Issue 11: "Die Hard the Hunter, Part Three"

Suicide Notes:

Previously in Suicide Squad 9 & 10-

Public defense attorney, Shawn Marcus, was suddenly faced with tragedy forcing him to give up his old life.

He became involved in an organization called the Manhunters, whose goal was to maintain order in a world full of chaos. As a Manhunter he pursued justice in a way he never could in his old life.

One night on patrol a young police officer died when Shawn attempted to stop a costumed assassin. Shawn was captured and after standing trial was found guilty and executed for his crimes.

Instead on dying he went to work for the government. He was given a new name (Mark Shaw) while posing as the super villain, Star Tsar. Upon completion of his assignment he was free to start his life over. He briefly took up residence in Gotham City and adopted a new hero identity, the Privateer. He quickly realized that it wasn’t the life for him and accepted an offer from Sarge Steel to join the newly formed Suicide Squad.

Back in the present…

Mark Shaw rigged a warehouse to exploded ensuring that he would destroy the Manhunters Cult once and for all. Before he could accomplish his task he was taken down by Paul Kirk, who had also been part of the Manhunters. Kirk disabled the explosives before leaving with Mark Shaw in tow.

Mark awakened some time later and questioned Paul Kirk about why he stopped him. Kirk revealed that the Manhunter threat was bigger then Shaw ever imagined it to be. Much bigger.

Sarge Steel ordered the Squad on a mission to take out the Manhunters cult.

The final pieces begin to come together as the tale that exposes the truth about the Manhunters continues…

When he was a boy, he dreamed of being a rock star. He picked up his first guitar when he was eight years old. He started playing in a garage band when he was twelve. By seventeen he had dropped out of school and formed his own band. By twenty-three he was playing in nightclubs, waiting for the right record producer to walk in and offer him a deal that would change his life forever. Instead, one late night after a show, a man walked up to him and handed him a pamphlet and asked him if he was ready to change his life forever.

Soon after, he gave up on his dreams of fame and fortune and became involved in a group that promised to change the world. His name was Chase Lawler and he was a Manhunter. They saw a lot of pontential in him and quickly promoted him to the postion once held by Paul Kirk, that was once supposed to be filled by Mark Shaw, as head of the enforcer branch.

Chase was never told much about those that came before him, but he knew that there had been others. He even encountered the man he replaced, one night shortly after he became a Manhunter. He was told by the Manhunters that the man he replaced had lost his way and no longer believed in the cause. At first, Chase found it hard to believe that anyone who knew the evil that they fought against could ever just walk away without a fight. Of course, that was before he learned the truth; Before he encountered another Manhunter that had also ‘walked away’ from the cause, Paul Kirk.

After Kirk filled him in on everything about the real Manhunters Cult, Chase decided that he would help bring them down from the inside. They didn’t suspect him, so it was easy to leak information about their plans to Kirk and the U.S. government, in hopes that they could eventually get enough ammunition to bring them down for good.

Chase knew that they were close now. He had finally been brought to the California base and was planning to meet with the leader. He had never met with him before and had always been given his orders by a third party. He already knew what they were planning, but if he could discover the leader’s identity then perhaps they would be able to end this once and for all.

Chase moved swiftly and silently through the dark hall. He turned the corner and, when he knew he was alone, he opened his communicator and spoke softly into the small device:

“Kirk, it’s Lawler. I am suppose to meet with the head guy soon, but I wanted to let you know what the plans are. The orders were given for a strike against the Vice President, tomorrow during his speech here in California.”

“Good. I will let Steel know and they can assemble a team to be there. When they strike, we will take them down,” Kirk responded on the other end.

“I better go before someone sees me. We are so close now I can feel it! I can’t wait to finally look this bastard in the eye and know that he’s going down!”

“Well, be patient! A lot of people have worked long and hard to make this happen. Just don’t put yourself in harm’s way. Your job right now is to establish a positive ID on who this guy is, then we will organize a strike team to go in there and take him and the cult down. So just be careful!”

“Hey, I’ve made it this far.” Lawler smirked. “I plan on seeing this through to the end. Lawler out.”

