Gotham City, Four Years ago...On a boat in the docks, a battle was brewing.
“Watch out, Chum!” Batman called, and Robin ducked an electrical blast.
“You idiots don't know the first thing about crime fighting,” Joshua Buchinsky, the first Electrocutioner sneered. His costume was blue and gray, but there the similarities to Batman's costume ended.
“You're a killer!” Robin shouted. “You're a criminal, not a crime fighter!”
“Naive idiot,” Electrocutioner snorted.
He hurled another bolt at the dynamic duo, who leapt to each side of it. Robin came in with a graceful flipping kick and planted both feet in Electrocutioner's chest.
The man let out a strangled cry and went overboard, into the water.
“We'll have to go in after him,” Batman said, jocularity fading. “Can't let him drown, or escape.”
“I'm sorry Batman, I didn't mean to--”
“It's all right, Robin. We just have to get him out--”
Electrocutioner's gloved hands reached out of the water, grabbed a leg of each costumed vigilante, and yanked them in before they could react.
Electrocutioner couldn't exactly fry them now, without also fritzing himself. He was fortunate his costume and power generators were insulated against the water, but if he let fly, the current would go everywhere, and he would die along with them.
Besides, it was too dark to see underwater at night anyway. He threw a couple blind punches in the water, connecting with both heroes, then swam to the surface and pulled himself back onto the boat. He had only bought himself time.
He truly wanted to take out these weaklings who didn't have what it took to fight crime the right way--and hypocritically wanted to take him in as well!--but now was not the time. Ambush from afar was the way with this sort; a sniper attack. Having been drawn into close quarter combat with them was almost always a losing proposition. He had to escape.
If he ran, they would just catch him. He would have to be more clever.....
He smiled to himself as the obvious solution came to him. He dove off the far side.
Seconds later, Batman and Robin surfaced.
“We've gotta go after him!” The Boy wonder exclaimed.
“We don't have our scuba gear.” Batman had stopped smiling. “If he's gone under...”
“We've got to try!”
“Yes, you're right....”
And try they did, but he got away.
*********************************
Belle Reve, today-Paul Buchinsky woke up shivering. Crystal Frost was snuggled up behind him. She didn't mean to chill him, he knew that; she couldn't help it.
So many of them can't, the thought began, unbidden. He shoved it away.
He stumbled to his feet, then went over to the shower.
He had woken up with a pounding headache, which the hot water did nothing to dissipate. He stood under it for a while anyway, letting the scalding hot water relax his muscles and ease his tension.
When he got out, she was sitting up in bed, looking at him. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to--”
“I know, I know.” He waved a hand. “I'm sorry for waking you up so early.”
She shrugged. “It's about the only time this place is ever really quiet.”
He nodded agreement, massaging his temples. Belle Reve had a prisoner population that was loud and restless at the best of times. Only in sleep were they ever quiet. Sometimes not even then.
For a minute he looked into her cold eyes. She smiled, but try as she might, she couldn't be as kind as she wanted to be.
One day we will have to face the fact—He cut the thought off. The future was like the past; thinking about it did him no good.
He smiled back. Shrugging into his costume, he watched her turn over and go back to sleep.
Let her rest; there would be work for them both soon enough. There always was.
He stepped into the near silent corridors of Belle Reve, heading for the “guest commissary” which was always open. Technically speaking it was almost breakfast time, not quite 4 am. The cooks would grumble, but this was what they were paid for, to cater to those superpowered personnel who were not on permanent lockdown.
This was, of course, a far cry from general population, both metahuman and otherwise.
Electrocutioner was still unsettled from his cold awakening, and damnit, he wanted eggs and hash browns and hot coffee.
He strode down to the commissary, and was mildly surprised to find Vixen and June Moone already there. June was tearing through a plateful of scrambled eggs and bacon with ravenous enthusiasm; Vixen was curled around a mug of hot tea, head nodding.
Electrocutioner stared at this tableau and felt it was gonna be a long day; longer, even, then he thought it would be when he got up so long before the sun.
*********************************
Amanda Waller and Sarge Steel stared at the pair of criminals before them, still cuffed and wearing prisoner orange.
On the left was Cavalier, the arrogant bravo swordsman who had fought the Squad during the Calculator affair. He looked puzzled and blankly worried, as though he wasn't sure what he was doing there.
On the right was the mad scientist Malthus, who had conspired with a fellow crazy to steal the Parademon, and who had been involved with the Manhunter cult before that. He sat there with three days worth of stubble on his face and a sour smirk. By contrast, he seemed to know exactly what was going on.
“Listen up, you two idiots,” Steel all but snarled. “You're being given an opportunity you don't deserve. Fortunately for you, we've lost two members in a matter of days, and are shorthanded.”
“Ah, is that the reason,” Malthus said. “I was wondering what was taking so long.”
“Don't get too confident,” Waller warned him. “We can send you back and get someone else just like that!” She snapped her fingers.
