

Rick stepped forward to pull Fade away from Waller, pushing her back to the rest of the group, Digger reaching out to pull her behind him with a venomous glare directed at the soldier.

Unable to watch Fade dropped her head into her hands, flinching when the sound of a single shot rang out.

It was only when she heard Lawton say “I missed” that she turned around, the man walking towards her. Throwing her arms around him she whispered “Thank you” into his ear, a jerk of his head as he nodded the only response she received. That missed shot had cost him dearly, but he knew making that shot would have cost him everything.

The moment of relief was short lived, Fade should have known it wouldn’t have been that easy. Waller wasted no time in calling over the radio for the hijacked bird to brought down, five minutes later an affirmative response echoed across the roof, the callous announcement following that the joker and Harley Quinn were no more, bringing Fade to her knees.

The men watched her with watery eyes as she clutched the grating in front of her, there was nothing they could do for Harley now. Rick watched her hands twitching to comfort her as they had earlier, more affected by what had just transpired than he’d expected. Still, he walked away from his old friend, leaving the criminals that disgusted him so much to offer the comfort he could not, even as Katana lingered by her side a single hand squeezing her shoulder tightly.

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catspittle · 1 year

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Crane's Task Force X servitude headcanon masterpost.

[Hiiii since I finished my yearly rewatch of all of the animated Suicide Squad films, I figured this was about time.]

One of the few Squad members to not have a bomb implanted in his neck. Since there was never an official consensus on the roleplay server proper, I took it upon myself as an RP space moderator to lay down some ground rules. As such, that incarnation of Amanda Waller riffs off the 1980's edition, where she was first introduced. That Waller had other ways to manipulate people; in Crane's case, it was the threat of having him shipped to an even worse prison than Arkham or Belle Reve, one where they "cared" enough to forcibly sterilize minorities and the disabled [of which he is both.]

Of the members of his core Suicide Squad team alive at the time of the Anarky-led breakout [see my backstory doc for slightly more info on that], he got along with Katana, Thinker, Firefly, Killer Frost, and Deadshot the best, and has surprisingly attempted to remain in contact with those who were willing.

As mentioned previously, he respected Deadshot greatly. Also had kind of a crush on the guy?

Also bonded with The Fiddler [Isaac Bowin] before he was killed on mission, and Savant [Brian Durlin] before his sentence finished and he went back to working with the Birds of Prey. Bowin moreso because Crane has a soft spot for "naïve idiots". He was actually sad when Bowin died.

Typically not sent on physically strenuous missions towards the end of his 3-year tenure unless somebody really needed a Cantonese translator. Amanda picked him up knowing he was dying but because he'd been out of the public so long underestimated just how quickly his health turned for the worst.

Even then, his experimenting on himself over the years has given him a natural toxin immunity. Quite useful when you're shored up with a bunch of metahumans....and Captain Boomerang, whose cooking is enough to kill. Crane can digest just about anything at this point, but the real question is whether he's willing to.

Was pretty much only valued for his [canon] contortionist abilities and as a last-ditch field psychologist and therapist when Simon LaGrieve wasn't available. Unfortunately he's unreliable as hell unless he likes you, or simply is curious enough to nose around into your business.

Goaded Waller into blowing up Dollhouse/Matilda Mathis while on mission, despite proclaiming he tolerated the girl. This was really just for his own amusement, and to test which of them had bombs. He's just not a fan of hack surgeons.

Hates the TSA even more because of his Suicide Squad tenure. He was definitely one of the more "normal" people on the Squad, and thus flew public when his team had to split up. With the amount of metal in his body, Jonathan lights up like a Christmas tree under a body scanner.

Somehow became even more of a shameless asshole, only this time trading his body for intel and secrets instead of financial/personal security. Has this been an improvement? Who knows. He got pregnant twice, and actually of his own volition this time.

He'll never admit it, but he enjoyed being paid to maul people. Still considers himself very retired though, as he is pushing 70 [in his mid-60's currently] and actively dying. There's just no way he could have kept up with the physical demand of the job for much longer. His everything is kind of giving out.

Actually gained weight during his tenure, as opposed to further starving to death. It helped that Waller gave a shit about her more useful inmates' dietary requirements [i.e., he's mostly tube fed due to the scar tissue and general lack of teeth].

#OOC - the mun speaks #canon divergent au #[can you tell one of my major special interests is the Suicide Squad yet can you]#masterpost #Where there's smoke there's fire - HEADCANONS

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patchfowlr · 3 years

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Katana x Captain Boomerang playlist

Cuz I still can't believe they didn't make them canon yet.

#kaboom #Katana #katana dc #captain boomerang #George harkness #tatsu yamashiro #katana x captain boomerang #captain boomerang x katana #katana x boomerang #boomerang x katana #dceu #suicide squad #the suicide squad #ship playlist

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gellavonhamster · 3 years

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cold weapons

Suicide Squad (2016) || Captain Boomerang/Katana || post-canon

ao3 link eng || this was first written and published on ao3 in Russian in 2017 but I didn't attempt to translate it into English back then.

“So, what do you think of them?” Colonel Flag asks.

Tatsu puts the folder containing the rap sheet of Waylon Jones, better known as Killer Croc, on top of three other folders.

“They’re complicated,” she replies after giving it some thought.

The materials in these folders could have formed her first impression about the members of Task Force X – or, as Lawton has aptly put it, the Suicide Squad. Could have, but did not, because they were given their first task earlier than expected. Which is why she doesn’t say “villains” or “scoundrels” or “worst team imaginable” – her first impression of them was formed in combat, and then in an empty bar in Midway City where they all drank together thinking it may be the last drink in their lives. She remembers all of this and says ‘complicated’.

“Very tactful of you,” the colonel chuckles. Then again, what kind of colonel is he now – an unwashed shirt, black circles under the eyes. Just another guy struggling with a deluge of work, a hard-hearted boss, and a troubled relationship with his girlfriend. “But yeah, they definitely aren’t simple,” continues Rick Flag, one of her few friends in the country that will never become her home, and Tatsu cannot suppress a tired smile.

“You like them.”

“They’re… tolerable,” Rick admits, and takes another sip of coffee. Lately he seems to be living only on coffee and whiskey and the verb “must” and (so Tatsu supposes, although they don’t talk about that) the hope that June Moone, who still hasn’t fully recovered from all the horrors she’s been through, will be all right – and will stop isolating herself and avoiding him. These means for not letting yourself just fall down and never get up are far from being reliable, but Tatsu herself lives mostly on revenge and duty and, for that matter, whiskey as well, to a certain degree, so it’s not for her to judge. “Most of them, at least. All of them minus the Australian.”

