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Post by Romans Empire on Feb 21, 2007 22:57:06 GMT -5
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Post by Romans Empire on Feb 21, 2007 22:59:42 GMT -5
The Suicide Squad Issue 10:"Die Hard the Hunter, Part Two: "Run Silent Run Deep" Written by John Elbe Cover by Craig Cermak Edited by John Elbe
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Post by Romans Empire on Feb 21, 2007 23:01:26 GMT -5
Suicide Notes:
Previously in Suicide Squad #9…
Public defense attorney, Shawn Marcus, quickly found his life turned upside down when he turned over evidence on a former client. He was disgusted that the system allowed for the guilty to go without due punishment. The former client, a Chinese gang leader, had Shawn’s fiancé murdered and left him to take the fall for her death.
He went on the run where he met a man who convinced him to become part of an organization called the Manhunters, who battle to maintain order in a world full of chaos. After several months of training, Shawn Marcus took to the streets for the first time as a Manhunter.
Back in the present, Mark Shaw’s plans to blow up a warehouse with over a dozen members of the Manhunters cult were thwarted when another man struck him from behind, knocking him out. The man was revealed to be the infamous Paul Kirk, Manhunter.
How did Shawn Marcus become Mark Shaw? The tale that exposed the truth about the Manhunters continues…
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Post by Romans Empire on Feb 21, 2007 23:06:10 GMT -5
Belle Reve, Super Maximum Security Prison: The office of Valentina Vostok-
Val sat and stared at the computer screen in front her. She rubbed her eyes and tried to focus but found her mind wandering. She had come in early to fill out yet another report on the squads latest mission. There had been an international group that had decided to sell a new form of drugs to the highest bidder. The drugs turned ordinary people into super soldiers and the highest bidder ended up being a small South American country with a mad on for the United States. The Squad had been ordered to go in a secure the remaining drugs and take out anyone who had already consumed them. They faced down a virtual army of super freaks.
The Squad was successful on all counts but the entire incident had left a bad taste in Val’s mouth. Had it really come to this? Was the Squad nothing more then a watchdog who was let off its lease when a potential threat to American interests poked its head out of the sand? Or had it always been like this but it’s taken almost a year for her to realize it? She wondered if Waller ever had felt this way. Knowing Waller, she had counted on it, and found a way to use it to her advantage.
She looked down at her hands resting on the keyboard in front of her. They were shaking uncontrollably. The shakes usually didn’t start this early in the day. She reached over and opened the desk drawer. She pulled out a bottle and took two small pills from it and then put the bottle back in the drawer. She put the pills in her mouth and forced them down. The pills were becoming less effective but were necessary to counter her somewhat ‘unorthdox’ treatment she received to battle her cancer. Had the cure been worse then the disease? Only time would tell if the sacrifice she made had been worth it. And with each passing day it seemed as though that time was coming sooner then she had hoped. Just another thing she would have to deal with eventually but would have to wait for now. She had more immediate issues that were brought to her attention after the Squad returned home.
It seemed that Knockout disobeyed orders once again in the field and nearly blew the Squads cover before they could get back to the U.S. Knockout was growing restless and Val would have to find a way to calm her down somehow. That woman scared Val to death but she had been an important part of the Squads recent success of late. And they needed as many successful missions they could muster to keep the President from breathing down their necks. Christopher Smith was another unstable member of the missions team but as long as Lorraine Reilly stuck around to keep him calm, he would be fine. This was her Squad and she would find a way to keep it together.
Val had stopped worrying about being blackmailed into becoming the head of the Squad a while back. She grew to understand the necessity of the group but still found it hard from time to time with the sacrifices made to defend her adopted home here in America. She also wasn’t willing to allow Sarge Steel to bully her into risking her Squad anymore just because the President didn’t like to play nice with the kids down the street.
Her phone buzzed and she glanced up at the clock on the wall. “Speak of the devil.” She muttered as she picked up the phone.
A few minutes later the door to her office opened up and Sarge Steel walked in with a woman following closely behind him.
