So, I actually liked this movie a lot, and saw it a second time, and then really, really liked it. I see what people don't like-I get it. Just to me, I ended up liking it all and more so on a second viewing. Thing is, about immediately I fell in love with Rick Flag and June Moone, so I'm pretty sure shipping goggles are the reason I love this movie so damn much~ But, I'm impatient and there's no Flagmoon fics (yet) and I need more so I'll throw my sad attempt out just to hopefully start a snowball and get actual quality fics~
Disclaimer: I own nothing! Also, there's, like, three curse words..?
Breathe
Don't speak
It's leaving your body now
"…Congratulations are in order for the young architecture student. The design was chosen out of thousands of entries-"
He walks in on her sitting at the edge of the bed, eyes glued to the TV. It's a repeat viewing of this afternoon's news, showing the unveiling of the designs for the Midway City tribute to be designed at 'Ground Zero'. She doesn't even see him or hear him enter the room; her eyes are so fixated on the screen. She's dressed in bare shorts that reveal her goosebumps and her mouth is ajar slightly, breathing sharply. He'd say it was 'like she was in a trance' but he knows, from firsthand experience, what that's really like and he's grateful to say she doesn't appear to be in such a way now.
"June."
She flinches, jumpy as ever, and grabs at her chest. She's shaking her head, apologizing as she starts to lower her head, but he's by her side and lifting it before she can turn away.
His other hand finds the remote, snaking his hand around her to reach it, and switches the screen off.
"Don't watch that," he pleads, and she's already tearing up.
He hates this.
Every day seems to be the same routine. He's in an office all day each day, answering questions for files and documenting the experiences and processing the correct forms. There's so much shit to shift through and every time he motions to push for more benefits and less restrictions on the team, he's handed a wave of more paperwork that needs to be approved and filled out and he's starting to suspect Waller is simply drawing up new forms each day to put off his motions. And when she runs out of paper work, there's always a new mission to be performed and then filed.
And each day he returns to catch June enveloped in some reminder of the past one way or another. Sometimes she's thrashing in a nightmare and he has to shake her awake. Other times she's reading an article, or like tonight watching a broadcast, and he wonders if the news will ever stop discussing Midway and trying to delve into what really happened. Waller cleaned up as much as she could, but the families of those lost always demand justice and not all of them accept Waller's checks for silence.
And a check, even if it had been offered, wouldn't stop June's nightmares.
He settles her back into the bed. The sheets are stiff and he hates living out of a hotel that Waller holed them up in. Even with the threat of June's…counterpart gone, they're still being monitored and seemingly controlled by Waller. Rick's loyalty for Waller wains a little bit every time he sees June struggling to make this apartment more homely.
Pulling the comforter to her shoulders, Rick smiles when June grabs his hand and asks quietly for him to stay nearby. She doesn't ask him to stay until she falls asleep—that could be hours. He'll do it anyway, but she makes it clear he's welcome to leave just…just not immediately. He shrugs, claiming he's had a long day too and is tired. He throws off his shoes and doesn't bother undressing any more than that, simply throwing himself under the comforter next to her. They leave the nightstand light on. She tries to mutter something, an apology most likely, but he cuts her off.
"Remember that night in New Mexico? When I brought up that bottle of wine, after you'd done that demonstration for Waller?" It's vague. There were lots of demonstrations for Waller; for government officials and for scientists, and for tests and for questioning and for missions and capability testing—there had also been lots of wine bottles, but New Mexico had been the first.
June smiles, weakly but it's a smile and Rick loves it. "You told me about your dad…"
Rick smiles further as the memory runs its course, "And you asked if I was ever gonna kiss you or not."
He'd nearly kissed her lots of times before then. After months of being forced into close proximity, and months of being forced to be the first response and security detail, Rick had had plenty of opportunities to kiss June. Plenty of moments he could have stolen her lips—whether anyone had been around or not—but he'd always chosen not to act on his impulse. He was trained that way, and damn it if she had just been any less playful or pretty or smart or brave. If he'd never seen June Moone and only ever known that devilish entity, Enchantress, and never gotten to know the girl that witch possessed. Then maybe he'd never have kissed her.
But she asked him—more like challenged him—and he hadn't held back. He'd given in finally and he'd kissed her.
Rick doesn't wait for her to ask this time. He leans in and kisses her. And maybe she's forgetting, slowly, about the news because she loosens up and she wraps her hands around his neck and he pulls himself on top of her. For a while, they forget the past few months, and the news, and all his paperwork, and this stupid apartment and that damn witch, and they're not a soldier and his mark. They're just in love.
