Checkmate: Operation Outsiders #8

The Outsiders

Arsenal - Lian Harper, master marksman, Black Queen's Knight and team leader.

Elasti-Girl - Rachel Dibny, the new Stretchable Sleuth.

Tempest - Sarin of Atlantis, super strong son of Aquaman and master of water.

Cyclone - Maxine Hunkel, happy-go-lucky wind witch.

Animal Man - Warren McCabe-Shaw, inheritor of the Tantu-totem and master of the animal kingdom.

Cassandra Cain - The former Batgirl and the world's deadliest martial artist.

Gene Nigma - White Queen's Bishop and manager of the Outsiders.

Natasha Irons - Pilot of Checkmate Jet 206.

Eric Hamilton - Pilot of Checkmate Jet 414.


The Royals

Fred Freeman - The World's Mightiest Mortal and Black King of Checkmate.

Tatsu Yamashiro - Former superhero Katana and Black Queen of Checkmate.

White King - ?

Caroline Kelly - One-time vigilante and White Queen of Checkmate.


“SPLIT!”

Two voices eerily said at the same time. They belonged to Arsenal and Captain Boomerang, the respective leaders of the Outsiders and the Suicide Squad, and the order was regarding the teams need to separate and narrowly avoid a blast of flame from the hands of the leader of the metahuman strike force called the Onslaught.

As soon as she found cover behind one of the many large discarded pieces of machinery, Lian’s head swiveled. She immediately gathered that the Squad was all alive and well, which was of less concern to her. Her team was all uninjured, except…

“Tempest!” She said, seeing her Atlantean ally lying on the ground. His skin was particularly pale and he was breathing heavily, his throat making a sickening noise.

Cyclone impulsively jumped from her cover and, using her wind powers, propelled herself forward and grabbed Sarin’s body, then dove for cover next to Arsenal.

“What happened?” Lian asked, looking at his body with concern.

“He was closest to the blast.” Maxine answered. “He’s already dehydrated and the fire only made it worse. He’s suffocating and he needs help.”

“Dammit.” Lian cursed. “Alright, that puts us out a fighter. We need to…”

Cyclone, showing rare frustration, interrupted Arsenal and said “Didn’t you hear me? He’s hurt. He’s probably dying. He needs help!”

“He’d want us to fight without him!” Lian yelled. She knew this may not have been completely true, but didn’t bother correcting herself. Cyclone, ignoring her, grabbed Sarin’s body and shot away in a torrent of wind. Arsenal cursed as she flew away, yelling into her personal communicator for Maxine to return and getting no response.

“Your team’s an unorganized mess and you shouldn’t be leading it.” Deadshot, who had been next to Lian the entire time, chipped in.

“Shut up!” Arsenal screamed at her as she drew her guns.



All the while, the leader of the Onslaught continued to blast intense flames at the opposing teams. His allies stood behind him, silently watching as he took in sick delight at tormenting the Outsiders and the Squad.

“Enough, Rustam!” A powerful-looking woman said. “We need to confront them now!”

“Have patience, Tolteca.” Rustam answered. “They’re scared. I’m making sure they stay that way.”

Idiot. Tolteca thought. As if he heard her, Rustam turned to a different ally and nodded his head slightly. “Would you, Jaculi?”

A woman, dressed in tight-fitting white clothing, vanished in a blur.



“Crap. They’ve got a speedster.” Bronze Tiger said into his communicator as he saw the blur. “I got it.” Captain Boomerang’s voice chipped in electronically. There was a distinct sound of speed, and instantly everyone knew Owen Mercer was handling the situation.

“We’re screwed.” Deadshot said.

“Why’s that?” Arsenal asked.

“Owen’s not a runner. Not naturally, anyway.” Zoey answered. “The people in charge have been pushing him to learn to use his speed, and unfortunately for us, he’s still learning. Against a trained speedster, he’s screwed.”

Noticing that the barrage of fire from Rustam had ceased, Deadshot peeked up from behind her cover. “Oh no…”

“What is it?” Lian asked.

“See for yourself.”

Arsenal looked up to see a monstrous creature stepping towards them. It was humanoid, in a silver outfit with orange skin. It had hair like a lion’s mane and a tail like that of a scorpion, poised over its shoulder.