“Nice place you have here Val.” He spoke as Val stood up. “Nice to see what a billion dollars from Uncle Sam can get you these days. I take it the security is a little better this time around?”
“I’m sure you didn’t fly all this way just to discuss… home improvement and architecture I believe it was?”
Steel quickly looked at her and forced a smile as he sat down across from her. “No, but it’s nice to see that you picked out a nice shade blue for Waller’s… I mean your office. Matches your eyes.”
Val ignored Steel and glanced over at the woman who was staring at her. She looked familiar but she couldn’t quiet place from where. The pills she took had slowed the tremors a bit but not enough yet. She slowly crossed her arms before addressing Steel again. “Most of the more dangerous criminals were transferred back here a few months ago and they started bringing in some of the newer incarcerated prisoners over the last several weeks. We are nearly 100% operational again for the first time in six months since the incident.” *
* The ‘incident’ she’s referring to occurs in the upcoming Suicide Squad Annual #1.
“Good. I thought I smelled fresh meat when we were walking in. You’re going to need ‘em. I’ve have an agent out in the field who has been monitoring a situation out in California which appears to be a bigger problem then we had originally expected.”
Val shot a glance back over at the woman again, “And you are?”
“My name is Christine St. Clair and Steel here informs me you will provide a solution to our problem.”
Val was finally able to remember where she recognized the woman from. She was an ex-Interpol agent from a long time ago. What reason would Steel have for bringing her here? “And what would that problem be Miss St. Clair?”
“Manhunters.”
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Post by Romans Empire on Feb 21, 2007 23:07:21 GMT -5
The pounding in the back of his skull made it difficult for Mark Shaw to open his eyes. It made it even harder to focus once he did open them. After a few minutes he began to assess his current situation. He was seated upright in a chair with his feet and hands bound. It appeared that he was in a small motel room by his surroundings and his costume along with his mask and power baton were nowhere to be seen.
“You’re awake.” A voice spoke from behind him.
Mark instinctly attempted to pull his hands out from behind him but felt the rope tighten around his wrists and ankles. “Who the hell are you?” He growled.
The man walked around and crouched down in front of him. “Who I am isn’t important right now.”
“The hell it isn’t!” Mark shot back, “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
The man stood back up, “What I did, Mark Shaw, was stop you from making a big mistake.” The man said before turning a chair around and sitting in front of Shaw.
“Now what I need you to do is relax because we need to come to an understanding before I can untie you.”
Mark shot the man a stare and slowly began to recognize the man who sat in front of him. “You’re him, aren’t you? Paul Kirk? I thought you were dead?”
“I get that a lot.”
“Then what possible reason would you have to stop me from the once chance I had from destroying those bastards once and for all?”
“Because it isn’t that simple. If I would have known what you were attempting to do, I would have stopped you sooner and we could have avoided all of this.” Kirk said as he motioned his arms around him.
“Isn’t simple? I had them all in one place. The entire cult would have been blown to hell with one flick of the switch!” Mark gritted his teeth as the pain continued to throb in the back of his head.
“Like I said, it isn’t that simple. Do you think killing a few dozen agents would do anything? All that would do is drive the rest of them further underground, when we are so close to discovering what they are planning and who is truly behind them.”
“If you are who you claim to be then you already know what they are capable of and who’s behind them!”
“The so called, Grand Master? He was nothing more then a puppet just like you and I were at one point.”
“Well you better start explaining things here real quick. If that wasn’t all of them in that warehouse, who many more are there and where are they at?”
“How many? Somewhere in the thousands. Where are they? Everywhere from here in California all the way to Washington D.C.” Paul Kirk said shifting in his chair, “ This is much bigger then you know. So much more is at stake then just the two of us. They stole my life from me. You seem to be motivated by revenge because you were deceived into believing in the wrong thing.”
“Don’t you attempt to categorize my motivations! You don’t know a damn thing about me!”
“I know a lot more then you think…Shawn Marcus.”
“Do not speak that name.” Shaw growled as he again tugged at his restraints, “Shawn Marcus is dead.”
