Annual #1.5 "Burning Down the House, Finale"

Prelude-

There is an old Russian proverb that goes: ‘Once burned by milk you will blow on cold water’. It’s meant to be a reminder that after a painful experience you are more likely to be on your guard against similar sufferings.

Valentina Vostok stopped believing in the wisdom of proverbs a long time ago. Her father had always been quick to quote them to her when she was young. She blamed her mother for that. Anytime she got into trouble as a small girl, her mother sent her to her father for discipline. She was forced to sit in the corner of the kitchen for hours and wait until he returned from work. He would walk in and sit down on a stool next to her. He would then take a deep breath as he untied his boots. She would watch as he slowly pulled them off and then spent the next several minutes rubbing his feet until the circulation returned to them.

He would then stand up and without asking her what she had done he would recite works from the likes of Turgenev or Kheraskov from memory. She secretly looked forward to the several minutes he would often spend with her. He was well read and she would never forget the way his tired eyes would light up when he recited his favorite works to her. But more often then not, when he felt that what she had done deserved true punishment, he would simply stand and quote a proverb. He would then pat her on the head and then sit at the table and eat what was left over from supper before finally heading off to bed.

By the time she was twelve, she began to ignore her mother and refused to sit and wait for her father to ‘punish’ her. She felt that she was too old to be treated like a child and didn’t need silly stories or proverbs any longer. Her father died a year later. Her mother died of a broken heart six months after that. Val spent the next five years in foster care until joining the military on her eighteenth birthday. After four years, the Russian Air Force didn’t prove to be the escape she had hoped it would and looked for a way out. A way out soon found her.

During the unrest that continued after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Valentina Vostok was approached by an unnamed U.S. agency to steal an experimental Russian fighter jet. The plan was for her to steal the jet and defect to the United States. Something happened during the flight, forcing the plane to crash. The plane was lost in the ocean but Val emerged from the water possessing the ‘energy being’, which had previously inhabited the body of the missing Doom Patrols Larry Trainor. As a result, her body had to be wrapped entirely in chemically treated bandages to protect others from the harmful energy that possessed her.

Val found her way to the U.S. but was informed that since the plane was destroyed, the unnamed agency refused to honor their end of the bargain by offering her amnesty. In the end they claimed that no such deal ever existed. Val suddenly found herself homeless and without work. For a short time, she used her powers as ‘Negative Woman’ and fought alongside a new team that went by the name Doom Patrol. Val left the team one night without telling anyone.

Soon after, she encountered several agents from Russia who unsuccessfully attempted to extradite her back to her former country. Afterward, she stayed in hiding and found some success using her skills as a security advisor on a work for hire basis.

It was during that time that Amanda Waller came across a file detailing the deal the government supposedly never made with Vostok. She recruited Val to head up her newly assembled team, Task Force X. In exchange, Waller would use her connections to “smooth things over” with the Russian government.

Several months after becoming the field leader for Task Force X, the negative being abandoned Valentina and returned to Larry Trainor permanently. She then found that she no longer had the need to be wrapped in protective bandages. She continued to lead Task Force X until the aftermath of the Apokolips crisis forced the Presidents right-hand man, Sarge Steel, to disband the team.

The aftermath of the crisis had also left the Suicide Squad in shambles. Amanda Waller had taken a bullet to the brain and all but a few Squad members had flown the coupe. Sarge Steel saw that as an opportunity to rebuild the Squad more to his liking. Val was offered a new position replacing Waller as the head of the Suicide Squad. To ensure her cooperation, he threatened to send her back to Russia where she was still a wanted criminal. She found herself unable to refuse.

Two days after assuming her new position at Belle Reve, Val received news from her doctor. The years of being possessed by the negative energy being had wreaked havoc with her body and left her with terminal cancer. But after months of aggressive treatment showed little success, Val found herself desperate and without hope. She hadn’t confided in anyone at Belle Reve or the new Suicide Squad she had assembled. She wanted to stay strong but knew her body was slowly betraying her.