Malthus raised both hands in a placatory gesture, retaining his sour smile.
“You're offering us a deal?” Cavalier said, frowning.
“It's what they do,” Malthus said. “This is a recruitment drive.”
“Exactly,” Steel stepped between them. “Now, egghead, shut up.”
Malthus lowered his head.
“That's better. The proposition is this; you perform one mission for the Suicide Squad. That earns you your pardon, and the nanobombs in your necks are deactivated. You are welcome to stay afterwards, of course; the Squad offers security and stability...and, while you remain members, immunity.”
Cavalier's eyes lit up. “Do I get my sword back?”
“And your costume,” Waller agreed. “Malthus will have access to robot processing facilities, under our control of course.”
“Of course,” Malthus echoed. “I will cooperate.”
“You'd better. And if you have any idea where Wilkerson is.....”
“Far away from here and long since gone to ground, I have no doubt. You know all our safehouses already.”
Cavalier's eyes were shining. “It is true that I've never worked for rates so low as mere room and board. However to wield my blade again....I accept gladly.”
“Room, board and a pardon,” Steel said somewhat stiffly. “However, your enthusiasm is noted.”
*********************************
Electrocutioner was still sitting in the cafeteria, sometime later, when Waller came to him.
If you had asked him, he couldn't have said why; only that he was enjoying the peace and quiet, and being alone with his thoughts.
He had spoken no word to the dozing Vixen, not even when Manhunter came along and scooped her up. For a moment he wondered if they had had some kind of lover's tiff; then decided that Vixen, like him, had wanted sometime alone. He had said a few basic pleasantries to June, but she was busy eating. Quite a lot, apparently. She seemed much happier with herself and her situation these days. Manhunter didn't know what to make of it.
Waller took Electrocutioner to one side. “I need to talk to you.”
Frowning in puzzlement, he went to her office. “Yes?”
She sat behind her desk and stared at him until he began to fidget.
“What?” He asked, irritably.
“Is there anything in your past we should know, that we don't already?”
Electrocutioner shrugged. “Not that I'm aware of.”
Her eyes bored into him. “Are you sure?”
“As far as I can remember, yes. Maybe you should tell me what this is about?”
“Don't play with me, Buchinski,” she warned.
“If you think you have something on me, say what the hell it is. I don't have time for your games.” He gritted his teeth.
She stared at him a moment longer. “You really don't know, do you.”
“Obviously not!” He exploded.
She drew in a breath. “Delaware.”
“Yeah? That's where I'm from, so?”
“We think your brother is alive.”
“WHAT?!?”She nodded. “Okay, you really didn't know. All right. Something is going on in Delaware, looks like your brother's handiwork.”
“But he's supposed to be dead,” Electrocutioner protested. Even through his mask, she could tell he was going through a chain of conflicting emotions.
“But the body was never found,” Waller responded. “We always wondered if you were hiding him.”
“Well, I
would have,” he admitted. “But he never came to me, or contacted me. Which is why I thought he was really gone, and put on the suit in the first place.”
Waller nodded. “I appreciate your honesty. You'll hear the rest at the briefing. Nevertheless, if it is him, will you side with us?”
“Will you give him the same opportunity you gave me?” He countered.
She shrugged. “That's up to him.”
Electrocutioner nodded and walked out.
*********************************
Westwoods, Delaware, Three years ago.....Dead.
His brother was dead.
Paul Buchinsky clenched his fists together and grit his teeth. He and his brother had always agreed on most things, but Joshua had been the one with the bravery, the initiative. Paul had no motivation.
Now he did:
revenge.
He knew where his brother kept his spare costumes. The design wasn't exactly perfect, but it would do for a start. He could adjust it to suit himself later.
As he strapped it on for the first time, he reflected that it didn't feel right to wear it. He only knew in theory how to operate the electricity blasters; and had no idea how to replenish or replace the batteries.
Fortunately, he knew where his brother had gone to learn those things, back in the day....
But he owed his brother at least one night on the streets, to kill those that had killed him.
He slipped out, feeling other things that were subtly wrong with the costume. His brother had been both taller and thinner, the costume was ill fitting. He hoped that would not affect his use of the blasters.
Westwoods was a small town, but bikers sometimes came through here. And these bikers had far from ordinary weapons. Intergang, probably. Paul didn't care.
The Electrocutioner was reborn in that moment. He didn't use any glib catch phrases or cocky taunts; he didn't even let them know he was there.
He simply opened fire and kept lacerating them with electricity until they were dead.
Oh
yes.....he could
definitely get into this.
*********************************
“...A series of electricity-related deaths,” Waller said to the assembled squad in the briefing room. “The deaths may or may not be related to Electrocutioner's brother, who was presumed dead.”
A murmur went through the Squad. Electrocutioner merely clenched his fists and kept quiet. Frost put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“You will also note our two new members, Cavalier and Malthus, whom some of you may remember.”