“What the hell is that?” Arsenal asked.

“Manticore; big guy, strong, probably invulnerable, don’t know what the tail’s for.” Zoey turned to her former rival and said “You want to take out a manticore?”

Lian silently cocked her guns and aimed them at her foe.

“Still hate you, Harper.” Deadshot said.

“Feeling’s mutual, Lawton.” Arsenal responded.



Elasti-Girl hid behind her cover, breathing heavily. She was invulnerable to physical harm most of the time, but these people could actually hurt her. The fire elemental was initial evidence of that; who knows what else they were capable of.

Apparently, it was a young woman. She leapt clear over the metal block and landed in front of a startled Rachel Dibny, striking a combat pose.

“Please tell me you’re just a scrapper.” Elasti-Girl muttered. The woman leapt forward and, with amazing grace and agility, delivered a spinning kick across Rachel’s face. Her head snapped to the side, but turned back without a mark on it. She smiled to herself.

The attacker looked stunned for a moment. Then, instinctively, she struck the stretchable hero with her gloved right hand. The impact did no harm, but before she could react to it, Rachel felt a burning hot pain in her body. She screamed in agony, but as soon as the sensation began, it had ceased as the attacker pulled away her fist.

“Taser in the glove.” Rachel surmised. “It’s never easy, is it?”

The woman attacked again, but Elasti-Girl avoided at with a stretch of her midsection. In the same motion, she launched herself into the air and landed behind the attacker.

“I hope you enjoyed that hit,” She said. “Because it’s the last you’re going to get.”

Rachel had to admit she was unsure at this point. Being vulnerable made her nervous, and her ‘witty banter’ was only a defense mechanism against her fear, and maybe a tool to keep her foe off guard. However, it didn’t seem to work, as the attacker charged again, this time leading with her electrified right fist.

“What’s the matter?” Elasti-Girl said instinctively, narrowly avoiding each attack with the taser glove. “You don’t speak English, do you?”

Between grunts, the woman said “I am Dervish.” Rachel couldn’t tell exactly what her game was by saying this, but didn’t bother thinking of it. At this point, she was just trying to stay alive.



Captain Boomerang and Jaculi, meanwhile, raced around the hangar at amazing speeds. And despite running the same speed as a bullet, Owen Mercer was highly outmatched by the Bialyan woman.

“What’s the matter?” He heard her say through the rushing wind. “Can’t you go any faster?”

Instinctively, Owen drew the first handful of boomerangs he had and hurled them at his foe. He was angered; he didn’t bother choosing which to use or even aim properly. He just threw them and prayed they made contact.

Naturally, all of them missed. What few boomerangs were actually heading towards Jaculi, she easily dodged with a confident smirk on her face that infuriated Captain Boomerang to no end.



Arsenal and Deadshot were having similar problems. Manticore was seemingly impervious to any harm they could possibly do. Each bullet bounced harmlessly off its metallic skin as slowly neared the two gunwomen.

“How do we kill this thing?” Zoey asked.

Lian didn’t bother answering. She wordlessly continued firing and thought to herself, No killing.

Without warning, a razor boomerang whizzed through the air and embedded itself into Manticore’s right arm. Sparks flew from the gap in its body as it pulled the weapon out and crushed it effortlessly.

“It’s a robot?!” Arsenal asked, ceasing her fire for a moment.

“Yeah, no $#*{}!” Deadshot said as she continued firing at any point on the body.

“I thought it was a guy in a suit.” Lian said matter-of-factly. “That means now I can do this.” Arsenal sheathed the gun in her right hand and drew another. She took a moment to aim properly, then, with a rare smile on her face, pulled the trigger.

Before anybody knew what was happening, the Manticore’s head exploded, and the smoking husk of a body slumped to the ground lifelessly.

Deadshot turned to Lian and asked “What the hell was that?”

“Detonator bullets. I thought it’d be good to carry them after our run-in with Solomon…doesn’t matter. Now can you get a shot at the fire shooter?”

Zoey didn’t respond. She lifted her left hand and slowly took aim.