At night she would cry herself asleep as she tried to recall one of her fathers proverbs that would be the most relevent to what she was going through. She wished she had spent more time with her father…

Gotham City-

Six months had passed since Kadaver was killed inside Belle Reve and the Calculator had been given a message that someone else had taken his place. Someone who found out that there was one hundred million dollars in gold hidden out there and wanted a piece of the action. As furious as Noah was at first, he grew even more so when the mystery person refused to make any contact with him until a few days ago.

For months, Noah watched Belle Reve hoping to discover a clue as to who had been playing games with him. His first suspect had been Daniel Murphy, Belle Reves head of security. Murphy had been one of the first people Noah bought off when he secured the video and audio feeds inside the prison. He questioned Murphy as to why there wasn’t any video of Kadavers cell the day he was murdered. Murphy explained that there were glitches in the system and the feeds often went off line for several hours at a time. As much as he distrusted Murphy, he explanation was consistent with what Noah had observed in the past with the feeds. He still continued to monitor Murphy very closely and warned him what would happen if it were exposed that he was bribed into providing unauthorized access to a federal facility. That was certainly enough to keep him in line, at least for the time being.

His other suspect had been George ‘Digger’ Harkness. Noah had hired Boomerang to kill Jack Marshall inside his cell. Amanda Waller had held Marshall there because she suspected him to be Oracle. Of course it had all been part of his plan to set-up Marshall to take the fall if Waller went after him. Noah then turned around and threatened Waller after the murder took place. His Oracle identity had remained secure and he had once again put Waller in her place.

Noah quickly determined that Boomerang couldn’t have killed Kadaver either. He was too busy complaining and certainly wasn’t bright enough to do anything that bold even if he was aware of the gold, which Noah was certain that he wasn’t. He also had enough blackmail on Boomerang to shut him down if the need was ever to arise.

Several days after Noah had his showdown with Waller, the Apokolips crisis occurred and the world was quickly turned upside down. When the dust cleared, Waller was out and Vostok was in. The changing of the guard hadn’t concerned Noah in the least. He would find a way to mess with her just like he had with Waller. But his first priority was still discovering who killed Kadaver and how he would secure the gold.

In the meantime he continued to focus on his developing relationship with Natalia Knight. She had been the person he had chosen to break out of Belle Reve to prove to Kadaver that he could safely get him out and in turn lead him to the gold. If she suspected that he had used her, she certainly hadn’t let on to the fact. She stayed with him and continued to show how grateful she was that he broke her out of prison. In turn, he fed her designer drugs that keep her sensitivity to light in check. The drugs side effects were also beneficial as well, keeping her docile and content and out of the in the way when he needed to conduct business.

Of course business hadn’t been as good since the crisis ended. It was as if the war had driven the criminal element into hiding and the others that remained active for the past six months had lost their edge. And in turn, their need for his particular form of information was no longer relied upon as much. Add that to the fact that he never heard back from Scandal Savage meant that he was out the other three million he was still owed and was nearly broke. He should have known better then to trust her.

The stress of running out of money as well as his problems inside Bell Reve had slowly gotten to him. He had begun taking a combination of Lithium carbonate and Barbexaclone to counter his frequent mood swings. The drugs were a temporary solution and once he found the gold he wouldn’t have a worry in the world. He could stop taking them anytime he wanted to. He remined myself of that fact every time he popped another pill.

“Perhaps today is finally that day my friends.” Noah spoke as he anxiously sat in front of the Belle Reve monitors and waited. He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a small pill vial. His hand shook as he dropped two yellow pills into his palm and then quickly popped them into his mouth. He slipped the vial back into his pocket and leaned closer to the monitors.

A few hours ago, Calendar Man had been informed that the mystery person was ready to negotiate a deal. Calendar Man informed Noah that the new player wanted a face-to-face. Noah flipped over to a secure feed inside the mans cell and activated the two-way audio channel.

“So here we are.” Noah spoke into his headset, “Why don’t you start by telling me why you waited until now to do this?”