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Post by Romans Empire on Feb 21, 2007 23:08:48 GMT -5
Then:
It had been over five months since Shawn Marcus took to the streets as a Manhunter. His previous life was nothing more than a distant memory now. It was though the fog that had covered his eyes his entire life was lifted the first time he put on the uniform and the mask. He was focused and driven by justice. No longer shackled by a legal system that catered to the rich and powerful. Now, he hunted down those who thought they had escaped paying the price for their crimes. The Manhunters provided him with every resource he needed. Sometimes he would be contacted to perform specific tasks, the rest of the time he found his own prey to hunt, usually drug dealers, murderers, street scum that slipped under the radar. Other times he would hunt higher profile individuals who appeared untouchable.
That particular night he was after a costumed assassin who had killed a young woman and her daughter because a man with an upstanding reputation wanted to avoid a messy divorce when his wife discovered he was having an affair. The man had confessed to hiring the killer and was sentenced to life in prison, but the killer was never identified or apprehended.
Shawn had finally found the spineless coward who would take money to kill a woman and small child. He would not rest until he took the bastard down, for no man escapes the Manhunters!
He crouched on the rooftop and waited for the man to come out of the building across the street. The hired killer known only as the Stinger would usually only appear when he was on the job. Shawn had gotten word of a hit and the details of when and where it would happen. He would strike before Stinger was able to even reach the location of the hit.
It was when he heard footsteps behind him on the roof that he realized that he had been discovered. Without turning around, he lunged off the rooftop and landed hard on the pavement, two stories below.
He looked up to see Stinger land on top of him before he had time to react. Shawn rolled Stinger off of him and leapt to his feet.
“I considered offering you the professional courtesy of asking why you are stalking me before I killed you.” Stinger said as he quickly jumped to his feet. “But after seeing you up close I decided that you are not even in my league and deserve no such courtesy!”
“I am bringing you in tonight.” Manhunter spoke as he flicked the switch on his power baton.
Stinger stood about six feet in front of him and laughed. “Bringing me in? What are you, some kinda armature vigilante? Give me a freakin’ break!”
Mark began to move toward Stinger when he heard a voice from across the street yell, “Hey you two! Hands where I can see them!” Shawn looked over to see a female police officer moving toward them with her gun raised.
“Think fast hero. You only have time to choose one of us.” Stinger said as he flicked his wrist out and fired his weapon toward the officer.
Shawn jumped toward Stinger but it was too late. The woman went down fast and hard in the middle of the abandoned street. Stinger took off on foot around the corner of the building. Marcus looked over at the officer, as she lay flat on her back moaning. That meant that she was still alive and Stinger was getting away. He would tend to her after he took down Stinger. He ran down the side of the building and rounded the corner. He saw Stinger standing there waiting for him.
“Wrong choice hero!” Stinger yelled out as he flicked a small metallic ball the whizzed toward Manhunter. He went to dive out of the way but the ball exploded. He was propelled hard against the side of the building before he fell to the ground blacking out.
Shawn came to as the sounds of sirens were heard off in the distance. He had no way of knowing how long he had been out for. He slowly rose to his feet and stumbled around the side of the building.
He began to move quicker when he saw the police officer still lying in the middle of the street. When he got closer he noticed she was no longer moving. He pulled his mask off and knelt down beside her. She was already dead. He estimated that he must been out a good ten minutes and in that time she had choked to death on her own blood. He had been so obsessed with going after Stinger he let this woman die. It was a senseless death and yet another death caused by a bad decision on his part.
The sirens were moving closer. He took his hand and gently closed the young woman’s eyes. He said a small prayer and then stood up. He headed back down the street toward the direction where Stinger went. He knew that it was too late. Too late to save Stingers next victim. Too late to save that poor woman’s life. It was to late for everything but he couldn’t stop. He had to keep moving but it wouldn’t be enough to escape what he had become. He had been fooling himself for a while now. It wasn’t justice he was after. He had become more obsessed with hunting then seeking justice. And it was going to stop tonight.