Chase closed the communicator and slid it back inside his pocket. Chase then felt a sharp blade pierce him from behind and then nothing. His dead body slid off of the blade and fell to the ground. Two men stepped out from behind him.

“He is dead,” one of the men, said as he wiped the blood off the blade of his sword. “But are you not concerned that he was able to reveal tomorrow’s agenda before he died?”

“Things are proceeding as planned.” The other man smiled as he walked up and stood next to the Manhunter agent who had just killed Chase. “Their attention will now be diverted elsewhere, leaving us to take care of more serious issues. They will focus on the VP and won’t realize what’s really going on until it’s too late.”

Belle Reve, Super Maximum Security Prison:
Missions Room-


Val Vostok looked out at the small group seated in front of her. The current squad team included Bronze Tiger, Vixen, Tempest, Peacemaker, Firehawk, Knockout, and Catman.

She stood up to address them. “Alright, kiddies, the mission has been confirmed. You head out to California within the hour. Bronze Tiger is in charge so you follow his orders once you are in the field.”

Catman looked around the room and slowly raised his hand. “Since it appears that I am the new guy here, you want to tell me what is being served on the menu?”

“If you are referring to the mission, Ben will give out the details en route,” Val replied. “But basically this is what is called a ‘National Security Event’. You are being ordered to protect the life of the Vice President of the United States.”

“My first time up to bat and I get the stinkin’ VP?” Catman chuckled. “I thought that the Vice President only attended weddings and funerals?”

“This guy does a little more than that,” Firehawk added. “He’s often a buffer against critics that attack the President. The VP speaks on topic matters that are somewhat controversial, while the President stays out of the line of fire.”

“Well that’s cute,” Tempest said under his breath. “Look at the flag-waving senator’s daughter.”

Firehawk shot over a look at Tempest and he just gave her a weak smile in return.

“But, that does beg the question though,” Vixen spoke up, “if he knows he’s a target at this speech, then why not just cancel it entirely?”

“He refused. Given his military background, it doesn’t surprise me.” Val continued, “The president plans to gear up for the upcoming re-election year and the VP is out there trying to bring attention to how the military has taken a larger role in defending this country despite the rise in “Super villain activity”. The President wants to emphasize that the role of defending our great nation belongs to the fine men and woman in the armed forces, not costumed freaks in their pj’s.”

Catman began to laugh. “So, we are being sent in to protect a man who wants nothing to do with us?”

“Don’t fool yourselves. We aren’t the good guys here,” Bronze Tiger finally spoke up.

Peacemaker smiled as he finally spoke up, “Today we are.”

Vixen leapt up and landed hard on a Manhunter, ripping at him like the panther she was calling upon. Blood spurted and he staggered back; but he lifted a pistol and fired point blank at her face. Her accelerated reflexes enabled her to duck just in time, but not entirely fast enough; the bullet grazed the side of her face.

She screamed in fury and kicked him in the gut. He stumbled back and brought up his gun again, but she flew forward and knocked it aside...and her still claw-like hands settled around his throat and began to squeeze.

As the battle continued, the VP was taken away by ambulance as they raced to the nearest hospital.

“I’ve stopped the bleeding,” the EMT said from the back of the ambulance. “The wound went clean through his shoulder. He should be stable until we get there.”

“That’s a good thing,” a man said, leaning out and over from the passenger seat.

“Who the hell are you?” the startled EMT said.

“No one important,” the man replied, before firing two bullets into the EMT’s chest. He fell over dead. The shooter looked over at the driver. “Radio in that the VP is stable and we should be arriving with him soon.”

The man pulled himself up and over into the back of the ambulance. He pushed the body out of the way and looked down at the barely-concious Jeb Stuart and smiled. “Make yourself comfortable. I know someone who wants to have a word with you.”

Knockout strode through the battle with power and purpose, knocking enemies aside.

A shot ripped into her but she barely felt it. The Manhunter that fired that shot suddenly found himself lifted up, by the throat, by one hand, then unceremoniously slammed back onto the ground, breaking his back.