“At least he’s a good fighter,” Tatsu points out. This is the only good thing she can say about Captain Boomerang with full confidence.

“He’s not cut out for teamwork.”

“When we were fighting the Enchantress, it didn’t look to me like that.”

She does not put much meaning into these words. It’s just that at some point Captain Boomerang saved her, and she saved him – and good thing they’re even, because the last thing she needs is to owe a favour to someone so incompatible with the very concept of duty. She could have said much about the man who tried to escape at the very beginning of the mission and got a teammate killed (and for some reason stood up for El Diablo when Harley Quinn lashed out at him at the bar, and for some reason came back before the battle after trying to desert), but the only thing she’s sure of is that he’s a fine weapon; she can confirm that, being a weapon herself. At the end of the day, that is all that’s required from him.

At the end of the day, that is all that’s required from her, too.

***

It is possible that what she said about Digger Harkness sticks in Rick’s memory, because when the need to comb the area arises during the next mission, he sends the two of them to search through the same building.

“If he gets up to something, do whatever you want to him. No one’s gonna weep for him,” he flings off. This is in the heat of the moment, of course – Boomerang almost got into a fight with Killer Croc on the helicopter over some nonsense. Or rather, it was Croc that almost got into a fight with Boomerang after the latter provoked him. Complicated.

“You heard that, darl?” Boomerang addresses her with a smile so wide as if he hasn’t heard the last remark. “I’m all yours.”

Tatsu looks the other way and pointedly takes her sword out of its sheath – not completely, just a little. No further comments follow, and they part company – Deadshot with Croc, Flag with his team of spec ops, Tatsu with Boomerang – and go on a recce.

In the basement, they discover something that looks like a laboratory – if a place so far from being sanitary may even be called one. All their hopes to move without making a sound crumble as soon as they enter the room: the floor is covered with broken glass. Those who ran the place must have escaped in haste and couldn’t take the entire stock of the serum with them, so they opted to destroy most of it. Tatsu’s attention is immediately drawn to the object on the table in the middle of the room – a metal container with tubes going from it to several smaller vessels. She heads straight for the table, shards crunching underfoot. Boomerang follows her, apparently kicking the largest shards on purpose so that they fly in all directions.

“Looks like a hooch still,” he comments, having come closer, and gives a whistle. “Whoa, fuck, is that blood?”

Compared to the first task of their squad, this one looks almost effortless. Two gangs, the members of one of which possess the formula of the serum that grants superpowers to those who take it. A gun battle, collateral damage, the entire district on lockdown. If a few people weren’t noticed literally floating through the sky, the police would have been handling this. But this is an emergency, which is why they’re here, and the flying gangsters aren’t flying anymore, for Lawton is an exceptionally good shot.

As it turns out, the serum that sparked the conflict is based on metahuman blood – hardly donated voluntarily.

“I’ll contact Colonel Flag,” says Tatsu, eyes locked on the bloodied tubes, and then someone grabs her by the neck.

For the first time in her life, she really has to fight blindly – because her enemy is invisible.

Later, when the dead bodies gradually become visible on the floor like an eerie animated movie, it turns out there were four of them. Before that, Tatsu manages to lose her sword, recapture it, almost choke when an invisible hand squeezes her neck, slash one of the attackers in half, and plunge the blade into another’s stomach. Boomerang takes care of the other two, knocking over the container in the process.

Tatsu is listening to the silence that came after the fight, wondering if any other invisible foes are lurking around the corner, when she feels that something is wrong. Something is wrong with her – she just can't figure out what. Sometimes it happens that one feels unwell but cannot determine what exactly the problem is – she is experiencing something similar now. Until she realizes: the mask. Until she looks up and makes eye contact with Captain Boomerang, who is staring at her and grinning.

“You lost anything, doll?” Harkness inquires innocently, with an emphasis on the last word, and his smile grows even wider and cockier.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit. The invisible man she fought hand to hand tore off her mask, and she didn’t even notice. But her partner, blast him, did – and picked it up.

“Give it back,” Tatsu demands, hand outstretched. She feels naked. In combat, during the mission, she is Katana, a single whole with her sword. A cold weapon. No one needs to see her face. Truly, if she was wearing only the mask and nothing else, she would have felt less exposed – all right, this is an overstatement, and she doesn’t even want to imagine such a situation. Meanwhile, Boomerang is in no hurry to return the mask.

“What did ya call me when that fucker was about to stab me?” he asks. Tatsu clenches the sword hilt. There is no telling how many enemies drunk on the magic serum are hiding in this house, and he’s dawdling. “You said…”

Damn it, what did she say? She saw one of the invisibles creeping up on him while he was fighting another – a bloodstain was floating through the air. She shouted…

“I said ‘George’”. Isn’t your name George Harkness?”

“You bet it is. It’s just weird. Most people don’t call me George, y’know.”

“How do they call you then?”

“Digger. Boomerang. Boomer. That Prick. All sorts of things, but never George. But you,” he winks, “can call me whatever ya want. I liked the way you say my name.”

“Give. Me. The mask.”

“And the magic word?”

“I will chop your hand off,” as a proof of her intentions, she puts the blade against his extended hand that is holding her mask. In fact, she would face no consequences for doing so. No one’s gonna weep for him.

Harkness makes a helpless gesture and hands her the mask.

“Can’t say no to you, luv.”

The mask helps her conceal her identity, but what is more important is that it helps her conceal needless emotions. Tatsu really hopes that her facial expression isn’t giving away that she’s ill at ease now. This is a weakness; weaknesses are not to be demonstrated. She feels deeply relieved when she puts the mask back on.

“Let’s get out of here,” she commands, turns around, and heads for the exit. Harkness trails behind.

“It ain’t fair, by the way. You know my real name, but I don’t know yours,” he muses. “Care to introduce yourself, eh?”

He asks the same question at least three times more before they return to Belle Reve, and each time she ignores him.

***

A week later, he still doesn’t know her name – but he learns something else.

