Issue 12: "Die Hard the Hunter, Finale"

Suicide Squad Roll Call:

Valentina Vostok- Former head of Waller’s covert team, Task Force X. Was made head of the Suicide Squad over a year ago when Amanda Waller suffered sever injuries that put her in a coma during the Apokolips crisis.

Manhunter/ Mark Shaw- Trained by the Manhunters cult but has since vowed to destroy them. Bounty Hunter with enhanced strength, speed, stamina, agility, and limited healing powers.

Manhunter/ Paul Kirk- Formerly of the Manhunters cult. Presumed dead and has spent the last several years tracking down his various clones with the ultimate goal of permanently shutting down the Manhunter cult

Bronze Tiger/Ben Turner- Second in command, martial arts expert trained by the League of Assassins. Everything else on him is classified and rarely offers details concerning his past.

Vixen/ Mari Jiwe McCabe- Tatu Totem grants her the ability to mimic the powers of any animal.

Tempest/ Joshua Clay- Powers include kinetic energy blasts and limited flight. Former member of the Doom Patrol. Turned himself in once his stint was over with them due to supposed crimes he committed when his powers developed. Recruited to the Squad by former DP member, Valentina Vostok.

Peacemaker/ Christopher Smith- Once a member of Amanda Wallers Task Force X. A master combatant, a sureshot with firearms, and an expert pilot who often fly’s the Squad in and out of missions.

Firehawk/ Lorraine Reilly-Daughter of a U.S. Senator. Once a member of Wallers Task Force X. She can create bird-like wings of atomic flame and fly at high speeds. She can fire blasts of fiery thermal energy or bursts of searing radiation.

Knockout/ Unknown- Once a member of Wallers Task Force X. Former member of the Female Furies of Apokolips. Possesses super-strength, regeneration, and limited invulnerability.

Catman/ Thomas Blake- Full extent of powers unknown. Has displayed excellent fighting skills in hand-to-hand combat as well as excellent marksmanship with firearms and knives. Also has been known to tell of a legend regarding the cloth that makes up his costume. He claims it possesses mystic powers that would protect its wearer from harm, granting him the nine lives of a cat. None of which have been proven.

Nemesis/ Tom Tresser- Vigilante turned operative for the U.S. government and a master of disguise. Blames the Council for the dissappearance and apparent death of his brother.


Shadow Team-

Nightshade/Eve Eden- Government agent who continues to secretly work for Sarge Steel reporting back to him the current details on the Squad. Can become a tangible shadow for short periods of time. She can create dimensional warps and teleport herself and others.

Plastique/ Bette Sans Souci- Known Terrorist and work for hire Power to project explosive force at will by touching an object with her fingertips. Captured over six months ago after she blew up Belle Reve prison. Continues to serve out her sentence as a member of the Squad indefinitely.

Deadeye/ Unknown- An excellent marksman with a bow and arrow. Recruited out of prison for crimes that have been classified at this time.

Tigress/ Artemis Crock- Exceptional at hand-to-hand combat as well as a skilled archer. Recruited out of prison for crimes that have been classified at this time.

Now…


“You are nothing but a terrorist,” Nemesis stated as he looked up at the man he thought had died years ago.

“Terrorist?” Craig laughed. “That is such a throwaway term people like you toss out when someone has a different belief than you. I have never used terror to spread my beliefs. I use truth.”

“The truth is that you allied yourself with Sayid Marlo, a known terrorist.”

“Marlo was a patriot and just one of many men brave enough to stand up to the American beast. And if I recall correctly, it was a member of your squad that killed him, not me. So tell me who’s the terrorist here?” Tom Tresser sat there nearly slumped over in the chair unable to look his brother in the eye. “That’s right Tom, or did you forget that I was the one who put Wade Eiling in charge of the Suicide Squad to begin with, just to keep an eye on you. I’ve been following your career all this time. This ridiculous crusade of yours to balance the scales of justice!”

Nemesis was growing weaker by the minute. He no longer had the strength to apply pressure to the bullet wound in his shoulder. He fought to stay coherent; the only thing that kept him from blacking out completely was the range of emotions he was feeling. Anger. Confusion. Betrayal. All of which revolved around one simple question:

"Why? Dear God, why Craig? Everything I did, I did for you!"