The man stood up in his cell and looked around. “So you can see and hear me in here and all I can do is hear you? This wasn’t the face-to-face I requested.”

“Well if you expected me to come visit you there you’re crazy. I don’t do prisons. This is the best you get, so talk.” Noah said tapping the monitor in front of him.

“Prisons of the mind are no less then steel bars now are they?” The man said as he began to pace back and forth inside his cell, “Regardless, the timing wasn’t right back then and I saw no need to move forward until now. The secret to luck is all in timing you know?”

“I believe in making my own luck so lets get on with it already.” Noah was getting irritated with this man. He wanted to reach out and squeeze his tiny head through the monitor until it popped. “You get the same deal Kadaver had. I organize a breakout and once you are out you meet with my man who has the other half of the location and the two of you secure the gold. Now I…”

The man raised his hand up toward the camera to interrupt Noah, “Yeah, I am well aware of how your previous demonstration worked. As impressive as that was it won’t work for me.”

“Won’t work for you?” Noah laughed, “This is not a negotiation. These are the terms of the deal.”

“I want something bigger or there is no deal.”

“Bigger?”

“I want my escape to go unnoticed. Scot-free in fact. If it appears that I died no one would have reason to come looking for me would they?”

“So what are you suggesting?” Noah said as he attempted to remain calm.

“I want you to blowup the prison.” He stated matter-of-factly.

Noah sat back and crossed his arms across his chest. “Interesting. A bit excessive don’t you think?

“You’re telling me that you don’t want to see this place burn?”

Noah thought about that for a moment. “With all that chaos, how can you be certain that you would survive?”

“It would be in your best interest to see that I do. Besides, I think that luck is on my side.” Amos Fortune looked directly into the camera and smiled.

Gotham City-

“This is insane.” Noah muttered as he watched events unfold inside Belle Reve.

“Are you talking to the television again?” Nocturna spoke as she came up behind the Calculator and glanced over at the monitor he was focused on. “What is that, some kind of medical show? How drab.”

“Not exactly. This woman is planning to let Doctor Mc-creepy operate on her.”

“Oh my mistake then.” She said before bending down to kiss him on the neck. “I am going out for a while tonight since there is nothing fun to do here.”

“Help yourself.” He waved back at her without looking away from the monitors. “Don’t attract any rodents out there tonight.”

“Don’t be jealous my love. I only have eyes for you.” Nocturna moved toward the door and stopped when she saw Noah’s pill vial on desk. She looked before she reached down and opened it up, quickly replacing several pills with some that she pulled out from another bottle. She then placed the vial back where she found it and continued toward door. She blew him a kiss before heading off into the night.

Two weeks later

Joshua Clay slowly opened the door and poked his head inside. “I saw the light on in here and figured you were up.”

“Sorry. I couldn’t sleep.” Val said looking up from her desk. “Who gave you authorization to roam freely around here?”

“You did right after I saved your life remember?” Josh smiled at her. “You should at least be resting and not working.”

“Well I have a lot to catching up on from the past couple of weeks. I won’t be long I promise.”

“Well come back to bed soon ok?” Josh said before slowly closing the door behind him.

After he left, Val sat there staring at the computer screen in front of her. Her life was her own again and she was happy. Even being the leader of the Suicide Squad held more meaning then it had before. Maybe that had to do with Josh being there with her. Maybe she was just a little more appreciative of life in general after nearly losing hers. She felt stronger then she had in years and was determined to make the most of every second she could get. She was perhaps feeling a bit guilty about sending Reactron back to his cell after he saved her life. But there was no way she was going to follow through on a deal with a maniac like Krull. But she was certain that she wouldn’t be making a trip over to ‘The Pit’ anytime soon.

Val’s focus was quickly drawn to her computer when she saw a message pop up on her monitor.

{Hello Valentina. Nice to see you up and about so soon after your surgery.}

{Who is this?} She immediately typed back.