They do away with the last members of the recent gang on the outskirts of the city. Both wretches have overused the unfortunate serum, in keeping with the best traditions of the clichéd movies about superheroes and supervillains that Hollywood keeps producing for some reason, even though it is more and more often possible to see nearly the same thing on the news. As a result, one of them got puffed up almost to the size of the creature that Superman died fighting, and the other couldn’t control the flames bursting from his mouth. He burned half of the shopping centre with customers, retail workers, and guards. With teenagers in the bowling alley on the second floor and children in the playroom on the first.

Santana… wouldn’t have approved.

Both problems eliminated, they leave: the firefighters and the cops will take it from here. Flag’s spec ops stay behind, because officially it is their victory; the general public shouldn’t know about the existence of Task Force X. Through backyards, they retreat in the direction of the abandoned construction site on the other side of the street; a car has been sent to pick them up there.

There is a workers’ trailer still standing by the construction pit. The door is not locked, and Rick, Deadshot, Croc, and Boomerang go inside. Jones’s arm is broken: his inhuman strength notwithstanding, he still was no match for his enemy – not the fire-breather, but the other one. Tatsu leaves them to figure out how to make a temporary sling, and wanders away. Not far from the trailer, a piece of tarpaulin stretched over the fence has come off, and she can see the building across the street. Tatsu sits down on the ground, puts her arms around her knees, and stares at the dandelions growing by the fence.

In her head, flames are raging.

She doesn’t look up, neither when she hears the footsteps approaching, nor when Harkness – and it is him, no one else in the Squad reeks of the mixture of booze and cologne like that – sits down next to her and cracks open a can of beer.

“You want some?” he nudges her. What extraordinary generosity. It is, however, perfectly possible that if she says yes, he’ll reply along the lines of “Well, then go and buy yourself some.”

“No,” Tatsu replies without looking and, after a short pause, adds, “Thank you.”

“Are you sure?”

With a sigh, she accepts the can from his hands, and takes a sip.

“This is disgusting,” she whispers, and takes another.

Harkness just snorts and opens another one. For a little while, they sit side by side in silence, drinking each from their own can, and study the wall opposite through the mesh of the fence – like out of a prison window. Old advertisements that are half torn off, graffiti, a writing proclaiming that life fucks us all – plenty of things to stare at to avoid looking the person next to you in the eye.

“So what the hell happened to ya?” Boomerang asks, and suddenly she could do with some serum for invisibility or, better yet, disappearing completely. Naturally, it is a fleeting impulse; she has no right to disappear. She has obligations – towards Flag, towards Waller. Towards herself.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? You zoned out, Flag shouted himself hoarse before you heard him. Like you were someplace else. Didn’t ya?”

Why do you need to know? Tatsu thinks. If she almost rushed headlong into the fire, it’s her own business. If it only seemed to her that someone was there, it’s her own business. If she’s going to see things that aren’t there for the rest of her life, it’s her own business. He shouldn't have spoken. There is something comforting about being silent together.

“Nah, you don’t have to say if you don’t wanna,” Boomerang assents, and takes another pull on his can. “I just thought that you, well. Might wanna talk to someone.”

And they fall silent again. Yet now Tatsu feels awkward, which makes her angry at herself. She’s not obliged to pour out her heart to anyone who shows something that looks like care.

This silence doesn’t make it any easier.

“I have… bad memories,” she finally says. Now it won’t be as awkward: she answered his question. It won’t be, right? “About a fire”.

Harkness nods, looking at her attentively.

“Someone you knew died, aye?”

“My children,” she hears herself say, and wishes to disappear again.

“Fuck,” Boomerang says, embarrassed, and – unbelievable – looks like he actually feels bad about starting this conversation. “I’m sorry, I… well, uh, I had no idea.”

“It’s okay,” Tatsu says mechanically. Nothing is okay: she can still see Yuki’s tear-stained face, still hear Reiko’s voice, she is still watching the flames run up the curtains that she and Maseo picked together, she is still breathing in the smoke and still cannot believe she deserves a gulp of fresh air. She should have saved them. All of them.

Boomerang looks at her incredulously but doesn’t say anything, and bit by bit, the silence that she doesn’t want to run from returns – the kind of silence in which one is not alone.

Then there are footsteps again, and Flag approaches them.

“There you are,” he says with relief as soon as he sees her. Rick does not let himself overstep the limits of formality – they’re on a mission, after all – but he has obviously been worried. At the sight of Harkness, he frowns warily. “You! Quit getting on her nerves.”

“Who’s gettin’ on her nerves, Colonel? I was just tryin’ to help,” Harkness protests. It appears Rick’s words have wounded him a little.

“He was,” Tatsu says. “It’s all under control, Colonel Flag.”

Flag shifts his gaze to her and then to Boomerang again, and nods.

“Okay. In any case… follow me. We’re leaving.”

Tatsu gives her unfinished beer to Boomerang.

“Don’t talk about this to anyone,” she tells him. This might be an order or a request; she doesn’t really know.

He nods, and she thinks absentmindedly: who would have thought this man knows how to make a solemn face.

“Thank you,” she says again, hoping that he understands that this is not just about the beer or his promise to keep his mouth shut.

***

After a few days, Tatsu comes to visit him. In prison.

Actually, she comes to visit all of them, of course. Not more than fifteen minutes alone with each of them – Waller wouldn’t allow more. This request seems to have surprised her, but Tatsu is certain that Waller is already picturing the new threads she can use to manipulate her special operations puppets. So it is possible that one day this decision will blow up in Tatsu’s face – or in the faces of all of them. But she cannot shake off the feeling that she must do this – so that someone except Rick, who is already dealing with a lot these days, would notice in time if the inmates are treated with undeserved cruelty. So that she knows what’s on their minds, because it is safer to fight side by side with the people whose line of thought she can understand at least roughly. So that there is some kind of variety in their lives between the missions.

This is why she visits all three of them. Killer Croc, who looks like he’s not surprised to see her in the slightest and doesn’t really seems to care that she came, but doesn’t have any issue with that either. Deadshot, who looks like he is surprised, but doesn’t seem to mind answering her questions when she notices a stack of letters in the corner and asks him how his daughter is doing. And Captain Boomerang, who, when she enters his cell, looks like he can’t figure out if he’s dreaming.

“Katana?” he frowns perplexedly. He’s stripped to his waist, so she can see a couple of fresh scars he brought back from the last mission, and he’s got a black eye – when Tatsu saw him last, he had not. Must have quarrelled with the guards again. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to see you.”

