dark red.

• part 2 • making a way in

"Go time. Get up." Flag shouted, unbuckling himself as the copter began to slow down.
"I pity whoever lived in a home with you." I sighed, grabbing my mask and putting it on. Afterwards I slung my carbine back onto my torso and put both of my pistols in my holsters.
"Not the time for back sassing." Flag mumbled, resting a hand on the top of the archway as the copter began to fully settle on to the ground. Harley patted me on the shoulder as she slid beside me, waiting for the doors to open. I didn't mean to be nosey, but when Harley didn't think anyone was looking, she took out a pink gem-stone bedazzled flip phone. Talking about a..rescue from..the fucking Joker. Flag then turned to us all, "Subtle reminder; you run, you die. You leave your members behind, you die. You vex me in any way, you die."
Harley chuckled, "I'm known to be quite vexing, Colonel."
"Guess you'll have to hold back."
I looked to him for a moment, obviously a bit annoyed with him disrespecting her but the doors opened. Wasn't gonna risk my life on some stupid soldier. We all walked out, heading into the streets. Dead-shot, Harley and I mainly stuck together. Boomerang stuck to the back with Diablo, and Katana kept far away from us all. Slipknot and Croc were together too, but they were near the front.
"I really don't like the look of this." I looked around, sighing as we walked.
"Me too." Floyd sighed, his red visor glowing in the corner of my eye. "What about you Harl-"
We then heard glass breaking. Harley continued to slam her bat into the glass, eventually knocking it all to the ground and grabbing a handbag. Flag turned around, stopping, "What the actual fuck, Quinn?"
"Nobody's here to stop us. Specially if you got us out here saving your asses..could've just gotten the Justice League." She slipped the bag on to her shoulder, scolding Flag and returning to me and Floyd's side.
Flag sighed, readjusting his cap as we continued forward..but we only got a few steps. All we heard next was the sound of a line scraping. Slipknot. Oh fuck. Boomerang ducked behind the car, planning to run before I ran over to him and grabbed him, whispering "Don't run. He'll kill you."
Flag then shouted to Slipknot, "Get down here!"
"Fuck you! I'm free!" He shouted, cackling. The next few moments were like a blur. All I saw was Flag ripping out a tablet and aggressively tapping something. And next? Slipknot's head exploded. His body went limp and he slammed into the side of the building.
"ANYONE ELSE WANT TO RUN?" Flag shouted now, staring at us all. We all just sort of..stared. We didn't know what to say OR do. We all had seen death before. We just didn't know that they weren't using the implants as a way to scare us. We were being controlled.
Boomerang slowly rose from behind the car, my arm slung over him as we walked back up. Before we got into speaking range of them all, he leaned in and whispered, "Thank you."
"..No problem." I dropped my arm to my side as I side-eyed Slipknot's corpse. I returned back to Harley and Floyd's side. And somehow, we just continued forward. Following Flag. At first I just thought he was..some hard-ass colonel. I didn't expect him to be that volatile.
Harley looked at me, "You okay, hon?"
"Mmh." I looked back at her, "Huh?"
Floyd sighed, "None of us are okay, Harls'."
Harley nodded, "My bad."
"..Give me a second." I ran a hand over my face, stepping away from the two. I then jogged up to where Rick was walking, pacing myself in order to catch up to him. "Hey- what the fuck was that?"
"The fuck was what? He ran, and he knew what was gonna go down." Flag turned to me.
"What? You say, 'knew what was gonna go down.' as if you didn't warn him more than once."
"I don't think I should have to repeat myself to grown fucking adults."
"..You're fucking ill man."
Flag stopped, turning to me. "Don't talk to me like you've got any fucking clue who or what I am. I'm a colonel, who protects my damn country. You're a murderer who takes cash. We aren't the same."
"You know what? Fuck you man. I'm positive your childhood was handed to you on a silver fucking platter. Don't raise your voice at me like you've seen actual bad shit."
"Bad shit? I ran my own fucking task force, sweetie. I don't need to defend myself to a fucking criminal who got caught."