{I am an old friend of Waller’s. I think she might be a little disappointed at what you’ve been doing there recently inside her prison.}

That made Val pause. Her one fear was that if it got back to Steel what she had been up to lately, there would be hell to pay. She had been confident that she had been able to keep her battle with cancer a secret from him the entire time. She had been careful not to involve anyone beyond those she absolutely had to. Had she been wrong to place her trust with certain people inside these walls?

{What concern is it of yours what goes on here?} She responded.

{Lets just say I have an invested interest in what goes on there. And I am looking out for your best interests as well as my own. It would be a shame if it got out that you used a dangerous prisoner for such a self-serving endeavor and then backed out on your end of the deal and shipped him back to his cell. Not to mention sharing a bed with another prisoner. That’s a lot of dirty laundry don’t you think?}

{I will not cave to blackmail you son of a bitch!} Val typed, as she quickly grew angry.

{Blackmail is such a nasty word. Just know that I am more then content to look the other way and in return… Well, I will get back with you. For now just know that I am always watching you. Oracle out.} The message box blinked once and then was gone.


Val sat there for a moment trying to think. Who would want to blackmail her? If it were someone inside the prison why would they say ‘there’ instead of ‘here’? She closed out the file she had been working on and opened another window. She typed in the name Oracle and hit search. It quickly came back with zero results found. She then shut down the computer and stood up. Why did that name ring a bell? The person mentioned Waller by name. If she had dealt with them in the past she would have a file on them. She had a file on everyone.

Val walked over to the locked cabinet next to her desk and pulled out a key. One of the first things she learned about Amanda Waller was her distrust in computers. She had several hundred files that were typed up or handwritten locked up in the cabinet. Val hadn’t found the time to go through all of them but recalled seeing a file with the name Oracle on it when she first got there. She opened the cabinet and thumbed through the files until she found what she was looking for. It had been one of the last things Waller had been working on before the crisis occurred and she never returned from Washington D.C. to follow up on it.

She began to read everything Waller had written down. She felt a twist in her stomach when she came to the end of the document and read:

Belle Reve security has been compromised- possible leak, Daniel Murphy.

“I am impressed.” Val said. “You’ve been locked up in here for over half a year while you’re sister has been enjoying her freedom.”

Anton Knight sat there staring at her through the other side of the security glass but remained silent.

“Give me a name. You don’t owe him anything after he set you up like this right? Maybe he and your sister set this up from the beginning huh? Get you out of the way so they can have some alone time together?

“Do not speak of her in that way.” Nightslayer finally spoke.

“So the thought of him and her together gets you all worked up now does it? So you still want to remain loyal to him even though he’s shacking up with dear old sis?” Val watched as the anger in his eyes grew.

Nightslayer put his head down and began to take slow, calculated breaths. “Crimesmith contacted me and told me that he could arrange for me to rescue Natalia from this place.”

“So this Crimesmith arranged everything? He gave you the specs on the prison, a transport device, and a bat suit and sent you on your merry way?”

“No. The suit was mine.”

“Really? You just happen to have a Batman costume lying around? I don’t even want to know why.” Val said shaking her head, “Where can we find this Crimesmith?”

“Gotham City. I can show you. Then I will find my Natalia.”

“Once Oracle or Crimesmith, whatever he wants to call himself, is taken down then you are free to go. So for now, welcome to the Suicide Squad.”

Val stood up and headed out the door. She stopped when she heard her cell phone ring. She reached down and saw the caller id was blocked. The flipped open the phone. “Hello?”

“Not cool.” The voice said. “Not coo at all!”

She smiled when she realized that Murphy must have shut down the outside access to the security feeds, “How does it feel to be blind and deaf huh? Not much of an oracle now are you?”

“This is the only warning I am giving you!” Calculator responded, “You do not know what I am capable of so don’t push me!”

“I read everything about you and I wasn’t impressed.”

“Well then maybe this will impress you. Unblock my access to the prison or Sarge Steel will receive a disc showing him that Belle Reve has been turned into Melrose Place since you’ve been there.”