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Post by Romans Empire on Feb 21, 2007 23:09:55 GMT -5
Three days later Mark left a message to meet with his contact inside the Manhunters organization. His message was simple; he was out, no questions asked. It was less then twenty-fours before he got a response from them. It was not the answer he was looking for. He turned on the television to find his picture plastered all over the news:
The man who had started a killing spree from Washington State through Texas has killed again. This time, a twenty-four year old police officer was murdered in cold blood when she attempted to apprehend the fugitive. His whereabouts are unknown but police officers around the state of Texas are banding together to bring this cop killer to justice.
He didn’t have time to think about what was going on. It was pretty clear what their answer had been and what their response was to him wanting out. His instincts quickly kicked in. If he were being accused of killing that police officer it would only be a matter of time before he was found. The system moved quicker when it was one of their own that had been killed.
He began to gather his stuff quickly when he noticed the air in the room began to shift. The temperature had dropped rather quickly. He looked up and saw a black spot appear on the wall. It quickly grew until there was a large swirling void of darkness. Shawn was shocked to see two women walk out of it.
“Shawn Marcus? My name is Nightshade and my associate here is Vixen. We’re here to take you in.”
“Like hell you are!” Shawn yelled as he dove across the room toward his power baton. He was tackled to the floor and spun around to find himself underneath the one called Vixen.
“I don’t think you fully understand what’s going on here mister.” Vixen growled as she held his wrists. “We are taking you in. You will only be contacted again once it’s over.”
“Once what’s…” He began to ask before Vixen head butted him and everything went black.
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Post by Romans Empire on Feb 21, 2007 23:10:37 GMT -5
When he came to he found himself in a holding cell at the county jail with no sign of the two women who found him in his apartment. Things continued to spiral out of control rather quickly. He was appointed a public defender that laid out the evidence that had mounted against him. He knew a set-up when he saw one but could do nothing to stop it.
At the trial he attempted to dismiss his lawyer and defend himself. The judge denied his request. When the trial had concluded the jury only took three hours to come back with a verdict, guilty. The sentencing came even quicker. He was sentenced to die by lethal injection, eight months to the day after the female police officer was killed in the line of duty.
In the six weeks before his sentence was to be carried out, Shawn Marcus was placed in solitary confinement with minimal contact with anyone. For six weeks leading up to the moment they would execute him, one thought kept running through his mind. The woman’s words echoed in his head over and over again:
“You will only be contacted again once it’s over.”
Once what was over? He concluded that he would never find out. Chalk it up as one of many bizarre turn events that led him to where he was now, strapped to a chair in Texas with an a lethal dose of poison coursing through his veins that within seconds, would end his life.
Another senseless death…
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Post by Romans Empire on Feb 21, 2007 23:12:00 GMT -5
The darkness slowly faded and the light above him made him lift his hand to shield his eyes. He used his other hand to help push himself up. He sat there on the edge of the bed when his eyes began to adjust he noticed a man sitting in a chair a few feet away. The man had a metal hand and was chomping on a cigar.
“I…I….” He tried to speak as he stared at the man.
“Not quiet what you were expecting was it?” The man said grinning.
“I died.”
“That is correct, more or less. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, Shawn Marcus is dead. You on the other hand, are very much alive.”
“You did this to me?”
The man laughed, “Not quiet. You did this all to yourself Mr. Marcus. I am just giving you a chance to do something right for a change.”
“I’ve heard that rhetoric before.”
“The Manhunters? Being a force of good against evildoers protecting the planet until some aliens come from outer space to save the planet. Would that be the particular rhetoric you were referring to? Sorry to tell you kid but they lied to you. The Manhunters don’t exist.”
Shawn sat there for a moment letting it all sink in, “Who are you?”
“My name is Sarge Steel. I believe you met a few agents of mine awhile back.”
“You will be contacted once it’s over. Yeah I remember!” Shawn stood up a little too fast and stumbled a bit, “I am tired of being messed with.”