Young adults file from the lecture hall, gathering books and bags. No one is smiling or happily contemplating the weekend. It's a Wednesday and they're all fretting over tomorrow's test because of course their professor would be adding new material the day before the test. And how do you take notes on opinions and speculations instead of facts? The entire hall is, albeit emptying, filled with hopeful young minds that are unified in regretting taking this class that sounded fun in theory but has been nothing but theory as it would turn out.
One student fails to notice the shifting of the crowd in front of him and shoulders someone heading towards the front of the classroom rather than exiting. He mumbles a sorry but his victim doesn't acknowledge him or the shoulder brush. His book opens slightly and papers titled Ancient Civilization Cult in Myth & Death fall to the floor and he's groaning because that's to that person he's now stuck in this room for a few more seconds than he ever wanted picking up his notes.
The figure is still making her way to the front of the room where a balding man is gathering his own papers and notes—he's the only smiling face in the room, and rather enjoyed the lecture from today.
Mostly because he gave it.
"Dr. Faust?" The irony of his name doesn't escape her, but that tale is just a myth. She's not here for myths. "My name is Amanda. I called your office earlier to set an appointment..?"
"Ah, yes, Ms. Amanda…Walton?"
"Waller," she corrects.
"Yes! Ms. Waller, I'm truly grateful you were so interested in my article—it is rare to find someone as eager to back a man in my profession of studying the occult-"
"Flattered, I'm sure. I, and my associates, are very interested in your studies of the cultists of Brujeria, in South America..? Particularly, your writings on not only their ritualistic behavior and beliefs, but of the entities of Incubus and his sister. You wrote of them not as gods, but entities with less in common with a human and..?"
The professor nodded furiously. "Y-yes, I mean…by all accounts, these were powerful deities with more capabilities than a meta-human has ever shown and I think, where at their core of DNA a meta-human is still a human…I believe the theory that the lesser 'Gods' of ancient civilizations, such as the siblings you mentioned, were in fact more similar to that perceived notion than being human…"
"Particularly in regards to death?"
The man shrugged, suddenly rather nervous. This woman was terrifying.
"Yes…again, they appeared to be more…manifestations of magic than they were human…Being human is, ah, implied and theorized to mean having a soul and consciousness…to be living. Deities like the siblings I believe can't be killed, more so than say… in theory, again, returned to a state or place, possibly dimension- It's all here in my notes, ah-"
"Bring them with us."
"I'm sorry? Where are we go-"
"It's classified. Don't worry. Your classes have been cancelled for the next week."
A student in the back of the hall, who had been distracted first by his fallen notes and later by an email alert, suddenly cheered loudly as his inbox informed him his test tomorrow had been cancelled. Only the professor looked horrified towards the student.
He'd gone over the binder a hundred times. There were plenty of pictures of a smart, happy, daring young woman scattered throughout it. A brief enough summary of her past, her upbringing—just the basics. She was normal. Only child, college education through her PhD, a routine yearly trip to some location for spelunking or a dig site or the occasional, rare vacation for the sake of vacationing. No current or recent relationship, no next of kin known. Mid-twenties, bright eyes…
Then the binder devoted the rest of its contents to speculation and theory; to myth and stories and legend; nothing hard, nothing factual. He'd skimmed those parts—he needed facts.
Fact was that the house had scattered bodies throughout its floors. He led the team, charging forward on point. Waller had sent him here to retrieve his mark. He was expecting a smart, happy, young woman. Or, he expected the witch.
Instead, he found a scared, traumatized victim lying in a pool of muck and blood. A swamp inside a bathroom, adorned with hex symbols and vegetation that had grown in a matter of minutes but looked as if it'd been untouched. It was sorcery.
And she had been so scared.
"Help me," had been the first words he'd heard, and here he was expecting someone happy. (The pictures had shown her with such confidence—even the witch herself would have been a less shocking sight for him to barge in on than a high-level threat associated to the body of this frail and frightened girl)
He thought his target was Dr. June Moone, a capable archeologist who had been possessed by the Enchantress. His target had been the shell of Dr. June Moone—the scared, pale and naked leftovers of a woman who should've gone mad with the entity sharing her mind and body.
Rick remembers pulling her from the tub. Screw protocol of apprehending with precaution the target—he had to stop thinking of her as such. She was a person.
He'd covered her with his jacket and they'd led her out of that house. Away from the carnage, the death and the wake of the Enchantress.
And the whole time he'd thought back to seeing her for the first time, and her begging for help. Waller expected him to take her out, if they ever felt she couldn't be contained.
He couldn't…
Except that's what Waller had really wanted—she knew he couldn't take June out, or the Enchantress—she'd been betting on it.
The whole time, June was supposed to take him out.
"Enchantress."
The shadows engulf her in a swift motion and she seems to stretch, to relax and feel the power surge over her, as Enchantress settles back into power and possession.