Another wave of murmuring. Cavalier smiled, almost preening himself; Malthus merely smirked. Manhunter and Knockout glared daggers at Malthus, and the Parademon actually started to get up.
“Down, do not attack,” Knockout whispered to him in their dark language. “But....watch him for any treachery.”
The Parademon subsided and nodded, but his red eyes never left the scientist.
“Our job is to assess the situation, and take whatever action is necessary. If it is the previous Electrocutioner, the current incarnation will be relied on to bring him in,” Waller said, an undercurrent of warning in her voice. The lightning-powered vigilante merely nodded.
“Question,” Malthus said. “How am I supposed to be of any use to you with no robots to command? There's been no time to start production.”
“You will be given the hand blaster your “friend” used against us,” Waller responded. “Stay back and aim very, very carefully.”
Understanding the inference, Malthus nodded.
*********************************
Westwoods Delaware, Five years ago...“Where are you going?” Paul asked Joshua.
“Baja California. Its in Mexico.”
“What for?”
“To further fine tune my.....expertise.”
“There's someone there that can help you?”
“Several someones, yeah. Take care, little brother.” Joshua clapped Paul on the shoulder. “Watch out for mom.”
“Always...hey bro....come back, ok?”
“Don't be such a wuss,” Joshua said, but gently, and there was a soft smile in his eyes when he said it. That was rare indeed, for him.
*********************************
They landed on a small, unremarkable private airstrip.
“It's.....very small and quiet,” Frost said, for lack of anything better to say.
“It was all we had, and all we knew, before life smacked us upside the head,” Electrocutioner answered.
“Small, statically safe hamlets,” Malthus said. It took a long moment before anyone realized this was his version of agreement. June frowned thoughtfully, and looked at Resurrection Man, who gave a bleary, unfocused shrug.
They moved on without fuss to the site. Just outside Electrocutioner's old home town, four bodies.
“The local police haven't been along to pick them up,” Vixen noted in puzzlement.
“Our 'friends' in Checkmate no doubt,” Manhunter answered. Vixen had no answer for that, nor did anyone else; the case in Markovia had done nothing to improve any Squad member's opinion of that organization.
Without being asked, Electrocutioner bent over the bodies. “It looks like my kind of handiwork,” he admitted. “Death by electrocution, certainly. And the right power wattage. But....”
“But?” Frost prompted.
“Two kids, an old man, a dog. The kids aren't gangbangers, the old man is not threat to anyone, and clearly this is no attack dog. These weren't bad guys getting their just deserts; these were innocents.”
“Not your style?” Vixen asked.
“Or my brother's either,” Electrocutioner answered. “Like me, he went after the guilty, or those 'heroes' that interfered with him. Not those we want to protect.”
Manhunter snorted, but Electrocutioner ignored him.
“I don't understand...” Cavalier frowned. “What profit would there be in killing such as these? Who would order such a hit?”
“Profit probably wasn't the motive,” Manhunter said, and Electrocutioner nodded agreement.
Cavalier opened his mouth to say something else, then shook his head. Electrocutioner knew he was an “old school” villain, the sort that enjoyed taking it to the heroes for the sake of it, and getting paid to do so.
“If not your brother, then who?” Vixen prodded.
“That's what we have to find out.” Electrocutioner stood up. “Have the local cops talked to witnesses?”
“Probably weren't any,” Manhunter said. “We'll ask.”
“If it was your brother...” Vixen began.
“
If,” Electrocutioner stressed.
“Yes, if. Where do we go next?”
“If he's revisiting our past, his next step would be Baja California.”
“Why?”
“That's where he refined his technique and weapons.”
*********************************
Seven months ago...His career had gone well, but now his luck had run out. Captured. Defeated. Taken prisoner!
He woke up in a cell, a tall grim man standing over him.
“What, no trial?”
“Open and shut case,” the man said. “You'd be behind bars in weeks.”
“Looks like I am already.”
“Ah, but you're being given the opportunity for a deal,” the man said.
Electrocutioner looked up. “I'm listening.”
“My name is Sarge Steel. We have this little team we like to call the Suicide Squad....”
*********************************
The plane took off. Electrocutioner hadn't even had a chance to look at his old home.
Not that there was anyone left there for him now. Mom had long since moved away, and wouldn't understand what he had to do.
They were going on pure guesswork; there was no guarantee that Baja California would have what they were looking for. Not to mention the fact that Manhunter still didn't trust him. Ironic, considering their similarities.
“Well find something,” Frost said.
“I hope so.” He said, staring out the window. “I hope so....”
*********************************
Baja California SurThe room was dark, smelly, underground, poorly lit. A conference of sorts was taking place.
“The subject is responding well to the treatment,” one figure said.
“Soon we will be ready to strike,” said another.
“Let us not be hasty,” said a third. “Timing everything. We must move slowly and cautiously.”
Their eyes turned to two figures. One was handcuffed to a hospital bed. The other was in chains.
“Yes...” The third figure said, almost to itself. “Things are going very well indeed....”