“Sorry. Still not impressed.”

“Then I will just have to blow up the prison then won’t I?” Noah yelled though the phone.

“You want to blow up a prison full of psycho killers and villains?’ Val yelled back. “Be my guest you maniac! I won’t stop you!”

“Interesting. I am not sure that Waller would have played that card.”

“I am not Waller. So if you want to play cards, the bets back to you! Raise or call?” Val said before closing her phone.

Gotham City-

“Val, it’s Ben.” Bronze Tiger spoke into his communicator, “ Nightslayer led us right to the Crimesmith. But there’s no way this guy is Oracle.”

“Well, there has to be a connection between him and Oracle. Push him and see what he knows.” Val responded.

“I’m pretty sure if he knows something he’ll tell us.” Bronze Tiger smiled “We’ll be in touch.”

Ben walked across the room toward the window and looked down at the man dangling twenty-five stories from the ground below.

“What the hell do you people want from me! I swear I don’t know anyone who goes by the name Oracle!” Crimesmith screamed as Vixen and Black Thorn, who each had a hold of one of his legs, pulled him back inside.

Nightslayer continued to look around the penthouse apartment. “My sister hasn’t been here.”

“Of course she hasn’t been here you freaks! She’s been with …” He realized what he was saying and suddenly stopped himself.

“Been with whom? Who hired you to help Anton here break Nocturna out of prison?” Ben asked the suddenly silent Crimesmith. He then nodded to Vixen and Black Thorn who began to drag him back toward the open window.

“Calculator!” He screamed out, “They’ve been together ever since she got back to Gotham! Anton, I swear I didn’t know you would be stuck inside Belle Reve this entire time. That wasn’t part of the plan.”

“Who is the Calculator?” Ben said moving within inches of the terrified Crimesmith.

“Noah Kuttler. We used to work the Gotham syndicate together before he started cutting into my business by providing information to anyone willing to pay. They stopped coming to me and started going to him exclusively.”

“So why help him if you’re rivals? Have you been working with him the entire time?” Ben asked.

“No way! I’ve gone straight!”

“Sure you have.” Ben scoffed, “Where can we find this Calculator?”

“Out there.” He pointed out the window, “The Kane building across from Miller Harbor.”

“If my Natalia has been harmed in any way I am coming back for you.” Nightslayer growled.

Crimesmith fell to the floor and didn’t make a move until he was certain they were long gone.

35 minutes later…

Outside the R.H. Kane building-

Bronze Tiger dodged the first strike and spun around to see Cavalier come at him again with his Musketeer type rapier. Ben ducked down and spun his leg out toward Cavalier but the nimble swordsmen easily jumped out of the way and struck the tiger in the shoulder with his sword.

“Split up!” Ben yelled as he stumbled back. “He knows we’re here!”

Vixen and Black Thorn swiftly entered the office building through the front door. It was well past business hours as they entered the dimly lit lobby. “Crime dude said top floor.” Black Thorn said looking over at Vixen. Stairs or elevator?”

“Stairs.” They both said in unison.

Vixen pulled Black Thorn to the floor when her heightened senses picked up the sound of a hammer being cocked. “What the hell?” Black Thorn shouted out.

“Be quiet Elizabeth. There are at least two males in here. One has a gun. Stay down.”

“Screw that.” Black Thorn pushed Vixen off of her and stood up. “Hey boys! You wanna play?”

Black Thorn watched Vixen take off in a blur toward the gunfire. “And she thinks I am crazy. Now where’s the other man she sniffed out?” She mumbled to herself before she felt a rope tighten around her neck.

“Guns are so uncivilized, don’t you think? Ropes are clean and personal” Slipknot gloated as he reached around her and tightened his grip.

Black Thorn struggled to break free of his grasp. She began to panic as the chemically treated rope began to burn through her skin. The pain was unbearable as she gasped for air. It would only be a matter of seconds before she would black out. She reached down to her side and with one swift motion pulled out a poison-tipped dart and flicked it behind her.