“Are you sure about that there killer? You did just come back from the dead. Sit back down before you fall down.” Steel ordered “Now I’ve got an offer for you. Do a little work for Uncle Sam, take down some bad guys, and walk away with a brand new life?”
“What did you have in mind?”
“Well…I was thinking of sending you back to prison.”
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Post by Romans Empire on Feb 21, 2007 23:13:43 GMT -5
Star City, three months later-
“Put your guns down! Put the damn guns down now!” The woman yelled walking over to the man strapped in chair. “He dies when I say he dies!”
The woman’s name was Lucia, a drug smuggler and mercenary who came across a little black stone awhile back that gave her immeasurable powers. She insisted on being called Blackrock now.
“What you don’t realize menino, is the incredible amount of suffering you will have to face before I let you die!” She said leaning down to whisper in the man’s ear.
“I already proved where my loyalties lie. They are with you.” He said trembling, “Only you”
“I want to believe you I really do. But I find it hard to believe that the might Star-Tsar, who has faced down the likes of the Batman and Green Arrow, would sit here ready to cry like a baby with the threat of a little torture.” The woman turned back around toward the two men behind her and yelled, “So help me god if you two don’t put down your guns right now I will feed you to each other while you both barely kept alive long enough to watch!”
The two men both looked at each other and without saying a word and lowered their weapons.
The assassin’s names were Cannon and Sable. They usually worked freelance but recently began to work exclusively with Blackrock. The were both very trigger happy and were certainly more then just partners in crime but no one dared question them about it otherwise you may go to sleep one night and not wake up the next day.
“Why are you wasting time Lucia when it’s obvious that our friend here has poses no real threat!” Another man spoke as he walked up behind Star-Tsar. “If you really want answers leave me alone with him for five minutes. When I am done he will tell you everything including the time he fantasized about his sister. No secrets are safe from me.”
The grinning man behind Star-Tsar was Bradford Thorne, the Crime Doctor. He claimed to have been a surgeon who performed works of art on the human body but the truth was he was nothing more then a washed up med student who committed crimes and tortured people for the sheer thrill of it.
“You would like that wouldn’t you, you sick freak!” Blackrock said turning back around to face the restrained Star-Tsar. “No I think I would enjoy something a little more… sadistic. Bring her in!” She yelled.
He sat there and watched as another professional criminal, known as Overthrow, brought a woman into the room kicking and screaming. He tried to hide his reaction when he recognized the woman and kept quiet.
“Now it seems here that someone thought it was wise to not only sleep with a female reporter, but to engage in pillow talk that included telling her secrets about what we were up to here. Now I know it sure wasn’t those two cowboys.” Blackrock said pointing toward Cannon and Sable, “So I wonder who it could be?”
“Now wait just one damn minute!” Star-Tsar finally spoke, “That isn’t exactly the way it went down!”
That was the truth. None of it had gone exactly as planned …
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Post by Romans Empire on Feb 21, 2007 23:14:26 GMT -5
“Alright here’s the deal.” Sarge Steel spoke to Shawn Marcus a few days after his resurrection, “I am sending you to be incarcerated at Iron Heights which is a maximum security prison outside of Keystone City. We’ve set you up with a new identity, the ‘super villain’ known as Star-Tsar.”
“Never heard of him.”
“No one has because we made him up just for a special occasion like this. Once inside you will make contact with a man named Arnold Beck, another costumed freak who likes to be called Overthrow. Once you gain his confidence he should be more then willing to tell you about a group called the Society that he was part of before he got captured. He’s a big talker if he finds someone to listen to him brag. Once he does I will arrange for you two to escape. From there he should take you to their headquarters. The background file we provided you should give you enough street cred for them to believe you are one of them. Once you have gained their confidence you should be introduced to their leader, Blackrock. She is a tough little bitch who has eluded us for years because of a little black stone in her possession. Uncle Sam wants the society shut down before they cause any more trouble. I want that black stone at any cost.”
Shawn Marcus listened as he flipped through his prepped file, “Star-Tsar? Nowhere do I see what my name is other than that.”
“Well I came up with something you might like. Mark Shaw.”