Craig rolled his eyes. "And everything I did, I did to get away from who I was. The weak person who was unable to deal with life." He sighed and hung his head, and when he looked up again, Tom saw some of the brother he once knew in his gaze. Craig held out his hand. "You want to do something for me, Tom? You want to help me? Then open your eyes. Guys like you...capes, the cops...all of it...you never do any good. You just maintain the status quo. Cops on the take, Feds doing shakedowns. Hell, don't tell me you think President Lord is on the up and up, do you? And look at you! You work with super-villains yourself! And for what? What are you defending? What are you fighting for? Nothing! The world is strength. The world is power and hate and blood. Sheep and wolves. Profit and loss. That's reality, bro! You're fighting to preserve it; I'm trying to profit by it! Which of us is worse? Not me." He reached out a hand. "You wanna help me, Tom? Join the winning team."

Tom sighed, tears building up in his eyes. "Then my brother is truly dead."

"No, I'm alive like I never was before. But you'll be down amongst the dead men soon enough. I'm sorry, brother."

"So am I," Nemesis whispered.

Belle Reve, Super Maximum Security Prison:
Missions Room-


“Are you kidding me?” Sarge Steel yelled into his cell phone. “I understand that, but you’re telling me we have no contact with five of OUR submarines that this maniac claims to have at his command?” He paused as the person on the other end tried to explain, “There are five nuclear warheads that do not officially exist pointed at the White House… at YOUR President. Find a way to override them NOW!”

Christine St. Clair watched as Sarge Steel stormed out of the room. Valentina Vostok was seated next to her. When she looked over at Val she saw her put her head down as she tried to hide the smile on her face. “You don’t like him much do you?” she asked Val.

“No. Not so much.” Val looked up at her.

“I understand how hard it is to be a woman in your position while the boys play war.”

“Well I am still not sure if I am in the right place here…” Val stood up and stared at the several large monitors positioned on the wall of the missions room. “But I had a good role model.” She laughed to herself when she wondered what Waller would say if she were here to hear that.

“ I am thankful that you have allowed me to stay here and monitor the situation out in California,” Christine responded.

“Well, considering with what’s going on in D.C., Steel felt it best that you both wait things out here anyway.” Val turned around to face her. “But I have been wondering something, Miss St. Clair. Why would Steel bring in an ex-Interpol operative like you into this operation?”

Christine leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. She glanced up at the monitors again and decided that they had nothing else to do at the moment but wait. After so many years, Christine would’ve thought she’d be an expert at waiting by now. But she was extremely nervous. One way or another it was all going to end soon and the waiting would finally be over. Just a little bit longer…

She began to tell Val how she was recruited into Interpol. They had recruited her at a young age. She was pretty and was able to play the ditzy blonde role perfectly. When they discovered that she could do more than just that, they began to train her for meatier missions. After a few years out in the field, Christine met Paul Kirk.

He had only recently been recruited into the Manhunters Cult and at the time neither of them suspected how dangerous they were or that they were being run by the same organization she had been ordered to investigate, the shadow group known only as The Council.

When Paul Kirk had discovered that there was more to the Manhunters Cult than met the eye, he met up with her and told her of his suspicions. She was able to use what he told her to confirm that the Manhunters were linked to the criminal underworld through the Council and had been using him, as well as many other ‘members’, across the globe. This infuriated Paul and she saw a side of him she never knew existed. He was angry and wanted revenge. But she was scared that his judgment had been clouded and she insisted that he wait for her to report to her superiors what they had uncovered. He told Christine that he had to take care of it himself. She begged him not to go without her but he didn’t want her any more involved than she already was. They stopped arguing and she reluctantly agreed. They spent one last night together before he headed out.

“He promised that once he took care of everything we would start a new life together and leave everything else behind us.” Christine wiped a single tear away that had fallen onto her cheek. “And of course I let myself fall back into the stupid girl role, and let him go. That was twenty-eight years ago.”

Val stood there. She felt slightly uncomfortable as this woman she hardly knew poured her heart out to her. But she also related to Christine St. Clair in ways she would never be willing to admit. She recognized that she must have been holding a lot of this inside of her for way too long and just needed someone to listen. She sat down next to her and put her arm around her. Christine showed no hesitation and laid her head on Val’s shoulder.

After a few minutes, Christine sat up and adjusted herself. “I am sorry. Here you are trying to run a mission and I break down like a girl who got stood up for prom.”

“Trust me; I’d rather be in here with you than with Mr. iron-fist out there.” Val forced herself to laugh. “Of course, if you’ve been waiting twenty-eight years for this, I can imagine it’s harder for you than it is for me.”

