Issue 1: "Bang and Blame, Part One"

“……………We now join foreign correspondent, Kim Yale, live on the steps of the Capital building in Qurac. Kim?”

“ Thank you, Tom. Just hours after gaining independence today, Qurac’s newly elected President, Sayid Marlo, presented Secretary-General Kefir Josam with a resolution requesting membership in the United Nations.” The news report cut from reporter Yale to a video clip of the Secretary-General addressing the newly sworn in Parliament. “I will be honored to pass on your request to the Security Council, which I am sure will recommend it unanimously to the General Assembly” Secretary-General Josam said.

“The Parliament was sworn in early Monday morning.” Kim Yale continued, “More than 120,000 people celebrated the birth of the world's newest nation at a massive ceremony on the outskirts of Ostrander, which is the capital of Middle Eastern Qurac.” The video feed went back to the Secretary-General’s speech.

“Membership of the United Nations is open to any country that accepts the obligations specified in the organization's Charter and supports its mission.” Kefir Josam announced.
“Having seen the extraordinary support you received from so many nations around the world at last night's festivities, I do not anticipate any obstacle to your membership.”

“President Marlo officially inaugurated the new government, which is comprised primarily of the same cabinet members that made up the pre-independence Council of Ministers. Some 300 dignitaries attended the ceremonies, including representatives from the nations of Markovia and Bialya, among others. The nation of Qurac is located on the Southwest border of the Persian Gulf and faces Iran across from the Gulf. It is also bordered by Kuwait, which is to the North.” Kim Yale paused as she walked down the steps of the Capital building. “Qurac is now officially recognized as a country since announcing its intention to separate from Saudi Arabia almost two years ago, after years of civil war. Saudi Arabia has long held a strong anti-US policy and has been a major sponsor of terrorism directed against the west. President Marlo stated that the United Nations membership request was the next step in repairing the wounds the Middle East has inflicted on the world…………”

The man sitting in his office turned off the television in front of him. He picked up the phone and dialed a number. After one ring, someone on the other end picked up. “It’s time.”

Belle Reve, Super Maximum Security Prison,
The office of Amanda Waller

Amanda Waller was tired and when she was tired, she missed her husband and children the most. It had been six months since she had gotten the approval by President Lord to start up the Suicide Squad. It had been six months of trying to make a difference with her life and the lives of the people she now surrounded herself with. One of those people was the man sitting across from her, Benjamin Turner, otherwise known as The Bronze Tiger. He was her choice for mission's leader, not Rick Flagg. Flagg was Eilings choice. Flagg was a military man and Eiling wasn't going to take the idea of the Squad to the President without a proven missions leader as the front man. Amanda didn't like it but she knew she had to make compromises to get this off the ground. She disliked Flagg but he had gotten the job done so far. She knew it was only a matter of time before he slipped up or snapped. Amanda has seen it happen before to better men than Flagg and when it happened, Ben was going to take over and Eiling could go to hell for all she cared.

All of that may not matter if they had one more mission like one they had last week. They had gotten word that a super powered assassin was holed up in an old merchant marine base in Oran, Algeria. The Squad was sent in to find out whom he was working for and who he was assigned to assassinate. They knew he was targeting a world leader, but they didn’t have any inclination as to which one. Once they obtained the information they needed from him, he would be eliminated. The Suicide Squad failed on all counts after an unidentified assault team ambushed them. Mitch Shelly fought them off as the rest of the squad managed to escape before the building blew up. Mitch didn’t make it out in time but the assassin and assault team disappeared into the night. They were over powered and out manned from the beginning because they went in without the proper intel. It nearly caused the senseless deaths of the entire Squad in the process.

"How can the goddamn United States government know that he was holed up in Algeria but not know he had an entire squadron with him or know who he was in the first place!" Amanda exclaimed, breaking the silence and forcing Ben Turner to look up at her.

"So, no word from Eiling yet on who dropped the ball on their end?" Turner asked.

"No.” Amanda snorted. “He said the squad should have been able to ‘adapt’ to the situation regardless. He hasn’t returned any of my calls since I said I was sending Deadshot over there to deliver a message to him about how well we are able to ‘adapt’." She smirked. “Have we heard back from Shaw and Vixen yet?"

"No. They followed the trail from Algeria and are now in France, but they haven't reported anything in the last two days." Ben said, "Do you want the plug pulled on this one?"