This is a dream.
Rick knows it is because it's a recurring one that he's had for over a month now. It morphs from his reminiscence. The house and the tub and the scared June disappear, replaced by… he never knows where. Are they outside, because it's so bright? But it's cold, like air conditioning steadily breathing on them, and he can't feel the heat of a sun or light source. Except he stops worrying where they are when June's brief smile turns to horror and as if she can't control her own words, her lips part and she breathes that terrible name.
And then June is gone and the dark, shadowy figure of Enchantress is in front of Rick. Except it's not the filthy witch he was so accustomed to over the course of his observing her. She's the goddess this time, standing before her ray of light and metal, twitching and fluidly moving as if casting incantations, and her hands twist and seem to draw symbols and runes while her eyes stare piercingly at him.
"She's gone." She repeats, over and over with bursts of laughter between her words. The voice is so foreign, so aged and majestic and it's not June. It's not June's voice. "Your precious, weak June…she's never coming back."
He hears the words so frequently when he closes his eyes, yet the pain always returns at the thought of how true they almost rang. For that brief moment when he believed her, the Enchantress, when she told him June was gone. When his greatest fear came true and he had to choose destroying the Enchantress, living out June's last request to him, and he'd honestly believed June was gone.
But, he reminds himself she did come back to him. Just like she will this time, whenever he wakes.
As if reading his thoughts, Enchantress snarls and the scene changes and he's at June's side, but unable to move, as doctors declare her time of death and begin to clear the table. It's like watching a memory, even if it's never come true, and Rick hates it.
He breaks down, no matter how many times he relives this nightmare, and he's calling out her name—please, please, please June, don't….
The dream ends abruptly this time, however. Something is different.
It hits him, literally, again when a hand smacks his nose. He briefly feels the pain run through his face before it dawns on him exactly what and why.
June is thrashing beside him, whimpering out for 'Enchantress' and 'brother'.
June is an only child.
Rick tries shaking her but the nightmare has its clutches on June. She's still twisting and whipping under the sheets, damp with sweat.
"June! June, stop. It's a dream! June!"
June's moaning gets louder, as if the nightmare is trying to drown out his voice. Rick straddles June, trying to pin her arms down to stop her from warding him off.
"It hurts…Incubus…"
Rick hesitates for a moment.
"June? June, what hurts?"
June's hands continue to struggle in Rick's grasp, but her back arches and she continues calling for Incubus. Rick, confused, shakes his head at June despite her inability to see him.
"June, wake up! June, this isn't you! You're not Enchantress anymore! She's not a part of you, June! June?!"
"…Rick…"
It's his name escaping her moans that stir him to try harder in waking her. Her releases her arms only to grip her head, steadying her. He throws himself at her, kissing her passionately to silence her cries. June seems to freeze before blinking her eyes awake. She pushes Rick off herself, gasping for air.
"June? June, are you alright?!" Rick is back by her, gripping her shoulders against him. June is shaking her head, rubbing at her chest.
"It was awful, I…I felt this pain in my chest…My heart felt on fire, it felt…" she looked terrified, straight into Rick's eyes, "I couldn't breathe. My lungs were filled with water o-or cement, and my heart was on fire…A-and he kept calling out my name?! Incubus—he was in the dream! But, he wasn't calling for Ench-chantress…he was calling for me!"
Rick shakes his head, adamant it was a dream. "He's gone. She's gone. It's just you and me. I'm the only other one here, and you're safe. June, you're safe now."
June wants to, but doesn't, believe him.
Something is stirring, and even now her heart feels as if it's not burning, but rather being crushed.
"One phone call and I'm out of here."
That was always his threat. He hated it. He hated being her dog, loyal and abiding. He stood by while she climbed over people to get where she wanted to be. She'd throw anyone under a bus, except him. No, she needed him. To clean up the bodies she left behind, it seemed.
And this was just another straw to add to his pile of finals.
This damn misfit team of criminals. Of scumbags with no morals or boundaries. They were thugs with too much power.
She scoffs, throwing the phone down at him.
"Go ahead. You know the deal. As soon as you leave, your lady goes on a table and pumped full of drugs."
It's a wonder she's not on the team. She's just as much a thug drunk on power as they are.
Rick looks between the two brands of packaged Parmesan cheese. He doesn't see a difference, and he doubts he'd taste one either, but he knows June specifically asked for one over the other. He shakes the memory from his head, trying to focus on the task at hand. He weighs the options, hesitant at which to add to the cart, but is stopped by a hand snaking over his arm and reaching for the cheese on the right. He turns and smiles as June greets him with a kiss, adding the cheese and her own chore item to the basket.