“Well I haven’t sat around like this the entire time.” Christine stood up. “I mean, until recently I thought that Paul died at the hands of the Manhunters. When I first received word that the Manhunter compound in Indonesia had been destroyed with no survivors I spent day and night trying to track down the Council and bring them to justice, but they covered their tracks well and had virtually disappeared. Maybe I wasn’t strong enough, but I knew, no matter what I did to them, I would never be able to bring Paul back. Soon after I retired from Interpol and…well, I started a new life here in the U.S. but I guess I never really moved on. Too many ghosts to keep me up at night, you know?”

“And all this time you thought he was dead?” Val turned and asked her.

“Until about six weeks ago when an old contact of mine sent me a classified file. In the file were a list of dates and photos going back several years and all were related to a single ongoing operation involving the Manhunters Cult. I started digging into it and found out that the Manhunters were active again. It wasn’t too long after that that I got a visit from Sarge Steel. He informed me, in his oh-so-subtle way, that I was involving myself in business that no longer concerned me.”

“Sounds like him,” Val replied.

“But there was no way I was going to back down. Not when every picture in that file was like looking at a ghost of someone I had lost twenty-eight years previously. Finally, Steel gave in when he realized that I might be able to provide them with some background on the Council and the Manhunters. It was then that he reluctantly told me the truth about what had happened surrounding Paul’s ‘death’. In truth, when Paul went to destroy the Manhunters, they had captured him and held him in some type of suspended animation. They revived him just long enough to perform experiments on him, and used his DNA to create the perfect Manhunter clones to compile an army of subservient soldiers. Apparently Paul had only just escaped from where they were holding him two years ago.”

Val was stunned. “My god. I had no idea. What happened when you saw him again?”

Christine paused as she turned to face away from Val. “I haven’t yet.”

“What do you mean you haven’t yet? What the hell does Steel think…”

“It wasn’t Steel’s idea. It’s was Paul’s. He sent me a message telling me that he wished that I hadn’t gotten involved with this again and that things had changed. He had changed and he wouldn’t be able to face me until this was all over.”

Val wasn’t sure how to respond to that. A screen on one of the monitors began to buzz. “Well it looks like you won’t have to wait much longer,” she said, walking over as the image of Nightshade appeared on the screen.

“We’re in position, Val,” Eve Eden announced.

“Good. I will inform the others. On my command we take them down,” Val said, looking over at Christine. “Let’s get this over with.”

Two Manhunter clones looked at each other curiously as a small dark spot appeared on the concrete wall in front of them. They both moved in closer, as the dark spot grew larger. Then one clone fall back with an arrow in his throat. The other turned his head as a hand reached out and twisted his neck until there was a soft audible SNAP.

“Oh, this is going to be fun.” Deadeye stepped through the dark dimensional rift.

“Definitely,” Tigress agreed as she admired her handy work and kicked the dead Manhunter out of the way.

“Just stay close,” Nightshade announced, as she stepped through behind them followed by Plastique, who looked over at Tigress with disgust. “We’re here to provide Plastique with back-up. There’s no going off on your own.”

“You’re the boss lady.” Tigress looked over at Plastique grinning. “Just show me who I get to kill next.”

This place looked a lot smaller from the outside, Eve pondered. They were going to have to move quickly and efficiently if they were to be successful.

The four of them turned as the sound of clicking boots rapidly moved toward them. Tigress again smiled as several more clones came into view down the long concrete corridor.

Tigress pointed to them and raised an eyebrow at Nightshade. “Go,” Eve said under her breath as Deadeye steadied his bow and ran behind the already-charging Tigress.

Plastique quickly got to work. She was there for one reason and one reason only, to rig this entire place to blow to kingdom come and back again. Timing. Timing and precision. That was what it took. What it always took.

She paid no attention to the chaos of the battle behind her. She only focused on the work.

Wires twisted, timers set. Four bombs...five...six...

“It’s been a while but I recognize that look in your eye, Tom,” Craig Tresser said as he paced back and forth in front of his brother who was doing everything he could to stay coherent. “You’re trying to put the pieces together. Trying to figure how it all happened. How did your saintly brother become the leader of the evil Council?”

Nemesis looked up at him. “It doesn’t matter.”

“You’re right of course but I’m sure you’ll be glad to know I killed the original leader with every intention of shutting the entire organization down. But maintaining the status quo just didn’t feel right, you know? That’s why I reestablished the Manhunter Cult and proceeded to gain allies here and abroad for the eventual revolution. Of course we had a major set back when the Paul Kirk clones began to die out faster than we could breed them. But last year, after the Apokolips invasion, we discovered a new power source and were able to create stronger, more potent soldiers.”