For a moment he seems not to understand what she just said. Then he breaks into a smile – or rather a grin, wide and pleased. Very pleased.

“Aha! Knew it would end up like this,” he pronounces in triumph.

“Like this?”

“You,” he looks like he’s just proven a theorem of immense complexity, “missed me.”

“I haven’t missed you, Captain.”

A very, very pleased grin.

“And still you’re here.”

“I visited Deadshot and Killer Croc earlier,” Tatsu says, and sees his facial expression change instantly. Not for long: the grin is quick to return, and she wouldn’t be able to tell right away that he’s disappointed.

“Did ya now? And how are our fellas doing? Better than me, I reckon?”

“So it would seem. Did you fight the guards?”

“Why do you care, gorgeous?”

Indeed, why does she? Most likely, he picked a fight himself – and got his just deserts.

“Make up your mind,” Tatsu says, “if you think that I missed you or that I don’t care.”

Harkness chuckles and really seems to ponder over this for a while.

“Beats me,” he concludes at last. “Care to throw some light on it?”

No, Tatsu thinks, I don’t get it myself and I’m not sure I want to.

Instead of answering, she comes closer to him – so close that she can smell his sweat – and studies his face. She has to look up to be able to do that, which must look comical. Then again, he’s hardly stupid enough to laugh at her height or anything else about her, especially when she’s armed and he is not.

“You lost a tooth. What happened?”

“Didn’t get along with one of the Wall’s watchdogs.”

“You could have tried not to look for trouble for a change,” all of a sudden, Tatsu realizes that she’s mad. Really mad at him. They might get dragged to another mission this instant; whether they like it or not, they have to be in good enough shape to protect the society that the most of them have to atone before at least partially. They shouldn’t spend their energy and health on nonsense. Black eyes and knocked-out teeth are nothing, but it mustn’t come to any of them being out of action when all of them are needed. All their powers, all their skills. All the anger they should rather aim at something other than the people who can just press a certain button at any point – and dispose of the wilful weapon.

Boomerang bares his teeth – not like Croc, of course, but still threateningly. He looks dangerous now – big, sturdy, more than a head taller than her. But he still isn’t more dangerous than her – and both of them are aware of that.

“And they could have tried,” he speaks through his teeth, “not to talk shit about my mother for a change. They wanna talk shit about me, they can knock themselves out. I’ve heard enough ‘bout myself, I don’t give a flying fuck about what else they gonna say. But they’d better leave my mother out of it.”

So that’s what it is. They have found a quick and easy way to infuriate the man who has “MUM” tattooed on his chest. In uneven letters, like a child's handwriting. Tatsu noticed that tattoo as soon as she came in but didn’t look too closely at it. Now she feels like she has the right to look, to let her gaze slip lower, at the ridiculous writing that heaves with each furious breath of his, and then to avert her eyes at once.

“They have power, and you have nothing,” she says. “Do you enjoy being their plaything?”

“Oh, so I’m a plaything, darl? And do I have much choice who to be now? In these four walls, and,” Boomerang points at his neck, at the place where a bomb is implanted under his skin, “with this crap in my neck?”

Tatsu looks up again, right him in the eye.

“You already know who you are,” she tells him. “You’re a weapon. Broken weapons get discarded. And you’re letting them break you.”

He stays silent, just looks at her in an odd manner, as if she’s speaking another language but he has a vague understanding of what she’s saying and doesn’t like what he just heard – because it is the truth.

Tatsu still doesn’t understand why she cares, and with each passing minute she has less and less desire to learn why.

“Also,” she continues, “if you call me ‘darl’ or ‘gorgeous’ one more time, you’re going to regret opening your mouth.”

“Yeah? And how should I call ya?”

“Katana.”

“What, and that’s all? Nah, we might be weapons,” and she probably ought to remind him that there is no ‘we’, but in this particular case he’s right. Perhaps that is why Tatsu feels drawn to all of them: they’re cut from the same cloth, “but we’re alive as well. So far. Seriously, what’s yer real name? You know mine.”

“I should not disclose that.”

“Oh, come on. Listen,” he breaks into a pleased grin again. Another theorem proven. “How about a deal? You tell me yer name, and I will try to keep my temper if anyone else decides to stir me up. What do ya think?”

“As if you’re going to keep your word.”

Boomerang makes a show of putting his hand over his heart.

“For you, ma’am… anything.”

For you. All at once, she recalls Rick’s words: do whatever you want to him. How many minutes of the visit she has already spent on this predictably fruitless conversation?

“My name is Tatsu Yamashiro,” she says, tired, and then he smiles – not the way he did before, but in a calmer and more sincere manner. Gratefully.

“George Harkness,” he offers her his hand with an earnest air. “Nice to meet ya.”

Tatsu hesitantly offers him hers. Her hand looks very small and fragile against his huge paw, and he must be thinking the same because the handshake comes out very careful. He could easily break her wrist. She could easily kill him with one hand afterwards. But he holds her hand gently in his warm, pleasantly calloused palm, and Tatsu hastens to take her hand away, because this is a mistake of an even worse kind than the time he saw her without the mask.

“So you promise not to fights the guards.”

“I promise to try,” Harkness assures, but he’s keeping one hand behind his back.

“Don’t cross your fingers,” Tatsu says sternly. Real mature.

With a sigh, Boomerang repeats his promise, this time holding his hands within her view.

“But I ain’t promisin’ not to call you gorgeous,” he declares in the end.

“You know my name now.”

“But you’re still gorgeous.”

“Time’s up!” shouts the guard outside the door, and Tatsu cannot help feeling relieved that she has to go. She doesn’t regret visiting him, but all of this is too strange and awkward, and both of them might be weapons, but her position is different from his, and it is better not to forget that.

“Can I do anything for you?” she asks him on parting.

“Well,” Boomerang smirks. “I don’t even know where to begin.”

“With something I would actually agree to do?”

“Come again. Will ya?” This time he isn’t flirting; this time she can feel his insecurity, even shyness. As if he doesn’t like to admit to himself that what she answers is really important to him.

“I’ll try,” she says cautiously. She’s not going to make any promises: she asked Waller about one time only. She doubts if she’ll be allowed to visit them again – to visit him again.

“Try,” Harkness repeats, as if weighing the word on his tongue. “This means no.”

“This means I’ll try,” Tatsu says firmly.

And she comes again in a week. And the week after next. And a week after that.