"Are you sure take out is out of the question?"
Rick frowns.
"I can cook."
June smiles and walks off, leading them to the counter. Rick doesn't recognize half of the ingredients that June snuck into their basket, and is too busy trying to figure out how to even pronounce one when he overhears the cashier reiterating his question to June.
"Would you like to donate to the Midway City refuge fund, Ma'am?"
Rick quickly looks between the cashier and June, who is frozen. Rick steps up quickly, handing his card over and nudging June to worry about the bags.
"Sure, sure—we'll donate. Pick any amount, it's fine."
He continues to glance at June, who suddenly appears lifeless and distracted. He thanks the cashier and rushes June and the groceries out as if they're being followed and are trying to lose a tail.
Back home, after a silent car ride, June sits herself at the small breakfast table. Rick sighs, unpacking, and notices how dull the apartment looks, for perhaps the fifth time just that afternoon.
"What if we bought a house."
June looks up suddenly.
"Where?"
Rick shrugs.
"Here."
June scoffs.
"On whose pension? We don't even know how long we'll be here…"
"Well, alright then. Pick where you want to go."
"What?"
Rick shrugs, moving to sit in the chair next to June. He takes her hand in his own. "Pick a city, a country. Anywhere in the world, as long as it ain't Communist."
June smiles but shakes her head slowly.
"You have a job here-"
"-and I can find another. You're cooped up in here all day…if you're going to be on house arrest, it should be somewhere…homey."
"I'm not on house arrest…" June argues softly, rising to continue with the groceries. "I went grocery shopping just now, didn't I?"
Rick rolls his eyes, stepping up to follow June. His hands reach out and stop her own from shifting through the bags. He turns her to face him, smiling mischievously.
"Waller's nearly done with me. She's definitely done with you. She ain't your boss anymore. You get to be your own boss—work wherever you want again finally. Maybe teach at a college, or fund an expedition…Your life is yours again, June. And you're not going to have to spend it any longer living in this shithole," Rick motioned around them. "This was only ever supposed to be temporary. So, pick anywhere and that's where we'll go."
June slowly smiles, allowing herself to imagine a fantasy where she's free of Enchantress and she's free with Rick and they're living in a home that isn't bare-walled or covered in runes.
And maybe her fantasy isn't very creative because a younger her would find this settled life boring so then she tries envisioning another adventure, one that doesn't end in possession, except it doesn't matter where or what because Rick is there and then she realizes this fantasy is a reality. She throws her arms around Rick's neck and kisses him, repeating his words to him, "anywhere."
"Anywhere."
She laughs, repeating it again only for him to reiterate and then laugh at her.
The groceries are forgotten and for a few moments her past doesn't haunt her and her future excites her.
"…sleeping with that murderous bitch-"
Today hadn't started off great, and it'd only been getting worse.
This is Rick's reasoning as he throws a left hook at the recruit who'd dared to bad mouth June, however low under his breath, with Rick in the room. Other soldiers and government personnel looked on, but none stepped in to stop Rick. Some sided with him, some feared him, and one in particular still believed, because they were new and had been pranked by the others, that Rick's girlfriend was still possessed by the witch enough that she could curse you.
The soldier falls to the ground, hitting it hard, and curses as Rick stands then, breathing heavily and waiting for the other to stand back up.
It'd been a week since June had first had her nightmare, and every night since she'd had it again. Every time Rick thought they were making a breakthrough and finally starting to let go the horrors the witch had brought them- and June in particular- there seemed to be a new reminder. Rick himself had been having nightmares, but they were new ones for the most part. Ones where a mission goes wrong and it's him staring death in the face, only for the scene to change and yet again June is on that metal gurney, being declared dead.
They always ended the same, no matter how the dreams started.
And another break-out interview on the news had broken this morning of someone stepping forward who claimed the government was covering up something 'much bigger and more alien' in the Midway City attack, claiming he'd found remnants of human DNA in a demented and perverted body that he'd found underground. Of course, the media was trying to spin him a madman, as no such 'alien-bodies' were released to the public when the city had been cleared to return to.
The man was right, though.
But all this coverage had done was stir up office talk and someone had built up enough confidence and stupidity to yell at Flag to vent their own frustration. He'd blamed the attack on the government, which he worked for, and however little informed the grunt was, he'd known enough that Flag and his Taskforce criminals had been involved—he had enough clearance for that, unfortunately. And while Flag hated hearing the stupid, senseless opinions of everyone else garnered towards his team, he also knew only he knew anyone of them on a remotely personal level, and that it was a waste to try to argue that those criminals had more bravery and honor than the entire room.
But then he'd stepped one step too far and tried calling Flag out by dragging June into his insults.