"No, not yet." Waller paused, obviously frustrated. "We'll wait. In the meantime, we have other things to do. Do you have the list?"

"Yes." he motioned to the sheet of paper on the desk. “At the top is one Julian Day. AKA Calendar Man"

"Good." Waller stood up as she straightened the collar on her blouse and ran her hands down the front of her pants suit "Lets go make an offer to Mister Day."

Eve and Rick left Las Vegas the morning after their visit from Deadshot. They drove straight through until they reached the Colorado border. They stopped off at a small diner to grab an early dinner before they continued the drive back to Florence, Colorado and Belle Reve.

For a few brief moments on the drive back, Eve was able to pretend they were a normal couple that was on a normal drive back from a long weekend in Vegas. Of course there was nothing normal about her relationship with Colonel Richard Flagg Jr. She would barely even call it a relationship. Rick Flagg wasn't the type of person she would ever see herself with, but for the last couple of months, that’s exactly what had been happening. She didn't know why or how it happened; it just did. There were times like this when it wasn’t so bad. Other times, her guilt got the better of her, and she’d think about the last time she got too close to someone. She refused to let that happen again.

The sun had nearly set behind them as they drove east on Interstate 70. It was almost dark and Eve could feel the shadows as they began to awaken all around her. She sensed them, as they grew stronger, slowly stealing the daylight away as the night crept up all around them. The shadows gave her power and she thrived on them. At night she wasn't vulnerable. She didn't suffer from feelings of regret and self-doubt and she had a purpose.
Eve felt Rick’s hand as he took it off the steering wheel and gently stroked her hand.

“You didn’t have to come.” Rick announced bluntly, keeping his eyes on the road.

“Rick, you’ve told me that already” Eve whispered. There was an awkward moment of silence between them. “Well you sure know how to show a lady a good time” Eve chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. “Did you have fun?”

“Yeah it’s been too long…” He trailed off and she smiled at him.

“Well I am sure it will be even longer once we get back to Belle Reve and Waller gets a hold of us.” Eve replied.

“Waller won’t be mad at you. I’m the one who stormed off; you just followed me.” Rick snapped, pulling his hand away from Eve’s hand and placing it back on the steering wheel.

“Did Deadshot say why she sent him?” Eve asked. She noticed how quickly Rick shut down just as she’d started to get him to open up. She’d spent the last three and a half days with him and he didn’t open up to her once and she didn’t push him to.

“No.” He said. She noticed him gripping the steering wheel just a little too tightly. Eve knew Rick had a breaking point. She had been studying him since she joined the squad shortly after she did and she quickly learned that certain things could set him off without warning. The last mission nearly drove him over the edge. That’s why she agreed to go to Vegas with him for a few days. He needed to cool off and she felt she could use some time off as well. She’d begun to feel like a playing piece on a board game and was tired of getting pushed from square to square. Maybe that’s why she connected to Flagg easier then she should have. Their superiors were pushing them both around and it was getting tiresome. Rick kept it in check most of the time, but Eve wasn’t one to follow orders blindly. Outwardly it appeared that she did what she was told, but she never did it without questioning herself first. Eve had a breaking point as well, and once they got back she was damned certain that her concerns were going to be heard loud and clear. That meant even if she had to go over Waller’s head to do it.

As they neared Belle Reve, Eve leaned back in her seat and let the darkness embrace her. There were few things she could count on in her life. One was the darkness she reveled in. The other was the secrets and lies she’d sworn to maintain. Those were the things she couldn’t let go of even if she tried too.

Tom Tresser was a man consumed by justice. He was recruited to work for the C.B.I. (Central Bureau of Intelligence) right out of college. He was trying to follow in his older brothers footsteps that joined the same agency a few years earlier. His brother Craig tried to discourage Tom from following him but Tom didn't listen. He always wanted to make his brother proud. Although Tom wasn’t as talented or gifted as Craig, he played the same position on the varsity football team in high school. It never stopped him from doing his best. People around Tom thought he was being unfair to himself. They told him to follow his own dreams and pursue his own goals. His only goal was to be like Craig. Just before Craig went on an undercover mission, he made one last plea to his brother to get out of the agency before it was too late. Tom didn't listen and he wished his brother well. It was the last time Tom saw or heard from Craig again.