“What the hell?” Slipknot yelled out as the dart struck him in the neck. He then fell backward pulling Black Thorn behind him onto the floor.

She pulled the rope off of her and glanced down at him. She then stood up and kicked him in the side of the head. “A rope! I mean really?” Black Thorn said before kicking the unconcious Slipknot again.

“Why are you pacing around so much?” Nocturna asked as she watched Noah move around the penthouse office in circles as she lay on a chaise lounge sipping a drink. “Why don’t you come into the bedroom soon?”

“Quiet! It’s almost time!” He yelled back at her. He wondered if those fools downstairs would buy him enough time. He glanced over at one his security monitors and saw a dark figure moving toward the entrance to the penthouse. “Plastique are you ready?”

“I’ve been ready.” Her voice echoed into his headset. ‘Now I am getting bored.”

The penthouse door flung open as Nightslayer burst in. “Where the hell is Natalia?”

Noah looked over as Nightslayer quickly approached him, “Do it Plastique! Do it now!”

Daniel Murphy had never been a greedy man. He had always taken pride in knowing that he had worked hard for everything and never had anything handed to him. But life had chipped away at him again and again until he gave in. Temptation had approached him in the form of the Calculator who offered him one hundred thousand dollars to tap into the security feeds at Belle Reve and turn a blind eye to certain activities that went on inside the facility.

The government used super villains to do their dirty work but he still had to pay taxes on his thirty eight thousand dollar a year job. It didn’t seem fair. It had finally been his time. His time to reap the reward for being a good civil servant. But a deal with the devil only lands you in hell.

Murphy watched as over fifty prisoners approached the gate. He stood in front of them rifle in hand. He fired the first warning shot at their feet but they kept moving closer. The ones shielded in the back began to push forward. Murph began picking them off one by one. He wanted to run but his feet wouldn’t move. Within seconds they were on him. Someone ripped the riffle out of his hands. They were kicking and punching him as they scaled over the gate. He fell to the ground and couldn’t get up. He felt bones break and the pain was unbearable. He looked up to see a hand reach down for him. It was one of the prisoners. He saw the man mouth something to him but he couldn’t make out the words. The man smiled as he pulled a shiv out from under his shirt.

“I am sorry.” Daniel Murphy cried out.

“I know you are.” The man said still smiling as he forced the point of the weapon into Daniels stomach.

Murphy fell back to the ground and with his dying breath watched as hell poured out on to the earth.

Luck had certainly been on his side. Amos Fortune had always been lucky. He understood how to bend its will and make it work for him, not against him. It was luck that he was placed in a cell next to a man that talked in his sleep. His luck continued when every night the man talked about buried gold and his plans to retrieve it. Of course with good luck there is always bad. Amos killed Kadaver in his sleep, stealing his would be dreams of riches for his own.

That night, his luck was going to finally pay off. The explosion that took out half of his cellblock killed eleven of his fellow cellmates but left him without a scratch. Within minutes he was standing outside. He watched as the chaos continued all around and the prisoners scattered in all directions. He moved back toward one of the only walls left standing. He knew that luck needed to be nurtured and not provoked. He would stay out of harms way until his contact would come to take him to the rendezvous point.

In all his years of living by the rules of luck, one thing never factored into his thinking, and that was luck was always at the mercy of chance. And if you force chance into a corner enough times, it will come out attacking. Maybe if Amos Fortune had recognized he had already taken too many chances he would have seen the brick before it fell off the top of the wall and hit him on the head. He felt his neck snap back as he slumped to the ground unable to move. He watched as boots came toward him and stopped. The man bent down when he realized who it was.

“Amos my man!” He said looking down at him, “Crazy night huh?”

“Are you here to take me away?” He asked the man.

“No. I think you are on your own here.” He laughed back at him.

“But you have to take me to the gold.”

“Gold?”

“Yes the one hundred million in ancient gold. I know half of the location.”

“But I already know what you know so I don’t need you.” The man said standing back up.