“Mark Shaw? That’s a little ridiculous don’t you think considering?”
“Well I could send you back in there with your old name. I wonder what they would do if they found out a cop killer wasn’t really executed. Put all that plastic surgery we have planned over the next couple a days to waste.”
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Post by Romans Empire on Feb 21, 2007 23:15:15 GMT -5
Over the next several weeks and months events began to fall into place exactly how Steel laid it out. The meeting with Overthrow, the prison break, and Mark was brought into the society and even had his first face-to-face with Blackrock. He could see why Steel was worried about her. The black stone she wore around her neck gave her enough power to lead an army if she so chose. It would some time before he would even be able to get close enough to have a chance of getting it from her.
In his down time, Mark Shaw kept residence at a hotel suite in downtown Star City. He freely spent money that the government provided him for his cover. It was one night four weeks after throwing in with the society that he met a young woman named Lesley Haney who served drinks at the hotel lounge. After months of pretending to be someone he wasn’t, he found that he could be himself around her. As the evening went on, he found himself drinking a lot and letting his guard down. Once the bar closed the headed up to his room where they spent the next three days only opening the door to receive room service.
After a few weeks of seeing each other off and on, Mark discovered the truth, she was a reporter for the Star City Globe. When the story broke on the front page Mark realized he had been used.
How Star City’s Costumed Criminal Elite Really Live
He didn’t have time to count how many mistakes he had made with her. He was at least thankful for the fact that he never revealed that he was secretly working for the U.S. government. But that fact wasn’t going to save him from the wrath he would encounter from Blackrock and the Society.
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Post by Romans Empire on Feb 21, 2007 23:17:39 GMT -5
“Now it seems here chatty Cathy told this little cadela, a story worthy of front page news in this mornings edition.”
“Let go of me you freak!” Lesley yelled as she attempted to free herself from Overthrow’s grasp.
“You think bringing her is gonna make me squirm!” Mark laughed, “That woman used me. Lets dump her and get out of here.”
Shaw realized that he didn’t have much time but wasn’t about to let Lesley pay for his mistakes even if she did use him. He was hoping to find a way out of this without anyone dying but he was running out of options.
Blackrock continued to stare at Shaw. “Nice try but I think there’s more to it then that. This little bitch will be taken care before we take off but you won’t be coming with us…and neither will you!” She turned toward Overthrow and shot a black energy beam from her hand that cut clear through Overthrows chest. Lesley screamed, breaking free from his grasp before his dead body slumped to the floor.
“He had to pay the price for making such a poor judgment call bringing you here in the first place.” She smiled as she looked back at Shaw.
“Really?” Mark said, “I thought maybe the plans have changed and you wanted a few less people to share in the next big score you are planning.”
“You really are an idiot aren’t you?” she said as she raised her hand toward and pressed her index finger against Shaw’s chest.
“I’m the idiot? It’s those two over there who are the idiots.” Shaw motioned his head toward Sable and Cannon, “Weren’t you the one who said last night that those two were redundant and we could get rid of one of them?”
“What the hell is talking about Lucia? Is that true? Cause we are both…” Sable said nervously as he eyed his partner.
“Shut the hell up the both of you!” Blackrock turned her head to yell back at them. Mark watched as the Black stone dangled just inches from his face. He leaned his head forward and grabbed hold of the necklace with his teeth and lunged backward in the chair knocking the Crime Doctor over. As he went down he easily ripping through his restraints.
They had made a mistake when they tied him up. They had removed his mask but chose not to take the rest of the costume off of him. He had enough power in the suit to break free at anytime but he had waited for the best time to make a move. He was still looking for a way to complete his assignment. Seeing Lesley there and watching Overthrow cut down, seemed to be the best time he would get.
Blackrock screamed as she lunged after Shaw. He rolled out of the way and leapt to his feet. He felt a sharp blow to the side of his head as the stone was knocked out of his mouth. He turned and saw the Crime Doctor swing at him again. He ducked and using his momentum against him, picked him off the floor and threw him across the room.