Craig had gone undercover to infiltrate a criminal syndicate called the Council, which was lead by a man only known as The Head. Craig’s handler had lost contact with him and they believed Craig had switched sides as was now working for the Council. Tom, not wanting to believe it, went in undercover to search for Craig. His cover was quickly blown. Tom was left for dead and all traces of his brother and the council were gone. Tom recovered and quit working for the C.B.I., but he was determined to never give up searching for his brother. He came close to uncovering the Council once, with the help of Batman. In the end, they pulled the plug on their operation and disappeared again.
Tom continued to do undercover work using the name Nemesis and honed his skills in disguise and espionage. He vowed to never use his given name again until he discovered the truth about his brother and the council. Currently, Tom works with the Suicide Squad under the direction of Amanda Waller.

Tom had been on his way back to Belle Reve when Sarge Steel called him and asked him to make a pit stop along the way. When Tom got there, he met with Steel who asked him to escort an unusual young lady with him back to Belle Reve. Tom asked Steel why he was taking her there. Steel explained to him that the girl wouldn’t talk to anyone. Nobody knew where she had been or what had happened. Steel thought that maybe someone at the prison could get her to talk.

The long drive back with his newfound silent partner was a little but it was almost over as Tom stopped outside of the gate at Belle Reve to show his ID. The guard at the gate waved Nemesis through. After Tom had gotten through the compound, he got out of the car and with his female companion in tow. He proceeded to head directly to Amanda Waller’s office. The sooner he dumped the girl on Waller, the sooner he could get some sleep. She was starting to creep him out.

There was an entire wing of the prison that contained living quarters for non-prisoners who were part of the mission’s team. One of the few who used them on a semi-regular basis was Floyd Lawton, also known as Deadshot. Deadshot was relaxing in one of the commons rooms when Nemesis came in.

"Lawton, you seen Waller around?" Nemesis asked.

"What do I look like to you?" Lawton retorted, not even looking up from his seat in front of the television.

“You look like a thug who has been a burden to society.” Nemesis said without hesitation. “Where's Waller? I have someone for her.” That got Floyd to look up and notice the young woman dressed in cut off jean shorts and a blue button down shirt that was tied off at her waist.

"Gee honey. How'd you get stuck with ole ‘Justice for all’ here?" Floyd said to the woman standing next to Nemesis.

"She hasn't spoken the entire time she’s been with me." Nemesis sighed.

"That how you get all your dates there Tommy boy?" Deadshot laughed. Just then Eve Eden and Rick Flagg walked in.

"Where's Waller." Rick said, not even noticing who was all in the room.

The woman who had been standing behind Nemesis turned and with a shocked look on her face finally spoke with a voice that was soft like a breeze blowing through tall grass. "Rick?" She whispered.

Rick looked over at her with an expression of disbelief himself at the sight of this beautiful white haired woman, "Dolphin?"

Deadshot suddenly seemed amused by the whole situation said, "Wow. The mute girl gets around more then I thought!"

"You know her?" Tom asked Rick.

"Yeah. We spent some time together on a team before I joined up here." Rick replied slowly walking towards the young woman. "But I haven't seen her since then. What are you doing here Dol?" Dolphin began to tremble as Rick reached out for her hand.

"Rick is that really you?" She choked back tears as she looked up at him. Rick took hold of her hand and she began to tremble out of control.

"Hey its ok." Rick said squeezing her hand and moving closer to her. Eve noticed something about Rick she hadn’t seen in him during the three days they were together. She saw gentleness as she watched the two of them embrace. Rick felt Dolphin pull away from him.

"No! No!" she began to scream. “You can't be Rick! I saw you...” Dolphin’s eyes rolled back and she collapsed onto the floor.
Amanda Waller had been heading towards the room when she heard all the commotion before she walked in. Rick leaned down to Dolphin and rolled her gently on her back.

“Get a med crew in here now!” He shouted.

"Well, this is interesting.” Amanda said, looking around the room. “Who's the passed out white chick?"

"She came back with me. Steel said there was someone who might get some answers from her here.” Nemesis explained. “I thought he meant you but I can see I was wrong.”

“Whatever. I am glad everyone's back.” Amanda said before she turned to walk out the door. She stopped and turned back to face the group. “Get this cleared up and meet me in the missions room in one hour.”

“I need to talk with you.” Tom said.

“So do I.” Eve Eden piped in.

"Well then you kids better start writing letters when you are a way from home. No time now. Missions room in one hour!" Amanda shook her head before exiting to room.