An armed guard ran into the room unannounced. “I told you to wait outside,” Craig yelled back at him.

“I know, sir, but…” He looked down nervously at Nemesis. “They’re here. We’ve detected several of them at various points inside and outside of the facility.”

Craig Tresser raised his hand up at the guard. “That’s fine. I half expected this to happen when the VP here turned out to be my brother. So, the Suicide Squad is here to rescue you, huh, little brother? Let’s see how they fare against a half dozen of my new and improved clone soldiers. The Squad may finally live up to its name today.” Craig laughed.

Tom watched as the guard was shifting back and forth nervously. Without warning he shot out of the chair at him. He had his arm wrapped around the guard’s neck before he knew what had happened. Tom twisted the man around and with his free hand pulled the guard’s gun from his holster.

“This ends now,” Nemesis yelled as the guard fell to the ground dead, his gun pointed at his brother.

“Oh, this is going to end soon enough brother.” He had his own gun out and pointed at Nemesis.

“Either shoot me or sit down and shut the hell up.” Nemesis cocked the hammer of the gun. “The choice is yours, brother.”

A Manhunter threw out a hand, and a bolt of lightning struck Firehawk. She screamed and fell, her power fading.

Knockout shook her head after seeing that Firehawk was down; clearly they had upgraded their troopers. Yet... she couldn't help feeling this whole affair had the stink of Apokolips about it. Her stomach lurched at the thought of her hateful home.

Her next punch knocked a Manhunter back, but he got back up and came at her again, catching her in a flying tackle that brought her down. He stared into her eyes and she became dazed and confused... she tried to shake him off but knew she would fail. As everything began to fade to black, one final thought lingered in her mind:

What kind of powers did these maniacs have?

Peacemaker continued to fire each shot with precision and accuracy. He remained calm but he knew he was running out of time. The animal girl had already hightailed it. He was the last one. Whatever these guys were made of, they still had vulnerable spots. Vital spots. They had to.

He aimed very carefully, and shot one in the eye.

Crack.

He was pleased when the enemy went down.

He was not so pleased when another Manhunter smashed his weapon like kindling.

Peacemaker hated to run, but he doubted these guys were taking prisoners.

So he took to his heels.

Mark Shaw entered another room and shut the door behind him. He had traced the buzzing from all the way down the hall. He knew something important was here and he was right.

It looked in some ways like a miniature model city on top of an octagonal orange platform. Nasty arcs of purple energy flashed over the structure as it trembled and surged. The "cityscape" on top, whatever it really was, was clearly the true heart of it; it glowed now purple, now green, now silver-white. It hurt his eyes to look at it, and not because of the brightness; but because it was so alien.

As he had already noticed, it was shaking and trembling, but the longer he looked, the more it seemed that the very air around it was shimmering; not from heat, but from some strange distortion of the laws of physics themselves.

He was mesmerized, unable to look away until the door flew open. He turned around as half a dozen Manhunter clones poured in.

“This thing must be kind of important to you guys, huh?” he said, pointing back toward the machine. They said nothing as they charged at him.

A last Manhunter clone landed hard at Mark’s feet. He frowned; he hadn't taken that one down, so who?

"Hey stranger," a familiar voice said.

Mark looked up, and a smile slowly filled his face. There was Vixen, leaning against the doorway, smirking.

She reached out a hand and tousled his hair, then kissed him softly. "It’s good to see you.”

Mark gently pulled away from her. “Yeah. It’s been too long. I…”

“I know. We have a lot of catching up to do. I just ran into Nightshade and it looks like she’s been pretty busy.”

“Have you seen Paul Kirk?” Mark asked.

“No, but if he’s still around I’m sure he has an idea what’s going down and booked a ticket home already. So let’s get the hell out of here, before this whole place blows up."

Mark smiled. He liked the sound of that. "Good idea."

They ran for it.

Craig Tresser shifted uneasily in the chair as Nemesis continued to point his gun at him. “I should contact Lord. The thought of those nukes pointed at him probably has him pissing in his pants.”

“You’re not going anywhere.”

“If I don’t contact my man soon then half of D.C. is going to be blown sky high. You don’t want that on your conscience do you?”

“It’s over, Craig. Everything…is over.”

“So, just like that, huh?” Tom slowly stood up, “Little brother is going to save the day yet again!”

“Stay put, goddamn you.” Nemesis shook the gun at his brother.

Craig slowly took his own gun and placed it on the floor in front of him. He then kicked it away and it slid across the floor past Nemesis.