In that moment he had lost site of Blackrock, who had reached across the floor and picked up the black stone.
“How dare you! She screamed as she clutched the stone in her hand and raised her fist toward Shaw.
“How dare you, bitch.” Sable and Cannon said in unison as they fired their guns toward her. Shaw watched as Blackrock stumbled back before finally falling forward. He reached down and took the black stone from her dead hand. Shaw found it odd that color slowly returned to her pale white skin. He checked to make sure she was truly dead before standing back up. He then looked back over at the two assassins.
“We good here, guys?” He asked nervously.
“Yeah. We’re good.” They said as they lowered their weapons.
Shaw walked over to where Lesley had taken cover and leaned down to see here trembling behind a table. “Not what you were expecting when today started huh?” He said reaching out for her hand.
Mark saw to it that he got her home before the police arrived on the scene, “I wouldn’t recommend sleeping with someone to get a story again.”
Still in shock, she didn’t responded as he turned and headed out the door.
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Post by Romans Empire on Feb 21, 2007 23:19:01 GMT -5
Gotham City, several weeks later-
Mark Shaw had only been in Gotham City a few nights. He had fulfilled his obligation to the U.S. government and was ready to start his life over. He wasn’t sure how long he would stay but decided to check it out since he had been passing through. He needed a place to clear his head after what happened in Star City and Gotham seemed primed to provide him with what he was looking for.
He waited and watched as a young woman walked down the street alone. It wasn’t all that late at night but it always seemed darker in Gotham. From out of the shadows two men grabbed the woman and pulled her into the alley. Mark could hear her muffled screams as he turned the corner and entered the alleyway himself.
“Let the young lady go!” He announced from behind them.
The two men turned around and stared at Mark. One of them began to giggle as the other spoke up, “Who in the hell are you suppose to be in that get-up?”
Mark stood there in his new modified costume. Using the familiar red and blue from his Manhunter costume he had added boots, an eye patch, and a sword.
“I am the Privateer and I will not ask you again to release the lady!” He said as he drew out his sword.
“Give me a break! This is freakin’ Gotham City for…” One of the assailants began to say before a dark shadow swooped down from above them. The woman quickly stood up and ran past Shaw back out onto the street. Shaw stood and watched as the shadowy figure quickly took out the two men within seconds. As both men lay there unconscious, Batman turned and walked toward Shaw who slowly put his sword down. He was ready to turn and run the other direction when Batman stopped a few feet in front of him and stared at him.
“Not like this. Not in my city. Not ever.” Batman growled before he exited the same way he came.
Shaw stood there for another full minute before he turned around and walked away.
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Post by Romans Empire on Feb 21, 2007 23:20:28 GMT -5
Two nights later Mark picked up a phone and dialed a number. He told Sarge Steel how he didn’t believe he was cut out for this kind of life and he may have been a bit hasty in leaving. The next morning there was a limo waiting for him out front of his hotel. He opened the door and stepped inside.
“Hey there sugar pie. Remember us?” Mark looked up and saw Nightshade and Vixen as he entered the back of the limo. “I thought that Steel would be here?” Mark said as he sat down across from them.
“No. He had other pressing matters to attend to.” Nightshade responded.
“Well as long as neither of you headbutt me again, we should be fine.”
Nightshade shot a look over at Vixen who made a purring sound under her breath. Nightshade turned back and pretended not to notice, “So Mark, have you settled on a costume choice yet? Are you going with the pirate?”
Mark shook his head, “Privateer. Not a…no I decided to retire that one and go back to Manhunter. Make it count for something this time.”
“Steel thought you would go in that direction. He said your new costume should be ready and waiting for you when we get there. Said he had the tech people modify it a bit to include some of the traits that were in the Star-Tsar costume.”
“Should be interesting.” Mark said looking directly at Vixen.
Vixen sat across from him and smiled, “Yes it should. Welcome to the Suicide Squad Mark Shaw.”
To be continued…
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Post by mockingbird on Aug 8, 2011 13:33:37 GMT -5
To let us know what you think of this issue, please visit the letters page here!
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