Bronze Tiger and Vixen found themselves fighting side by side; but the old chemistry was gone. It had been for quite some time now. He had to duck as she punched the Manhunter he was facing; she leaned back as he sent a looping kick into her opponent's face.

They glared at each other without words for a long moment, and then strode into battle again.

Firehawk continued to fly overhead, blasting away with fire, urgency filling every fiber of her being.

The military police, regular cops, and Secret Service agents were doing their part against the Manhunters, but they were simply overwhelmed. An agent traded potshots with a Manhunter, and lost. Another agent took a clubbing blow to the face and fell, jaw broken.

After word had been given that the VP was safely transported away, the local cops and the soldiers opened fire with their own weapons. Three Manhunters dropped. But another returned fire with a machine gun, and two more charged with weapons drawn. Catman was there in time to parry one, but the other started wreaking havoc amongst the police and soldiers. It took a team of three soldiers and two police to finally bring him down to the ground.

Another soldier realized he was finished and pulled the pin on a grenade. Seconds later he and his Manhunter opponent exploded, blood spattering everything in the vicinity.

"Catman!" Bronze Tiger shouted. The villain blinked, then nodded. Bronze Tiger ran right at him; Catman caught him and threw him into the biggest pack of Manhunters, where he became a blur of violence.

"He's insane," Vixen cursed, then summoned the spirit of a rhino and charged after him.

After tossing Bronze Tiger, Catman knelt and recovered the blades: his own extra long Bowie knife, and the katana he had taken from the enemy. Charging forward, he met a Manhunter who had a power staff.

The Manhunter blasted at him once; he sidestepped. Grinning unpleasantly, he ran the foe through with both weapons.

As that one went down, Catman pulled the blades free and leapt, screaming, for three more Manhunters, swinging both blades as he went.

This was the life!

Tempest blasted the enemy with his power. Knocking foes aside easily, he felt they were doing well... it was simply that there were too many of the enemy.

His power blazed again, again, again. He felt he needed to do more damage, so he used a blast of his power to propel himself upwards. Rising higher and higher, he blasted down at the crowd, aiming carefully. The fighting was sprawling now, disorganized knots here and there. Chaos.

Each successive blast lifted him higher, so eventually he stopped, letting himself fall back down.

Firehawk caught him.

"I was controlling my fall," he said.

She smirked. "Perhaps you were. And perhaps we need to coordinate our efforts."

He nodded thoughtfully as she brought them down for a landing. “You know that crack I made about you being a Senators kid? I am sorry.”

“My Dad is so ready to stand against the ‘super hero’ community and he doesn’t even know what his daughter does! It’s just frustrating.”

“How bout we work out our frustrations together?” Tempest smiled at her.

As one, they turned to face the foe. Four of them came at the pair at once.

They lifted their hands and responded with all the power at their disposal.

Everything became very bright; brighter than the sun, too bright to bear.

Manhunters shrieked... but not for long.

Ben Turner surveyed the battlefield. When word reached him that the last Manhunter clone had fallen, he activated his earpiece communicator.

“Val, it’s Ben. The Manhunters are down. Any word on the VP’s condition?”

“Worse than you might think, Ben,” Val replied. “This mission was a failure before it even started. His ambulance was hijacked and soon after, his captors made contact with the White House. They have threatened to kill the VP and destroy D.C. if their demands aren’t met.”

“What do we do now?” Ben asked as Vixen walked up and stood beside him.

“Well, at least there is some good news,” Val replied. “We are using the tracking device we had placed on him to pinpoint his exact location. Eve and her shadow team are postioning themselves as we speak. Just be ready to move out on her word.”

“Will do,” Ben said as he disconnected the comm-link.

“The Vice President knew this would happen?” Vixen asked him.

“ Kind of. We knew this might have been a distraction for something bigger and it looks like we were right,” Ben answered.

“And Jeb Stuart willingly went along with this?” Vixen said, with a surprised look on her face.

“I never said he was really Jeb Stuart, did I?” Ben smiled back at her.