***

“Why didn’t you walk away in Midway City?” Tatsu asks him once. “When Rick broke the control panel. You left then; why did you return?”

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since the time Captain Boomerang dared to smart off Amanda Waller. Several successful missions, slightly more respectful attitude on his part – and his cell already bears a passing resemblance to a place for living, even if for living quite miserably. Now there is even a table, and a chair that she gets to sit on as guest privilege. Harkness is sitting on the floor opposite her. The question seems to catch him unawares, but only for a moment.

“Huh? Why did I return? Gotta live up to my name, that’s why. Have you ever thrown a boomerang, luv?”

I’m going to throw you somewhere one day, Tatsu thinks, yet without much irritation.

“And jokes aside?”

Boomerang attempts to feign an offended sigh.

“How do ya think? Plenty of options, all right. You gonna try to guess which one?”

Tatsu frowns.

“Is this a psychoanalysis session? Were you bitten by Harley Quinn?”

“Nah, Blondie didn’t bite me, I would’ve remembered. So don’t be jealous,” his voice gets playful again, and Tatsu stifles the urge to roll her eyes. “Lookie here… suppose I suddenly realized that I can’t leave you guys! ‘Cause you’re my mates. One for all, and so on. Don’t believe me?”

“You said something about plenty of options. What are the rest of them?”

He scratches his chin thoughtfully.

“We-e-ell… the second, ‘course, is that I wanted to save the world. Not that the world smiles upon me every bloody day, but I still wanna live! And for everyone an’ their mother to know that the bastards like us can also be heroes. Don’t you like being one of the good guys, eh, Tatsu?”

“I’m not ‘one of the good guys’”, Tatsu protests. “And it’s not me that we’re talking about. Any other options?”

“There was no point in leaving. That was still gonna be the end of the world, aye? So I’d rather meet it in battle and in good company than on the run. All the same it’ll be the end. There you go.”

He stops talking, and in the silence that falls Tatsu can hear the footsteps of the guards in the corridor. Once again she wonders what the duty attendants that monitor everything through the surveillance cameras think of their conversations. They must make for the strangest and most pointless reality show ever.

“The third one,” she says.

Boomerang looks a bit disappointed.

“Why?”

“Not the first one, because none of us meant anything to you then. You had just met us. And it didn’t seem like you were upset about letting Slipknot down,” Tatsu explains. She doesn’t intend to offend him – she’s just saying the truth. Once, he claimed it himself that they understand each other – here’s some understanding, he’s welcome. “Not the second one either, because you’re not stupid – no, stop smiling. You never believed that if people like us stop the Enchantress, someone would learn about that. Only the third option remains.”

Harkness nods slowly.

“Yeah,” he agrees, and his eyes turn pensive, abstracted, as if he is there again, in the night city frozen in anticipation of the apocalypse. As if he sees himself – and makes a choice once again. “And that’s what happened in the end, didn’t it?”

“So the third option, then?”

“So it is.”

But something in his face makes Tatsu think that he was hoping for a different answer.

***

Time flies; weeks and months go by. Tatsu spends them fighting, spilling someone else’s blood, occasionally drinking with Flag at a bar or in his apartment – a bachelor’s home again; reading books – most of the plots seem too naïve and unimaginative compared to what goes on in her life, and that is even for the best, and visiting the members of the Suicide Squad in Belle Reve. Some people go clubbing Friday evenings, and she goes to prison Friday afternoons.

“Don’t get attached to them,” Rick scolds her.

“That is rich coming from you,” Tatsu replies, and he has enough self-awareness not to argue. Lest he gets offended, she chooses not to tell him that sometimes she and Lawton talk a little about him good-naturedly behind his back.

During one of her visits, Harkness raises a topic she has totally forgotten about.

“Hey, come to think of it, we never had that drink,” he points out. Tatsu doesn’t understand what he’s talking about, and it must be written all over her face, because he continues. “Remember I asked you out for a drink? In Midway City, before we fought the witch.”

Tatsu has to make an effort to remember: indeed, he said something of the sort, but it never occurred to her to take those words seriously.

“We had a drink,” she counters. “When… when you shared your beer with me.”

He shakes his head, dissatisfied.

“At the construction site? That’s bollocks. I’m talking a proper bar… nah, a restaurant! With crystal glasses an’ candles an’ shit… Like normal people.”

“Candles,” Tatsu mumbles. She tries to imagine the two of them at the table at a restaurant; the picture turns out pretty absurd. On the other hand, a lot of what has happened in her life during the past few years can be deemed absurd.

“Yeah. Candles,” echoes Harkness, and continues with a crooked smile, “well, that’s me jokin’ around. In the near future,” he gestures in the direction of the small barred window of his cell, “I won’t be able to take you even to a fucking McDonald’s.”

They don’t talk about the hypothetical dinners at a restaurant anymore, but the absurd picture stays with Tatsu, who still feels somehow indebted to Boomerang – for no reason, as she keeps telling herself – for that conversation at the construction site. She doesn’t like to feel the weight of unpaid debts on her shoulders – yes, that’s what it is about.

One day, she finds a way to pay that debt back.

***

She waits for him in the car outside the prison gate. She hears him first; she cannot make out what exactly he is yelling at the guards, but that surely isn’t ‘good evening’. Then the door of the jeep is open, and someone must have kicked him in the rear because he literally falls into the car. Tatsu shrinks back on instinct.

Then Harkness looks up – and notices her.

“Katana?.. Hey, what the hell’s going on? They didn’t let me take the boomerangs, didn’t let me take anything…”

“Close the door,” Tatsu tells him, and when he, still confused, obeys, tells the driver, “Let’s go.”

The car pulls away.

“I still don’t get what’s happening,” Harkness reminds her. “Sure, I’m happy to see ya, but… you weren’t ordered to take me to the woods and finish me off under the radar, huh?”

“If Waller wanted to get rid of you, she would have had you killed in your own cell, and that’s all.”

“Wow, thanks for honesty. So where are we going?”

“To a restaurant,” Tatsu says, and turns away. Yet again it crosses her mind that it is a terrible idea.

“A restaurant?” Harkness drawls quizzically.

“As far as I recall, you said that the beer at the construction site is ‘bollocks’.”

She should turn back to him, of course. The problem is that Tatsu is ninety-nine per cent sure that if she meets his eye now, she will blush. And she is by no means going to give him any sign that might be interpreted as taking an interest… of a certain kind. She has already blundered more than a few times.