"You joined the military and even fucking knew you were gonna kill people! I joined the military because I thought it would make me more of a patriot! Don't act like you're the only person who at least tried to do good, even when your government is lying straight to your fucking face."
"You know what- you're impossible! Just follow the orders and you'll be back in your cell by tonight, asshole."
"Fuc-" I was cut off.
"Ey!" Floyd shouted over.
"Not the time, Floyd!" I looked over to him.
"It most certainly is the fucking time. Look!" He motioned to in front of us. Multiple people, all in uniforms. Some with guns, some dressed normally. At least 5 maybe. Could be a few on the corners. No full view.
"Ah..shit. Multiple bogies, line up! Take cover behind the turned over cars!" Flag shouted.
We all took cover. Boomerang went on his own car, ducking down. Harley, Floyd and I went to the near front, observing what was ahead. Katana and Flag went a few cars back, mainly in the middle. Croc just stood in the middle. Diablo was somewhere in the back. Probably hiding.
"By any means, do not interact with them!" I shouted to my fellow members, motioning over.
And only a few moments later was I returned with the sound of a bullet clipping one of those creatures heads. One of Flag's men. Fucking idiots. Dead-shot set his mask on and turned on his visor, zooming in. "What the fuck are those?"
I looked closely now, spotting one of the creatures bodies only a few feet in front of us. Malformed..and pulsing. No face, but just replaced by tightly packed bubbles. "What the fuck did you bring us into Flag?" I looked over now, unslinging my rifle and priming it, placing it steadily onto the car as I began to aim into the sights.
"Just kill em!" He shouted back, a full blown fight going on now. Harley charged forward, using her bat and revolver to kill whatever creature charged her first. Dead-shot took it slow and steady, sending aligned shots into the heads of the creatures. Boomerang would sometimes help, but whenever I turned back I would funnily see him with a flask. Croc charged in beside Harley, using brute force to kill whatever attacked him. Katana covered our backs..confidently believing our sides aren't a issue. But I continued, sending bullets into the heads of the creatures and killing them. A few would sometimes reach me, so I'd send a few pistol shots into their knees and then finished them off.
"Get the fuck off me!" Flag shouted. I immediately turned around and saw 5 creatures beginning to carry him away. I hesitated, but then ran forward, ripping Flag's knife out of his holster as I arrived and stabbed each creature in the head with it. Flag fell down as they died, groaning in relief.
"Here." I handed him back his knife, and then offered a hand. He reluctantly grabbed my hand and got up, picking up his gun as we returned. Dead-shot and I then walked forward, sending bullets into the remaining creatures of the charge. One by one, they all began to die. We even synced up our bullet usage, allowing time for the other to reload so the other can give cover fire. Perfectly synchronized.
"Anymore?" Floyd looked up to me as I stood on the car, scanning for anymore.
"Nope, we're all good. You okay?"
"Yup, you?"
"Course I am." I grinned, jumping down from the car.
Floyd and I walked over to the group, now looking. Diablo had his normally down expression. Boomerang reeked of whiskey, but looked goofy as ever. Harley stood by my side, having a sort of blank expression. She was one of those people who would be thinking of thousands of things in one moment, you know? Flag and his boys were talking, but Flag eventually turned back to the group. Croc stood there. He was always hard to read. Katana stood there with a pin-straight posture. "I think I should be honest." Flag sighed, crossing his arms in front of himself, having them hover over his crotch basically.
"Damn right." Floyd looked now, his eyebrows furrowed.
"We unleashed a witch. She's hundreds of years old and she's responsible for the beacon and..er..bodies."
"So she made them?" I interjected.
"Sort of..yeah." He shrugged.
Boomerang turned around now, looting the corpse of one of the bodies. Floyd stared, before noticing he had taken a Rolex off the body. "Oh my fucking god. Those are people, man." Floyd groaned, running a hand over his head. He backed up for a moment, but returned back. "Fuckin..where do we have to go now? I want this over and done with."
"More of a trip. But a building, kay?"
We all nodded in response. Something felt off though.