Rustam watched silently as his warriors did battle. He was proud; Jaculi had been outrunning the American speedster, Dervish was keeping the stretching girl at bay and Manticore had almost cornered the girls with the guns.

That is, before its head exploded.

The loss of the soldier was regrettable, but it allowed Rustam to call in his reinforcement. He clicked a button on a device attached to his belt. From nowhere, a collection of 1s and 0s appeared in a seemingly random sequence, until they formed into an oddly green figure.

“Yes, master?” It said in a monotonous, buzzing voice.

“Djinn,” Rustam addressed the apparition. “I wish for you to kill those two girls.”

“Your wish is my command.” The Djinn said, and it flew away silently.

Rustam smirked to himself. The Djinn was a crowning achievement in artificial intelligence; a synthetic being that had malleable tangibility. Before, he couldn’t unleash the apparition; it's own unique machinery would have affected the Manticore’s circuits, but now, the Djinn was free to obey its master’s wishes.



It was a well known fact that metahuman fights were a spectacle to behold, and the clash of these three teams was one for the books. Boston Brand hovered high over the scene, immune to any possible sensory perception, enjoying what he so eloquently called a ‘superhuman clusterf*(&.’

Rustam caught his interest; the supposed leader of the Onslaught hadn’t done much since his initial attack. Was he planning something? Or was he just lazy?

Boston got an answer when he saw Rustam summon the Djinn. He couldn’t hear the leader’s orders over the din of battle, but saw it fly away. He hovered close and followed it. The green apparition flew straight at Arsenal and Deadshot and wrapped its emerald hands around their throats.

Deadman watched as the duo raised their firearms through sickening gasps and grunts. The each fired several times, but the bullets passed harmlessly through the green apparition.

And for the first time in a long time, Boston Brand had a brilliant idea.

“You can’t kill a genie…” He said aloud to ears that wouldn’t hear. “…unless you break its lamp.”

Thinking quickly, Deadman sought out the nearest body for him: and, to no surprise, it was Bane’s. The super soldier was stuck in battle with a fierce looking woman named Tolteca. The pair was exchanging powerful blows, but Bane looked to be the stronger. Finally, Bane gave a powerful left uppercut that left his foe lying on the ground.

Boston felt now was the best time to jump in, and in an instant, had physical form once more (so to speak). Bane’s vision was a bit off-kilter, but Deadman managed to identify Rustam. He charged, ready to do something he hadn’t done in a long time: kick some ass.

Tolteca looked up and saw her foe flee. She spat out a mouthful of blood as she got to her feet and prepared to pursue Bane.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

She turned to see the Outsider called Animal Man and the Suicide Squad member called Bronze Tiger, side by side and poised for combat.

“You would both be wise not to fight me.” Tolteca said in her most authoritative tone, giving a glance that would have terrified lesser men.

Neither Warren nor Richie were very good at banter. They paused for a moment, trying to figure out something to say. Then, silently, they agreed there was no point in trying. They charged at Tolteca and braced themselves for a tough fight.



Rustam watched with glee as the Djinn slowly killed Arsenal and Deadshot. This was working. The team was proving themselves. The superiors would be pleased.

Then he caught something from the corner of his eye. He saw one of the Americans running towards him; a muscular man wearing an odd-looking blue and white mask, with inhuman red eyes that Rustam knew were staring daggers at him.

“Your tactics leave something to be desired.” Rustam said in a thick accent.

“I’ve died already.” Boston said, continuing his charge. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

Rustam gave off a deep laugh and said “Let me show you.”

A jet of flame shot from Rustam’s outstretched hand. With a quick and very lucky half-step, Boston narrowly avoided the assault. He felt the heat as it passed by his right arm. He was worried. He knew Bane. Hell, he had been Bane. And Bane barely qualified as superhuman. He couldn’t take an attack like this.

Pushing the thought out of his mind, Boston continued towards Rustam. The leader of the Onslaught let loose another attack. This time it hit. Deadman instinctively raised his arms to block the fire, but it could only do so much.