Therefore she stubbornly keeps looking out of the window. Then again, she doesn’t even need to look to picture how his facial expression is changing now; she’s seen this rakish grin enough times.

“Holy cow. Tatsu, are you serious? We’re really just going to a restaurant? We’re getting outta this shithole where they only give us porridge with rat crap to gorge ourselves on lobsters and drink wine? Oh, fuck me sideways,” in the end, she turns to him and sees him throw back his head and burst into laughter, narrowing his eyes happily. “I’ll be damned! Am I dreaming? I must be dreaming. Pinch me.”

“I can assure you you’re not,” Tatsu says, and realizes that she is also starting to smile despite herself. She has visited him and the others in Belle Reve often enough to know that porridge with rat crap, unfortunately, is far from being just a figure of speech. After such a diet, a meal at a restaurant must seem like the pinnacle of happiness.

Boomerang shakes his head, apparently still unable to believe her.

“Holy fucking shit. How did you do that? How do you even do all that? I’ve told ya you’re unreal, have I?”

“Yes, you have,” Tatsu confirms patiently. And more than once – too often for her to attach great importance to it, too fervently for it not to please her at all. “Let’s put it that way: this is Waller paying me for a… favour.”

“A favour, then. I take it a lot of some poor suckers died?”

“No,” she shakes her head. And it is true – but there still was a lot of blood. Both the man Waller indicated and his bodyguards turned out to be worthy adversaries. The whole thing went not as smoothly as she wanted it to – not that she wanted to; not that she would kill another person she knows nothing about if she could help it. Nothing to assure her: this one deserves it. Everything turned out rather… nasty. She had to burn the bodies. Then she got home in a haze, tended to a couple of fresh wounds – or rather, just scratches. And then she went to the bathroom and spent a long time soaping herself, as if the invisible filth that bothered her the most could be washed off with shower gel.

Afterwards, she rummaged through her modest wardrobe and dug out the only dress she has about in America. Nothing special: wine red, below the knee length, sleeveless but with a pretty high neckline – very demure. The first and so far the last dress she bought after… after. If she and Rick didn’t have to accompany Amanda Waller to some event once, she wouldn’t have bought this one either. She put it on, combed her hair, still wet after the shower, with her fingers, looked at herself in the mirror – and flew into a rage, pulled off the dress, and could barely stop herself from tearing it to shreds. Restaurant or not, what does it matter? The last thing she needs is for him to think she dressed up for him.

So the situation might be a little less absurd than it could have been. Both of them look like they’re going on another mission with the others, only she isn’t wearing her mask – he has already seen her face anyway – and he isn’t wearing his ever-present coat. It is no wonder he wasn’t allowed to take it – Waller wasn’t going to let him out of Belle Reve armed, and to let him wear his coat would probably be as unwise as to hand him all his boomerangs. Tatsu has no doubt that everyone and their dog have already searched through the personal belongings of the Squad, but she wouldn’t be surprised to learn that somewhere in his inside pockets Harkness has as many boomerangs as he is listed as having officially. She witnessed this man produce from his bosom at least four different lighters, a massive stack of dollars, a pocket knife, small binoculars, flat-nose pliers, and a toy unicorn. She has to admit: sometimes she doesn’t understand how he even does all that either.

It appears that the thoughts of Captain Boomerang also turn to the contents of his pockets.

“Hey, how the hell are we affording this, though? Make no mistake, I’d stand treat, but my stash is in the coat, and these assholes didn’t let me take it, y’know.”

“Don’t worry about that. Waller is paying for everything,” she explains, unable to suppress a grin, because this part, possibly the most unbelievable part of the entire affair, gives her a sort of silly, spiteful joy. Task Force X is a comparatively recent project, but they’ve already cleaned up so much mess for Amanda Waller that Heracles and his labours don’t even come close. A dinner at a restaurant is the least thing she could offer them. So when Boomerang explodes with laughter and gives her a conspiratorial wink, she looks him right in the eye and smiles. Another mistake. Then again, this is not the first time they share a secret.

He puts his hand on her knee, and she shakes it off immediately; this is way too far.

“I see you took your sword with ya,” Harkness observes, not giving any sign that something didn’t go the way he wanted.

“I am to keep an eye on you.”

“Yeah. How about…” he leans in closer, and the smell of cologne blasts up Tatsu’s nose. She can only hope it is due to external use only, “we chop off his head,” he nods at the driver, “and drive the fuck away from this? Huh?”

The driver, who can definitely hear everything, doesn’t turn, but Tatsu notices him tense up.

“You’re kidding,” she says dryly. He may be, or he may be not – with Digger Harkness, one cannot always tell.

“Why kidding, doll? Zip, and done. There’s no way you enjoy working for Waller.”

“I do not. But if you pull some stunt,” Tatsu feels for the sword hilt, and Boomerang sees that – very well, it is good for him to see that, “I will chop your head off. I really hope it won’t come to that.”

“And what’s it to you? Scared of me? But I’m unarmed,” he claps himself on the chest demonstratively, implying that he has no weapons on him. “Why do you care if it does?”

“I just wouldn’t like to do that,” she says firmly, and it’s true. It works well; he doesn’t even mention running away for the remainder of the day.

This might be the strangest evening in her life.

Waller’s man drives them to a French restaurant whose name she cannot read but is almost sure that the phrase was chosen solely because it sounds impressive. They are let in through the back door, so no one among the other guests, who are sporting evening dresses and suits, pays any attention to her crop top and sword or to his… appearance in general. Their table is one of those located in alcoves, away from prying eyes, but Tatsu feels they are being watched. Which means Waller doesn’t trust her too much – well, she can understand that. She is part of a special team composed of deranged madmen, and she must admit she likes these deranged madmen more than she likes certain normal people known to her. Of course, she is Flag’s right-hand woman, but it is most likely that Waller doesn’t trust Flag either. It is doubtful whether there are any people in this world that she trusts at all.

Waller is rich. Their little feast will not shatter her wealth, all the more so since the restaurant she sent them to is not the most luxurious. But they still have a field day ordering loads of food and a bottle of the most expensive wine on the menu.

“To honour among thieves?” she suggests, when they raise their glasses for the first time.

“Didn’t ya say yer not a thief?”

“That is true,” she admits, and adds inwardly, I’m a killer.