And Rick hadn't felt a damn bit of regret punching the asshole.
"Flag, break it up."
It's Waller and Rick barely glances back to acknowledge her entering the room.
"Stand down, Colonel. Your mission briefing is downstairs. The rest of you, I suggest pretend to do something. Not all of you have to be on the payroll to keep things around here functioning and the more you remind me of that fact, the more I might actually look into it and trim off the fat."
"Rick."
Rick freezes, turning slowly. Everyone has to double take at the woman entering behind Amanda Waller, but the whispers spread and soon everyone is aware the former vessel of Enchantress is standing before them all.
The man at Rick's feet staggers to stand, but all his smack talking and degrading comments are caught in his throat. Rick ignores everyone, stepping directly up to June.
"June? What is she doing here?" He asks, rather angrily, turning his attention to Waller. June flinches slightly, but Waller looks as if debating whether Rick even deserves a response. She owes him none.
"I summoned her here. We have issues to discuss. Your account isn't the only word that can be taken."
"I'm coming with her."
"No, you're not." Waller is annoyed. "Your briefing is downstairs, as I said. Dr. Moone, come along."
June looks helplessly at Rick, but he grabs her arm.
"S-she showed up at the apartment…she said I had to come in, I-I'm sure it's nothing," June is assuring herself more so than Rick. He's shaking his head, still ignoring the stares.
"Don't. Whatever she wants, you owe them nothing. Don't go-"
"Dr. Moone."
June hesitates, but suddenly another security detail stands behind her, trying to intimidate her to follow after Waller. Rick straightens as if to throw another punch, but June quickly steps after Waller.
"I'll be fine," she whispers, still timid in the appearance of others. Rick clenches his fists and watches her glance occasionally back at him before Waller leads her behind a closed door.
Rick glares at the others watching and they all quickly return to their work. Begrudgingly, he makes his way downstairs for his mission briefing.
"Am I necessary?" June questions, horrified at Waller's proposition.
"You're an expert. We're seeking your knowledge on the matter. This isn't about you demonstrating your powers. You don't have any anymore. We simply want you to observe and analyze. Your knowledge of not only the ancient archeology, but also your time spent possessed by the Enchantress, make you very necessary in this conversation. If we're to prepare ourselves for an attack like this again, we need every bit of insight."
June shakes her head.
"I-I told you, I don't remember whenever...Enchantress was in control. I don't know what she did or where she would go…" June spoke quietly, biting her lip at the mention of Enchantress' name.
"That's not true."
June's breathing catches.
"You controlled for the most part when you would become her. And even if you didn't have control when she possessed you, don't you think you had an influence on her?"
"I-I'm sorry..?"
"I've read the reports. Extensively. Your minions-"
"Th-they weren't mine…they were hers…"June counters weakly.
"-kept coming after Colonel Flag. Why would they try to kill everyone…but bring him to you? I'm sorry…her."
June is nervous, glancing around at the walls. It's for once not comforting at all reminding herself Rick is in the building, just below her. Being alone with Waller makes her feel like she's in another dimension.
"I-I don't-"
"The night Enchantress summoned her brother…doesn't it take you calling her forth for her to possess you?"
"I talked in my sleep. Ri-Colonel Flag told you as much in his report-"
"So if all it took to stop Enchantress from ever appearing was cutting your tongue out, why do you think we never did that?"
June's breathe hitches. "You needed her power…"
"Because that is just a word, Dr. Moone. Enchantress has ways of appearing, and it doesn't take asking her to come out nicely to do it. She possessed you, Dr. Moone. She had a hold on your mind, even when she didn't. We needed her power, and I'm not ashamed to say we still need it, but how powerful would she have been if all it took was a word to draw that power out?" Waller straightens her back, changing her tone suddenly. "You're a professional archeologist, are you not? PhD and everything." Waller slams a file on the desk.
"So was it her, calling out to you and enticing you that made you break the artifact? Or did you have a lapse in judgement and snapped it yourself? You spoke in your sleep, you say? So, you subconsciously wanted to unleash Enchantress. You wanted to feel that power?"
"That's not—that isn't what happened…" June steps back slightly, hitting the wall, unaware of how close she was standing to it and how far from Waller she'd been.
"Was it your own thrill seeking that lead you to that temple in the jungle, or the pull of Enchantress? Colonel Flag's reports don't say."
"Y-you have all my files, my interviews…I spent months telling you everything I knew. You have the video, the tests…I have nothing new to say or add to my accounts of my time as Enchant…-tress's vessel…There's no need for me to be at this hearing or debate or…whatever it is you're organizing." June felt a slight anger rise in her; enough courage to counter Waller. "You don't need me."
"But Flag does."
June feels the hair on her neck rise.