It had been a long time since Boston Brand had more senses than sight and sound. But now he was experiencing the negative effects of the other three. He tasted the bitter air around him. He smelled the scorching flesh and cloth. But mostly, he felt the burn. He felt the heat as it roasted his now sinewy arms. And because it had been so long since he had felt pain, it hurt even worse. It was agony. Boston screamed. He trembled. He wanted so much to leave this body. But he couldn’t. He had a job to do.

Deadman stepped forward. Each time he got closer, he felt the heat get worse. He felt it getting hotter around him. He felt Bane’s costume stick uncomfortably to his sweaty body. But he stepped forward.

“You’re very impressive.” Boston heard Rustam say. “I may have to keep you alive for study.”

The flame stopped, and was replaced by an incredibly humid sensation around Deadman’s head. He felt dizzy and nauseous. He stumbled a bit, even fell down on one knee, but didn’t lose consciousness.

“Be still.” Rustam’s voice came in faded and distorted. “This will be over soon.”

Boston looked up and saw the device on his foe’s belt. Without thinking, without even questioning if it would work, he shot out his left hand and snatched it of, and with one mighty squeeze, he crushed into a pile of bent metal and loose circuits.

He felt the heat around him dissipate. The regular temperature was surprisingly refreshing and cool. It felt like a godsend.

Then the heat resumed a thousand fold. Rustam’s palm was directly on his head, channeling a white hot flame right onto Bane's face.

“You imbecile! You fool!” Rustam yelled. “Do you have any idea how much time and money we spent on that device? You will pay for what you’ve done! YOU WILL BURN!”

This was more than Boston could handle. The pain was too much. He had to leave. With less than a thought, his spirit left Bane’s body.

As he floated above, Deadman saw Bane at Rustam’s mercy. He knew what would happen to Bane. The soldier would feel an awful mixture of shock and pain, and in moments, he would die a horrible death.

Boston saw as Rustam let go, and Bane’s body slumped to the ground sickeningly. Boston hovered close to the body of his deceased teammate, said to him “I’m sorry.” And he prayed that Bane heard him.



Arsenal and Deadshot felt the strain on their throats release suddenly as the Djinn faded away and disappeared. They both gasped for air, unaware of whatever miracle had just occurred but thankful that it did.

When they were both alright, Lian asked “Do you have a shot on their leader?”

Zoey Lawton peeked over their cover. The monocle over her left eye zoomed in and found Rustam, breathing heavily and standing over the burnt corpse of Bane. “Yep.” She responded.

“Take it.” Arsenal said.

Without a second thought, Deadshot fired, ignoring Lian’s last words to her: “But don’t kill him.”

The bullet soared through the air; past Captain Boomerang as he hurled another weapon at Jaculi; past Elasti-Girl as she contorted and dodged Dervish’s attacks; past Tolteca as she shrugged off a hit from Bronze Tiger and ducked under Animal Man’s claws; through Deadman, who didn’t even see it, much less feel it, as he watched Bane’s corpse in silent sadness; until finally, it passed through Rustam’s windpipe. In a moment of shock and pain, he shot a heavy stream of fire from his hands before dropping to the ground with a sickening gurgle.

And for one single instant, everyone stopped to see the bleeding corpse of the Onslaught’s leader.

The instant ended when Jaculi muttered “He’s…he’s dead…” Realizing what this meant for her and her team, she shrieked “Full retreat!” at the top of her lungs.

“No!” Tolteca yelled, still amid combat with the heroes.

Before she could do anything more, Jaculi snatched her and sped off, returning quickly for the rest of the team and finally Rustam’s corpse.

Captain Boomerang ran after them, yelling “You don’t get off that easy!” to ears that were out of range. He shot out of the hangar and into the surrounding oasis. The world rushed past him. He had never run this fast before.

Coming out of the oasis and into the freezing night desert, he stepped into a loose patch of sand, stumbled, tripped and rolled into the arid dirt beneath him. He looked up and didn’t even see a cloud of dust Jaculi left behind. He only saw the seemingly endless night stretched out before him.

Owen swore loudly. He pounded the sand beneath him in frustration. Then, he got to his feet, brushed off the sand and ran back to the hangar, exhausted.