Nemesis could barely stand. He had lost too much blood. Everything was blurring together, his vision, his emotions, everything.

“There’s still a chance to get away before it’s too late,” Craig said as he took a step backward while keeping an eye on Nemesis.

“Stop. You aren’t going anywhere,” Nemesis ordered.

The room suddenly shifted. The sounds of explosions could be heard off in the distance. There was another explosion, and then another, each getting closer and closer.

“I am leaving Tom. You won’t shoot your own brother in the back, will you?” He slowly turned his back to Nemesis and headed toward the door.

Nemesis took aim. His steadied his hand and pulled the trigger. Craig Tresser cried out as the bullet pierced his anklebone. Tom stumbled over and pulled his brother up and dragged him back over to the metal chair in the middle of the room.

Another explosion split the concrete wall forcing a portion of it to collapse. Nemesis fell to his knees and cried out, “My brother is already dead. Today is the day I finally get to give him a proper burial.” The ceiling began to fall in. Tom looked down at his bloodied hands and silently began to count down. 5…4…3…2…1…




THE END.

Epilogue Two:


Val walked into her office and shut the door. She took a deep breath and sat down at her desk. “I thought you would have flown out with Steel?”

“No,” Christine St. Clair replied. “There was no need.”

“Well I am still waiting to hear back from all of the agents involved before making my final report but there’s no word whether Paul made it out a….”

Christine quickly rose from her chair. “That’s okay. I have a feeling he’s still out there. He just wasn’t ready to…” She stopped herself.

“Well if I get word on anything I will let you know.”

She smiled back at Val. “Thank you. I appreciate that.” She nervously reached in her pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. Val slid a lighter across her desk toward her. “I’m no fool, Val. Did you know that all those years when the Council held Paul captive and held him in suspended animation he never aged? Not a single day.” She laughed. “I am going to be fifty-two years old next month and I refuse to pine over a man that doesn’t look a day over twenty nine.” Christine took several puffs of the cigarette and slowly exhaled.

“So what are you planning on doing now?” Val asked. “Of course, if you’re interested, I sure could use a woman of your expertise here.”

“Again I appreciate it, but no. With the Council finally destroyed I can finally come out from the shadows and live my life again.” Christine sat back down across from Val.

“I’ve got to prep for a conference call with the President, and the Squad should be back within the hour. Feel free to hang out as long as you want.” Val stood up and reached out for Christine’s hand. She pulled her hand away and walked around the desk to embrace her instead.

“Thanks, Val. I need to make a phone call and then I am heading out to the airport.”

Christine watched as Val turned and smiled at her before heading out of the door. Christine sat and stared at the phone on the desk. She had appreciated the fact that Val had leant her a shoulder to cry on. She hadn’t opened up to someone like that in a long time. It felt good but the truth was that there were things that she hadn’t been willing to share with her.

Earlier when she told Val about why she retired from Interpol she left a few things out.

Eight weeks after spending that final night alone with Paul, Christine found out she was pregnant. She was determined not to bring a child into the world while her own life was still in danger. She cut a deal with the US government she turned over classified intel and in return they gave her a new name and identity. Seven months later she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She was fearful that if the Council ever discovered that Paul Kirk had produced an offspring they would stop at nothing to obtain the infant. She made a promise to her baby that she would always keep her safe and did the only thing she could - she put her up for adoption.

But now the Council was gone as well as the threat to her and her child. A child that grew up never knowing the truth about her birth parents. Christine had observed her daughter from a distance for years. Every time wanting to run up and tell her who she was. But every time knowing that the threat still existed. But now that excuse had finally been removed after twenty-seven long years.

Christine’s hand shook as she reached out for the phone. She was scared. Uncertain that it was the right thing to do. She knew that her daughter didn’t need her. She had grown up to be a powerful and successful woman who had a bright future ahead of her. But Christine knew, she wasn’t doing this for her daughter; she was doing it for herself. Maybe she was being selfish but she had nothing left.

She stopped stalling and picked up the phone, quickly dialing the number. The phone rang and it was all Christine could do not to slam the receiver back down on the cradle. It rang three more times before someone on the other end finally answered. “District Attorney’s office.”

Christine nervously spoke into the phone, “Yes…I would like to speak to Assistant District Attorney Kate Spencer please.”

“She’s currently out of the office. Can I take a message?”

“No. No message.” Christine quickly hung up the phone. What was she thinking anyway? This wasn’t something she should do over the phone anyway. No, it was time to fly out to Las Vegas and finally introduce herself to her daughter.



FIN.