In the end, they drink to the Suicide Squad. Then to Lawton and Jones, currently languishing in their cells. Then to Zoe Lawton, who is acting in a school play next week. To a lot of things. He asks her about her life here, in America. At some point she finds herself trying to explain to him what taiyaki is, and him telling her about banana sandwiches, and she can’t remember why they started talking about this at all. The bottle becomes empty, and another appears as if by itself.

They don’t talk about the past. They don’t talk about the future, because there might be no future at all – they can’t know for sure, what with their way of life. That evening, Tatsu laughs and thinks: good thing I’m drunk – it almost gets easier for a while.

When it’s time to leave, Harkness gets pig-headed.

“Whoa, no, no, no. Already? It’s too early, are you kiddin’ me?” he booms out when they exit the restaurant. He protests, but she drags him by the hand and he stumbles along after all, treading heavily like a dancing bear. “Let’s go someplace else, luv. Look at the pretty stars.”

“We are already late. And you… you have to go back to jail,” Tatsu tells him. The stars are pretty indeed, but she regrets looking up at them, because her head begins to spin. Thankfully, she isn’t wearing high heels. Thankfully, she doesn’t have any high-heeled shoes at all, or she could have been possessed to wear them. “Sorry,” she adds when they get into the car and set off. “There is no other way.”

“Back to jail,” Boomerang repeats with disgust. Sprawling on the seat, he unzips his hoodie, and Tatsu is swept over by the smell of cologne again. Weirdly, it doesn’t annoy her as much as at the beginning of the evening. “I’m a fucking Cinderella. I’m not back by midnight, they turn me into a pumpkin.”

“Cinderella,” Tatsu echoes, and giggles: everything is way funnier now. The driver makes a sudden turn, and she is literally thrown at Boomerang. Her cheek presses to his chest – and stays there. Tatsu feels drunk and sated and drunk again, and sleepy too, and he makes for a decent pillow, and she can’t make herself move away.

“Oh, you think it’s funny,” Harkness mutters with mock offence in his voice. It seems he’s about to fall asleep too. “Well, go on, laugh.”

They drive back in silence, and through the drowse Tatsu feels the warm arm around her waist and thinks: good thing I’m drunk, I can pretend I’m asleep.

The road to Belle Reve is long, but it still feels like they reach it too quickly.

“Inmate,” calls one of the guards, “get out.”

Harkness, his eyes still closed, moans with discontent.

“Captain Boomerang,” Tatsu says softly, freeing herself from his embrace. “It’s time.”

There is nothing to be done. He’s already about to step out of the jeep, when he suddenly moves closer to her again.

“Hey, darlin’,” he says, looking her right in the eye. “Aren’t ya forgetting something?”

It takes her some time to realize what he means: he must be expecting her to kiss him. All at once she remembers everything that has happened this evening, and awful shame washes over her: it is no wonder he’s expecting that to happen.

“Inmate, get out!”

She shrinks back.

“Good night, Captain,” she tells him as dryly as she can. He looks wounded but says nothing, and almost obediently lets the guards escort him back to his cell. Tatsu closes her eyes and rubs her temples wearily. Tomorrow she is going to regret drinking so much. She already does – and that’s not the only thing she regrets.

She has to stop seeing him.

***

At first, she even succeeds. Next Friday Tatsu, as always, goes to Belle Reve to see the Squad – all of them save for Harkness. She feels sick at heart because if she did promise him anything, it was to visit him, and now she’s going back on her word because of her own stupid weakness. But there is no other way.

“He asked about you,” Waylon tells her a week later, when she brings him the latest issue of Playboy. Tatsu almost doesn’t feel weird anymore when buying it, and doesn’t try to imagine anymore what the news stand clerks think when she pays them for it. Such periodicals cause her a feeling of light disgust, but Croc, who gets let out of jail only to be thrown into another trouble spot, deserves at least some small joys.

“Who?”

Waylon, no doubt observant like all the quiet ones tend to be, bares his impressive teeth.

“You know who.”

It seems a logical solution to give up on these visits at all – but in that case she would betray all of them. Perhaps this little tradition is much more important to her than it is to the prisoners, but Tatsu is almost sure that it means something to them as well. She has no right to deprive the rest of them of this bit of understanding, companionship, normalcy because she wasn’t smart enough to stop the game she and Boomerang started before it became too late.

At home – not that the apartment she’s renting here deserves to be called ‘home’ – she, unable to fall asleep, unsheathes the sword and runs the tips of her fingers along the cool blade. A tender, habitual movement – like touching the cheek of a loved one.

“I’ve lost my way, Maseo,” whispers Tatsu. The place where the souls of the people struck down by this blade are trapped is still a mystery to her, but she knows that Maseo will come as soon as she calls him – as a voice from afar, as nebulous shapes in the swirls of smoke, as the peace and safety granted by the presence of someone dear. “I’m afraid of my own heart.”

I know your heart, Tatsu. You have nothing to be afraid of.

“It makes me act rashly. Makes me succumb to false feelings.”

I know your heart, Tatsu, and it incapable of falsehood.

Only the ones that are already far away can speak so vaguely and with such unrelenting honesty at the same time.

“I will always love you,” she whispers ardently. Not because she doesn’t want him to think it is not so; not because she herself feels like it is not so anymore either. She knows for sure that she is always going to love him, for she loved him as a lover, as a husband, as the father of her children, as the only thing she had left after all her life fell apart, burned in that damned fire. He will stay in her heart until her last breath – even if she has to close her heart to the rest of the world. Once she used to think that after all she’s been through, it isn’t going to be an issue.

And I will always love you, her husband replies, and Tatsu blinks back tears with a deep sigh.

“I just wish you were alive,” she tells him for what must be the hundredth, or maybe a thousandth time.

If he was with her – not as smoke or a voice, but as flesh and blood – he probably would have kissed her gently on the nape of her neck, as he often used to do.

I just wish, says her husband – no, the soul of her husband, which is already rushing away, deep into the world she shouldn’t hurry to go to if she doesn’t want this sword to fall into wrong hands, that you were happy.

***

Literally the next day there is a message from Metropolis that some giant snake-like beast is terrorizing the city and devouring people. The monster was last seen crawling into the building of the opera – which is where their squad heads to after reaching the city.

“Look at that freak,” Harkness comments in a low voice. The creature is curled up slumbering on stage, and they are watching it from the catwalks above. “Not a family of yours by any chance, eh, ‘gator?’

Waylon steps towards him, and the planks creak under his feet, threatening to break.