"Excuse me?"
"He admitted as much. He loves you, doesn't he? Do you love him?"
"Y-yes…" June admits, but immediately questions why she shared such personal information.
"How strongly do you love him? Because he loved you enough that losing you would have destroyed him. It's why he watched you for so long and dedicated his entire career to keeping you safe. It's why he abandoned his mission and instead tried to save you in Midway. And even now, he still goes on missions so that I don't incriminate you for the crimes committed by Enchantress. For all those lives you took…How do you live with yourself, Dr. Moone?" Waller adds like an afterthought.
June's voice caught in her throat.
"They call them the Suicide Squad…But he's going on the same dangerous, no-win scenario missions as them…There's a chance he'll walk out that door and not make it back."
June felt the sting of tears but blinked them back. She clenched her fists, shaking her head.
"You won't manipulate me like that anymore…I'm not your puppet any longer, and neither is he."
"Colonel Flag is still employed under my service. He could apply for a transfer, even if and when he stopped caring for you…but I could just as easily have him assigned to the frontlines of war. Or worse—demote him so far in martial court that he'll be a night guard at a museum exhibit. Will he forgive you for that, when he won't even be able to forgive the country he swore to serve?"
June continued shaking her head, "You can't threaten us anymore-"
"-But I can. And I am. See, when I concocted this Taskforce X, and after I found your reports and the others…I needed someone to lead you all, but someone whose loyalty I could buy for myself. I don't believe anyone will ever follow another living soul willingly without leverage. Colonel Flag was top of his class, highly recommended and loyal to his country. But he had a weakness, and I exploited it. How was he, a straight arrow, supposed to resist pitying and then falling for the tragic case that you were. And then that was it-he was loyal to you."
June freely is crying now, still defiantly shaking her head. Her eyes are on the floor, refusing to stare at the woman insulting her; tearing her down and attacking the insecurities and fears she bore.
"You two fell in love and you both thought it was fate but it wasn't. It was me. And then I had you both monitored and I baited my time. Sure enough, when he came to me demanding for me to loosen that leash on you, I just had to tighten the one on him. Your part isn't over just because Enchantress is gone, Dr. Moone. You've merely been diverted to another use. Do this, and maybe I'll even add some vacation days to Colonel Flag's holiday. You both can go spelunking in the Amazon. Just try not to get possessed again."
Waller walks coldly past June, stopping in the opened doorway.
"We'll leave tonight. I'm not asking. I never was."
When Waller leaves, June throws her hands to her face, furiously clearing it of tears.
When she does finally turn to leave the room, it's only to run into Rick.
He grabs her instantly, "Hey, are you alright? What'd she want?"
June clears her throat, trying to find her voice.
"Just a talk…she wants me to come with her to some retreat. Some scientists and such in the profession of the occult…she wants me to talk about my experience-" June waves her hands about, trying to not make eye contact. Rick will read the swelling and redness of her eyes…
"-June, you don't have to do that anymore. She has no need for you, she has all she needs. Don't go, alright? You don't owe her anything-"
When he came to me demanding for me to loosen that leash on you, I just had to tighten the one on him.
"No-No, I'll go. Rick, it's fine." June tried to assure him. "It's just a talk. I can handle this."
"I don't like it…June, don't do this…"
How strongly do you love him?
"I'll be back and that'll be it. I promise, it'll be fine."
Rick hated it, but slowly nodded.
"When is it?"
"I leave tonight."
He sucked in air.
"I have a mission in the morning. I can't come with you—she's doing this on purpose," he accuses.
There's a chance he'll walk out that door and not make it back.
June shook her head, "its fine! You just…come back safe, alright? Please?"
Rick nodded slowly, but the thought echoed in his own head. He didn't like that Waller needed anything else from June—hadn't she already gotten all she needed out of the girl?
"Let's pick up another bottle of wine when we both get back, what do you say?"
Mischievous, and with a light renewed in her eyes, Rick finally relaxed as June smiled. God, he loved her smile.
June bit back all her concerns and tried drowning out the echoes of Waller's words. She was so adamant on having June there at this meeting. She'd been vague at what she really needed June to discuss or report on. A feeling in her gut gave her a creeping apprehension, but she instead gripped Rick's hand tighter, trying to focus on him and being with him before he had to leave for his mission.
A mission he may not come back from.
"Hey. Hey, Waller."
Waller clicks her heels to a stop and urns slowly to face the approaching Colonel. He looks irritated—angry—and far behind him she spots Dr. Moone standing at the entrance to the parking garage, looking scared and timid as usual. Shame, Waller thinks, remembering the testimonies and accounts of her character from before the possession.