“How?” Fortune struggled to move his head.

“You just told me!”

“That’s impossible. I would do not such thing without a guarantee that you would take me with you.”

“But I already have. We are here.”

“But this isn’t Arlington. Where are the grave markers?” Amos said slowly turning his head. “You tricked me.”

“It is what I do.” The Trickster patted him on the head and walked away. After a few steps a dark figure emerged out of the blowing smoke.

“I am here to take him to the rendezvous point.” Shadow Thief announced.

“Plans have changed. I am going with you now.” He said looking back as the wall next to Amos Fortune collapsed behind him. “He’s just lucky I came across him when I did.”

Three hours later…

Belle Reve-

“We have the crazy chick that set up all of the explosives. She got knocked out by the first wave of blasts.” Joshua Clay said.

“I didn’t really think he would do it Josh.” Val said shaking her head. “I lost my cool and pushed him too far.”

“This was too well organized. It was planned out from the beginning. It wasn’t for revenge.” Josh replied.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because we are still alive. Every part of this prison was hit except the offices and the Squads quarters. Why would he do that if he wanted revenge?”

“Because.” Val took a deep breath, “He wanted me alive to see that he had the better hand.”

In the end, it took the collective efforts of Nightshade, Knockout, Firehawk, and the rest of the Squad to contain the riot at Belle Reve. The death toll was still being calculated into the early morning hours but the current count stood at eighty-three prisoners, twenty-seven guards and other staff members. It was also estimated that three meta prisoners escaped including Killer Croc, Bloodsport, and Reactron. And three non-metas, Trickster, Calendar Man, and Wade Eiling. It certainly could have been a lot worse but the six of them could cause enough trouble especially those motivated by hate and revenge.

Valentina Vostok had just recently fought to get her life back. Now she was faced with picking up the pieces. She forced her herself to smile as she suddenly recalled one of her fathers favorite proverbs: ‘One would like to eat fish, but would not like to get into the water’. It is usually said about a person who is anxious to obtain something valuable but not willing to take the necessary risk. Val knew risk. She also knew it was going to be a very long day.

Forty-five minutes later…

“So we’re close then?” Trickster asked when Hellhound stopped and looked down. “There are way too people around here for my liking.”

“We’re no where near Kennedy’s plot or the unknown soldier. That’s where the bulk of the guards are located. We should be alright as long we get out of here before the sun comes up.”

“Well, we split the gold here and then go our own way.” Trickster replied.

“Since it comes to just you and me, half ain’t too bad.” Hellhound beamed.

“I wouldn’t go making only two piles just yet.” A voice yelled out forcing both Hellhound and Trickster to turn around.

“Boomerang!” Hellhound growled. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I’ve been flat out like a lizard drinking, keeping up with you chaps while dodging the bushrangers all night.”

“Digger, drop the fake Australian accent.” Trickster yelled out.

“I am not splitting the money three ways!” Hellhound announced.

“I never said we should. There is one of us here that isn’t needed anymore. Isn’t that right James? So lets nut this out here and now!”







Boomerang grinned as he reached back and threw a razor sharp boomerang at Trickster. The boomerang whistled through the air toward Tricksters neck. The flying weapon suddenly took a sharp turn toward Hellhound. It cut through his throat and lodged in the back of his neck. His bloody remains slumped to the ground.

“What in the hell were you thinking Digger?” Trickster yelled unable to stop himself from shaking. “He didn’t tell me where the gold was buried exactly. It could be anywhere still and we are running out time!”

“No worries mate. I’ve got that covered. You see my old mate Signalman talked way too loud in his cell. He would repeat the grave number out loud over a hundred times a night before he fell asleep.”

“So you killed Hellhound with only the possibility that the number Signal Man said before bedtime was accurate?” Trickster said.

“Hell-mute was from Gotham right? He deserved to die. Besides, he did say he wasn’t splitting the gold three ways.”

“Once a rogue…” Trickster smiled.

“Always a rogue.” Boomerang winked picking up a shovel.