“Say that again,” he growls.

Tatsu bares her sword and wedges herself between them. Waylon backs off reluctantly.

“Knock it off,” she tells Boomerang. It feels like everything has come full circle – the day Harkness picked up her mask, he also had a run-in with Jones. The day they were sent to fight the Enchantress, she also put the blade of her sword under his chin. Why did she even think something would change?

“Oh, so you’re talking to me after all?”

“Enough,” Tatsu hisses. She really wants to try to explain everything to him. Maybe if she tries to put her feelings into words, many things will become clear to her, too. But if he thinks they are going to discuss this now, he is mistaken.

On the neighbouring catwalk, Rick is looking at them in a rage, gesturing both of them to shut up. Harkness steps closer; now the blade of the Soultaker is within a hair’s breadth away from his neck. A single careless movement, and blood will be spilled. A wild idea crosses her mind: it looks as if he’s into this. Tatsu licks her lips.

“Y’know,” Boomerang begins, lowering his head a little so that it is easier for him to look her in the eye, “I think you’re scared of me. Or of yourself, hell if I know. Am I right?”

A loud rustle comes from beneath, and the next instant the monster bites through the middle of the catwalk they’re standing on, and both of them are falling down. Tatsu manages to grab some rope, but when she tries to climb it, her hands slip, and she comes tumbling down.

The fall is far from being soft, even though she falls on the tatters of the curtain, which the snake must have torn earlier. She is lucky not to hurt her head, but her left leg and hip are aching. Only the awareness that there is no time to lie around makes her summon up all her strength and get up. Her sword is nowhere to be seen, and Tatsu is overwhelmed by fury: now she is useless.

The snake roars and shakes its head, trying to shake off Croc, who is trying to bite through its scales. Rick is shooting at the monster from above, and Deadshot, who is already on stage somehow, is doing the same from below, dodging the blows of its tail. Tatsu sweeps her eyes weakly over the stage and suddenly notices a hole broken in it. At the very edge of the hole, the hilt of her sword is sticking out of the floor. Moving as quickly as it is possible to do that with a limp, Tatsu hurries there.

The moment she pulls the sword out of the stage, Harkness’s head pokes out of the hole. Not waiting for him to ask for help, Tatsu helps him get out.

“Are you…” both of them begin in unison and drop it immediately, because the snake has managed to shake off the bothersome little crocodile – who is hopefully just somewhere on the floor and not in its belly – and is moving towards them, slower than before but still pretty speedily. They scatter, and Tatsu charges at the monster with her sword drawn. Harkness throws a boomerang at the creature, aiming at its eye, but it dodges at the last second.

Eventually, with joint forces they manage to kill the beast. To be on the safe side, Lawton fires a round into its open jaws. The long body shudders one last time and falls still. For some time, the five of them stand there looking at it.

“Where could this thing even come from?” Rick mutters.

“Remember what the Wicked Witch of the West said when she tried to get us to join her? The world is changing, the time of magic has come, blah, blah, blah,” Lawton reminds him. Rick nods absentmindedly; these are not happy memories.

Jones kicks the dead snake.

“Maybe it meant no harm,” he points out in his deep voice.

“Croc,” Rick says wearily, “it ate people.”

“So did I.”

“But at least you didn’t chew the curtain at the opera like a disgraced diva?” Lawton asks, struggling not to grin.

“Nuh-uh.”

“Well, then it’s okay.”

Rick titters nervously, and the next instant all of them are shaking with laughter.

Tatsu is drinking water straight from the tap in the restroom, when Harkness comes in.

“This is a ladies’ room,” she says reflexively.

“Hey, I just wanna wash my face, is all.”

Without waiting for her to answer, he comes closer and starts washing at the neighbouring sink. Tatsu casts a sidelong look at him and notices that the water is turning red.

“Show me your face,” she orders.

“It’s not a bad face, what’s yer problem?”

“I’m serious.”

He rolls his eyes, but stands still while she examines his face, only wincing when she dabs at the cut on his forehead with a paper towel.

“Just a scratch,” he assures at once.

“Just a scratch,” Tatsu agrees. She scrunches up the towel and throws it into the sink. She would like to keep her hand on his face, pretending that she’s still wiping off the blood, but she’s done pretending.

“How about you?” Boomerang asks quietly.

“Fine. A couple of bruises. You were lucky today,” she says just as quietly, and takes off her mask. Tomorrow they might not be as lucky. “I’m happy for you.”

“And I’m happy you got out alive… darl.”

For a moment she wants him to ruin everything. To reply with a jibe, to crack another dirty joke, to try to grab and kiss her only to get smacked. Not to stand motionless in front of her like he’s afraid to scare her off. It occurred to her once that from the outside their relationship might look like an attempt to tame a wild animal. Perhaps this is a mutual process.

Do whatever you want to him.

She stands up on tiptoes and kisses him.

For an instant, Harkness freezes – possibly trying to figure out again if he’s dreaming – and then pulls her closer and kisses back. Drinks her hungrily, like this is both the first time and the last. Bearing in mind what their lives are like, it really might be the last.

Tatsu doesn’t immediately realize why she suddenly doesn’t need to stand on tiptoes anymore.

“Put me down–” she starts, but gives up and wraps her legs around his waist. Boomerang grunts with satisfaction and switches from her lips to her neck. His beard, fortunately, is softer than could have been expected.

“Stop drinking so much,” Tatsu breathes out, now that no one is trying to shut her mouth. “You taste like…” all English words slip her mind, “like… a beer cask.”

It tickles her when he laughs into her neck.

Someone simply must enter now – Rick, Floyd, Amanda Waller, the president of the United States, but no, no one is trying to stop him from squeezing her hips, to stop her from running her fingers through his hair. Weapon to weapon, blade to blade. Red-hot metal to red-hot metal. Melting until something new is forged – without fear, without regret, without the past, without the future.

Clearly, Maseo wants too much: she remembers what happiness is, and she is sure she’ll never ever be happy again.

But she can take a shot at being alive.

#suicide squad #katana #captain boomerang #tatsu yamashiro #digger harkness #kaboom #captain boomerang x katana #boomerang x katana #dc #my fic #gella talks skwad #talk talk talk #my magnum opus lmao #amazed i managed to translate this. i am not a woman i'm a god indeed #once again i still know nothing about the geography of the dceu!united states #and whether a city like metropolis could have an opera house

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