"What do you want June for? She's not the Enchantress anymore, you don't need her-"
"I determine who and for what I need. Not you, Colonel. The only decisions you make are whether to say 'yes ma'am' or 'yes, sir' after I've given you your orders. Now isn't one of those times."
Flag's chest rises, and his voice lowers, "You don't need her. She can't offer you anythin'."
"On the contrary," Waller interrupts, stepping closer to Flag, "She's exactly what I need. Now, as you can see, I am capable of making my decisions—just like I said I was." Turning to leave, Waller is further annoyed when Flag throws out one final threat, "Leave her alone."
She inhales deeply, once again slowly turning back to face Flag.
"To what extent do we know of the Enchantress and her powers? No one before had ever destroyed the heart, so how is an untested theory to be trusted on a one trial test as the absolute fact? How do we know that by destroying her heart, Enchantress is just gone. What if Dr. Moone still has some lasting residual effect of magic? What if Enchantress is merely putting on an illusion, and Dr. Moone has been dead this whole time? Do you even know, for certain, if you fell in love with Dr. Moone herself? Or a projection of Enchantress. You're right. I don't need Dr. Moone. I don't need her in th state she's in, because if I feel any of these concerns are viable, then I can have her locked in Belle Reye back on that table, pumped full of drugs and dissected on regularly. I don't need her in anything more than a catatonic state. But I'm allowing her to walk around, freely accompanied by yourself. I don't even have to send her away, if you'd rather have it that way. I can just send you away. You can be replaced by any trained monkey to watch her, and I'll make sure you never see her again. For all I know, Enchantress could have you under a spell, and that would make you a liability to the mission. The mission that has always been observe and detain. So maybe I do need her. I just don't need you."
Waller straightens her jacket and cocks her head slightly.
"Will that be all, Colonel?"
Flag's face is cold and unblinking, but his breathing gives away his anger.
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Dr. Moone, meet Dr. Faust."
June tried smiling, but she'd felt nervous and sick the entire flight. It was rather early in the morning and June hadn't slept well in the hotel.
Without Rick, she'd been left to thrash in her nightmare until it had run its course and abruptly shaken her awake with screams. She'd felt the cold, crawling feeling of Enchantress overtaking her body, and then she'd felt like she was suffocating and had awoken screaming out for Incubus. When her consciousness had returned wholly to her, she'd reached out to her phone immediately. It was futile, trying to call and get ahold of Rick. But, she'd done so nonetheless, and she'd left a message, hoping she'd see him before long and this nightmare of separation and anxiety would be over.
"Rick, I…it's me. I'm here and it's early, at least where I am. I don't know where you are, but…a-anyway, I was just calling in…in hopes I'd hear your voice. But, that's stupid and I'll see you soon enough…alright, well…I hope you're safe and alright and, yeah, I'll wait and see you again soon. I've been thinking about what you said; about anywhere…I might actually hold you to it. How's your Italian? I love you, Rick…"
The drive to this facility had been several hours and she now realized it was in the middle of nowhere. Still, she smiled and accepted Faust's hand. He looked as nervous as she felt, doggedly looking between Waller and June. Waller ignored him and motioned them all inside.
The facility was an average, white-walled base with hardly anyone inside. A few people shuffled by and disappeared down halls.
Faust nodded a quick goodbye, awkwardly, and left the two women.
June watched after him as he rushed down a hall, while Waller lead her, and her alone, towards another hall.
"Dr. Faust is a professor of the culture of myths and legends, depicted through symbols and literature. He specializes in those tales of the Western hemisphere, particularly, and I happened across an article of his recently. See, he has a fascinating stance on the existence of entities like Enchantress and her brother. He has a strong sense that they're less like humans or even living beings at all—he equates them to be more like conscious magic. And that said, he doesn't think they're capable of death."
Waller opened a door ahead of June, again motioning for her to step inside. June felt a lump rise in her throat.
"He believes Enchantress isn't dead?"
Waller nodded as if this news was obvious. June was horrified.
"B-but her heart was destroyed. She left my body, her spirit is…is gone?!"
Waller kept walking. The room before them was a large hanger garage, clearly at the back of the facility. Only half of it was lit, and Waller was walking deeper towards the back where light wouldn't reach. Hesitantly, June followed.
"She was separated from you and without a heart, Faust theorizes, she was no longer bound to this dimension. But, Faust, and some colleagues of his, have theorized how Enchantress first came to this world. Even had she been born a meta-human, she hadn't come out of her mother's womb with that heart in her hands. No, somehow it was created and her spirit and magic had been bound to it. Someone had summoned that magic to our dimension with a heart…And Faust thinks it can be done again."
June shook her head.
"M-magic casters like that…they don't exist."