The mission’s room at Belle Reve was set up like a small auditorium. There were four rows of seats for thirty plus people and a small stage with a large digital viewing screen.
Rick Flagg sat in the front row with Eve Eden on his left and Bronze Tiger on his right.

“Rick, is your friend going to be alright? She’s kind of freaked out back there.” Eve said leaning over towards Rick.

“She was a team mate and yes she should be fine. They said she just fainted.” Rick answered her, not taking his eyes off the files in front of him.

“You had time to look this over?” Ben asked Rick.

“Yeah. Lets get this started.” Rick said as he and Bronze Tiger stood up and faced the small group that occupied the theater. Sitting in various seats in the first two rows were Deadshot, George Harkness a.k.a. Captain Boomerang, Enchantress, Resurrection Man, Larry Bolatinsky a.k.a. Bolt, Nemesis, Crystal Frost a.k.a. Killer Frost, and finally Angelo Bend a.k.a. Angle Man. Amanda Waller stepped through a door and walked over to where Ben and Rick were standing and faced the group.

“Ok. For anyone who doesn't know who I am, I am Amanda Waller and I run the Suicide Squad. You all have been briefed individually and have accepted the deal we offered you. So before we get to the mission brief does anyone have any questions?”

Crystal Frost spoke up. “Yeah I do. A few days ago after you guys came and offered me a chance to reduce my sentence by performing on some missions, I was taken up to the medical facility for some ‘so called tests’.”

“That’s correct. You were given a physical exam.” Amanda said to her.

“Then why was I sedated during the process?”

“Can I, Mrs. Waller?” Boomerang put on his Australian accent extra thick. He looked up to see Amanda snarling at him but chose to continue anyway. “It's not as kinky as it sounds you see. Someone escaped on the last mission. So they've inserted some safe guards to ensure it doesn't happen again!”

“Watch it, Boomerang.” Deadshot warned, leaning closer to Boomerang, who sitting next to him.

"Relax mate. Shouldn't the lil shelia know what she in for?" Boomerang asked, looking at Deadshot then back at Frost. "See my bloke, Deadshot was assigned to take out strays who wandered too far from sight on missions. He kind of acted like a dog leash." Deadshot slowly placed the muzzle of one of his wrist magnum on Boomerang’s thigh. Boomerang stopped and looked down at his situation. "I just thought she should know that you made a blue and have been pulled off guard duty.” He continued. “They have inserted small explosives inside the newbies that haven't proven themselves yet, and can be remote detonated if they try to screw up the mission or run."

"Boomer, that is enough!" Amanda said, her voice slightly elevated. "Or I will plant one of those explosives so far up your..."

"Well, at least the pressure is off my mate Floyd here, who has proven to not be such a dead shot after all." Boomerang sneered at Deadshot.

"Bang bang, Boomer butt." Deadshot said just before pulling the trigger and shooting Boomerang in the leg. Boomerang shot up out of his seat and fell to the floor screaming.

"Strewth! That bloody clacker shot me! He just shot me! I am going to kill you!" Boomerang lunged at Deadshot but was stopped by Rick Flagg.

"You had your shot. Now I took mine." Deadshot sat calmly in his chair.

"You went too far, Lawton!" Flagg said pointing his finger at him. “Someone get Captain big mouth out of here!” Captain Boomerang kept screaming as a couple of med-techs carried him out of the room.

“I will get you for this, Deadshot! No one makes Captain Boomerang out for a wanker and lives.”

“I've been living on borrowed time for quiet awhile. You get use to it.” Deadshot shrugged and shifted in his chair.

“No more stunts, Lawton. Not while your living on my time.” Amanda said as the rest of the room slowly calmed back down. “Back to the topic at hand. Yes. Anyone who hasn't proven themself has an explosive implanted in them that can be remote detonated at anytime be either Flagg or Ben Turner. So play nice and do your part. Afterwards you might have the option of staying on with the Squad once your sentence has been served. Any other questions?” Bolt, Angle Man, and Killer Frost all shook their heads no. “Good. Rick, continue.”

“There has been recently activity that suggests that a group of terrorists called Onslaught have a weapon in their possession. They are planning to use this weapon against the United States. Our mission is to go into the country of Qurac, immobilize the weapon, and anyone that’s gets in the way. We will hit them before they have a chance to leave the country." Rick Flagg explained.

"What kind of weapon do they have?" Mitch Shelly asked.