When he returned, Captain Boomerang saw the Outsiders and the Suicide Squad gathered around Bane’s corpse. Deadshot wordlessly pulled a cigarette from her belt, knelt down and ignited it on the sliver of flame that lingered on his mask. She stood up and inhaled deeply.

“Shame.” Zoey finally said. “Tragic, tragic shame.”



After checking out the remainder of the base one more time, the Outsiders and the Suicide Squad both confirmed that there was no trace left of the Bialyan’s activities beyond the damaged hangar, some erased chalkboards and the sickening scent of chemicals in the laboratory.

The two teams convened outside of the compound, facing each other, as if to emphasize the fact that they were entirely separate. The exceptions to this were Animal Man and Bronze Tiger, who had embraced each other.

“You’ve done right, Richie.” Warren said. “You’ve done right.”

“You too, bro.” He responded. “Then again, you always did.”

Lian Harper and Owen Mercer stood face to face. “So now what, we just go our separate ways and be done with this?” Arsenal asked.

“It looks to be that way.” Captain Boomerang answered. “We’ll take Bane back to his family. We’ll make sure he gets a proper funeral.”

Deadman, who listened to this whole conversation, was brimming with anger. Anger that he directed to the unhearing ears of his teammates. “Bullshit, Owen. You’ll bring his corpse back to the States and put it in a shallow grave, because the big boss can’t have anyone find out that soldier boy was using venom!”

“Thanks for your assistance.” Owen said to Lian. He then added with broad disinterest, “Perhaps we can do it again some time.”

“Not likely.” Arsenal answered with the same amount of enthusiasm. She turned to leave and her team followed suit. The Suicide Squad turned as well, with Boston Brand still following.

“I hate you.” He said. “Do you hear me? No! Of course you don’t hear me! But you better know that I hate you. All of you. You think I did wrong? You think I shouldn’t have led Bane to die like that? Well f*(& you! You’ve all done worse things than me! Owen, you know your ‘family’ that you left in the Twin Cities? Yeah, they hate you. They hate you for leaving them to join this sorry crew! They hate you and they will never forgive you. Richie? You’ve killed more people than me. And you know you’re going to have to pay for that some day. That’s right. You’re going to pay for each and every person that you’ve sent to the grave. And Zoey? Zoey Lawton?” At this point, he actually chuckled a bit. “I’ve met some pretty messed up people in my time, but you are without a doubt the most f*(&ed up, crazy, self-destructive psychopath that I have ever seen! You’re going to end up killing yourself and everyone around you!”

He was now yelling. It didn’t matter if anyone could hear.

“I hate all of you! And the only benefit I get from ever having known your pathetic asses is that when you die and when all of you go to hell, I’ll be here on Earth! Laughing! Laughing at you sorry, miserable people because you’ll get what you f*(&ing deserve!”

None of them reacted to any of this. They didn’t even know he was yelling at them. They didn’t even think he had any emotions left. And as they boarded the plane, Deadman silently followed them in. He wasn’t angry at them at all; there was only one person to blame for Bane’s death.

“Kushna forgive me.” He said. “I killed someone.”



In Washington D.C., in a secret room inside the White House, Cliff Carmichael typed ceaselessly on two separate keywords at once, his bespectacled eyes constantly shifting between two brightly lit screens.

“Anything to report?”

He sighed and spun his chair around to see President Amanda Waller. She was clearly old, her face wrinkled and her hair gray, but the rotund woman was still a stern authority figure, and her demeanor showed it.

Carmichael was not the most respondent to authority. “Squad’s back. They ran into some trouble in Bialya but they handled it. Had some help from Checkmate’s meta-team.”

“The Outsiders?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. “Interesting…have you updated our files concerning them?”

He rolled his eyes and said “I was doing that before you interrupted me.” His voice emphasized that he thought it was obvious.

Ignoring his tone, the president asked “Anything else?”

“Well, Bane died.” Carmichael answered with a nonchalant tone that bordered on insensitive. “So, besides that, no, nothing else.”

“Hm.” Waller said. “Give the team a break for now. And get me a list of possible replacements for Bane by tomorrow.”

“Ma’am, yes ma’am.” He responded with mock enthusiasm as he returned to his work. Amanda Waller turned, left the room and closed the door behind her.

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