"I would've thought so, too, except I saw Enchantress with my own two eyes. I've seen plenty of things with my own eyes that make me believe just about anything is possible. Including the idea that a witch that powerful can be summoned again. And with the right resources, you can find the 'impossible'.
You're her vessel. She called for you—that, I believe, was fate. This ritual wouldn't work without you."
June is horrified, realizing the trap that's been set for her. She turns to walk out, but silently filing in behind her are robed figures. She jumps, looking around as they encircle her. Waller stands ahead of her, her back to June, and she continues on as if nothing has changed and the circle entraps June.
"You saw what she did…She almost killed you! And you want that thing back?!"
"That thing has power. A power we could control this time."
"How?! You don't even know if you can summon her back—she's gone!"
"She's gone from this dimension…but she still lives. Do you mean to say you can, without a doubt, tell me that you haven't felt traces of her magic in you? Traces of her influence, or presence? If there is an afterlife, if there is a heaven and hell, then Dr. Moone, you can bet that that witch is in hell and if she's in hell then she can be dragged back from it."
June feels tears again forming. Tears of betrayal and anger.
"You can't bring her back. You don't know how."
"You met Dr. Faust, and his colleagues you recall I mentioned? I don't have to know how. They do."
Matches are lit and flicker in their hands. June makes the mistake of looking down, noticing in the flickering light in this dimmed portion of the hanger, that dark runes and symbols had been marked ahead of time in the floor. June tries turning once again to escape, ready to fight her way out of the crowd if necessary, but a force slams her down as a muffled chanting began around her.
"You're mad!" June proclaimed. "You can't control her! You know that! Don't bring her back, even if you can!"
"If it can be done, it will be. If not by me, by some lunatic thinking they can change the world. I'm saving it. You're the most qualified applicant to host Enchantress."
"You're a monster!"
"No, Doctor. That would be you."
The chanting increases and Waller stares blankly at the ceremony. June feels something rising in her stomach and starts to scream, trying to drown out the chants. The cultists ignore her, raising their hands in unison.
Tears fall from June's eyes to the stained ground, and she knows it's useless. A gravity pulls at her and binds her to the ground like a weight, but only she is affected. Even the cultists jump slightly, amazed by their ritual's success. June feels the cold shivers and senses something inevitably coming.
She can't speak—her throat is hot and clouded. She thinks of Rick, and her false promise that everything would be fine. Tears keep streaming out and when she feels that all too familiar force overcome her, her last thoughts are of Rick, and of how foolish she'd been for even momentarily thinking they could have had a normal life anywhere in the world.
She whispers out "Help me," picturing Rick's face, and in the same breath, "Enchantress."
Science and vision
Be near when I call your name
A/N: So, the title of this story is a CHVRCHES album, and every chapter henceforth will be titled after a song from that album-cause that's a thing I do and I'm comfortable with it~ That said, I've for the most part planned this story out and it runs not too long but I'm hoping to get all the chapters out rather quickly~ here's to hoping...
So the Squad does have a larger role in this story and they all get introduced early in the next chapter, but I really wanna hit home that this is a Flagmoon ship (Gosh, I love that ship name) so it was important to have the first chapter follow mainly just them. There's some scattered flashbacks for really no other purpose than for me to have the details and quotes written down before I forget (Except I'm planning on seeing this movie again this week with a friend so...I'm serious, I loved this movie!); I'm also trying to be accurate, but again I'm rushing this fic out so some plot points prlly need some suspension of disbelief.
I really wanted this fic to show off more of June's character, cause in the movie she's mainly possessed by Enchantress every scene and when she isn't her lines are just apologies, but Cara, the actress, has said in interviews that June has a adventurous and thrill-seeking side and I can see that-I mean, her intimate moments with just Flag made her out to be way more comfortable and confident than when she's around everyone else...Anyway, I say all this, but literally by the end of Chapter one I have her as Enchantress again-There will be more June in the coming chapters, and also it's comic canon that Enchantress keeps being killed or banished only to return~
Flag's character is also kinda hard to right, cause he's a hard ass most of the time; real serious, he even puts up with Waller and her heartlessness...except when he didn't. There are looks and some lines he says but only ever about or to June that reveal yeah, he's a guy capable of falling deeply in love and he just wants to protect June, like ugh my heart tightens just thinking 'bout it...
Dr. Faust is another comic nod, as is the cult he's hinted at being a part of, but neither will be a huge deal much after just this first chapter and also please don't hate me for misusing them.. I could say so much more about this movie and this fic, but this is a long enough afterthought so I'll hold my piece for the next chapter.
Hope a part of this story was enjoyable if you read this far and I'll update probably soon (I stayed up all night just to race to rush this) and really, I'm just looking forward to more Flagmoon stories...