"We have no solid intelligence to that." Ben replied. “But we have to assume its something pretty big if it has Washington in an uproar.”

"Why not send in the military?" Bolt asked.

"Because." Amanda stated. "Onslaught has been recently touted as patriots who helped President Marlo gain independence from Saudi Arabia. It would cause a international incident if it appeared that America was trying to disrupt that."

"Hard to believe the rest of the world thinks they are heroes." Nemesis said, pointing to the pictures of Onslaught that appeared on the digital screen in front of them.

"True. But the rest of the world is celebrating them along with Marlo." Amanda said.

"What do we do with Marlo?" Eve asked.

"Asses what his involvement is in this. Nothing more." Amanda stated, pointing to each person sitting in front of her.

"You will get your specific assignments as well as complete dossiers on the individuals in Onslaught on the plane ride over. We fly out within the hour." Rick said as everyone began to stand up and head out. "I don't like this." Rick said as he stood next to Waller and Ben Turner. "Not after the last mission. Any word from Shaw or Vixen?"

"No. We tried to contact them earlier. Nothing." Ben whispered, looking away from Flagg.

"That’s not a good sign. We shouldn't have left them behind like that." Rick said shaking his head.

"They are doing their job. You go and do yours! We will talk about your recent behavior when you get back" Amanda said before walking out of the room.

Thirty-five minutes after the mission’s team left, Amanda Waller was sitting in her office when she got the call from John Economos in operations.

“Amanda you need to come down here. Now!” He said nervously over the phone.
“What is it? SS-1 is still in the air.”

“Just get down here.” He demanded before hanging up. That got Amanda’s attention. John was the warden at Belle Reve long before she came around. Now he had over taken the job of managing the operations crew for the Suicide Squad as well as remain the warden. She had known him long enough to know he didn’t get worked up easily. Something had him concerned. Amanda was standing in the communications room five minutes after she hung up the phone.

“The computer just started talking to us.” John nervously paced in front of the main computer terminal.

“What the hell is going on Flo?” Amanda asked the woman who was just sitting there, staring at a computer screen.

“It asked if someone was there.” She said timidly.

“What do you mean asked?” Amanda raised her eyebrows and glanced at John out of the corner of her eye. “Did the computer speak to you?”

Flo was unable to answer. Waller was her Aunt and she intimidated the hell out of Florence, so John spoke up. “Yes. A pop-up widow appeared with a message asking if was anyone there?”

“Then I heard a digital voice over the loud speaker asking the same question.” Flo said quickly.

“So who is it?” Amanda said now sounding very agitated.

“I don’t know, but they asked for you!” John was getting just as agitated as Amanda.

“What? That’s ridiculous! Murph, you told me this is a proprietary security system. No one can hack into it, right?” She looked over at Daniel Murphy, head of security.

“Well that’s what we….” Murphy began to say before the voice over the load speaker made them all jump a little.

“Hello, Amanda. Nice to meet you.” The digitalized voice echoed around the room. It sounded like the old child’s toy Speak-n-Spell and it creeped Amanda out.

“Who the hell is this?” Amanda yelled as she looked around the room.

“I am a friend.” The voice replied. “Well more like an ally. And you would be wise to treat me as such.”
The digital voice rubbed her the wrong way. She didn’t like not knowing who she was speaking with. “You better give me one good reason why I don’t send a virus right through this line and rip you a new one.” She screamed at the computer.

“Mark Shaw, Mari Macabe, and Susan Linden are in trouble. They may even be dead by now.” The voice continued, ignoring her threat. Amanda let that sink in. This wasn’t some punk who was messing around in their system. This could potentially be a real threat.

“OK. What do you want us to do?”

“Good. Now you know I am serious. They’ve been following someone for almost a week now and that person is aware of their every move. You may have a leak on the inside of your organization.”

“How do we know you’re not the leak asshole?” Murphy yelled

“Why would I come to you now if not to help?”

“Ok, so start helping.” Amanda said calmly motioning for Murphy to calm down as well. She knew the next minute would be critical if she was going to get any useful information from this guy.

“The Squad is being set-up. You need to call them back from their mission.”

“ I can’t do that.” Amanda sighed.

“Well then you better start looking real hard for your leak. I will get back with you soon. If you need me before then, have Flo leave me a message on your main server. I will find it.”

“And if we do that who should we address you as?” Amanda said.

“You can call me Oracle.”