Chapter One – The New Girl


Jones was startled awake by her insistent alarm, its burning red digital numbers informing her that it was too damn early. Staring at the boring, dimpled white ceiling, she threw a leg lazily out of bed and let her body follow it until she slumped onto the floor. Crawling across the stubbled carpet on her hands and knees to her bedroom door, she eventually forced herself to get to her feet so she wouldn't have to touch the cold floorboards in the hallway with her hands. Stumbling into the too-bright bathroom, she stared, unimpressed, at the girl in the mirror with the permanent dark under eye circles and frazzled looking hair.

"Not today." She murmured. And thus began a well refined daily ritual of showering, putting on enough makeup so she only looked half dead, and styling her hair within an inch of it's life into a twisty bun that was both professional and bordering on flattering.

Shuffling into the living room in just her underwear, she tugged a black long-sleeved shirt and a pair of well-worn cargo pants off the clotheshorse that had been sitting on top of the central heating. After jumping around to get the pants over her butt and fastening it with a belt, she went to put the shirt on and realised she wasn't wearing a bra yet.

"Off to a good start, aren't you?" She said to herself, yanking a burgundy T-shirt bra from the clotheshorse as well and putting it on overly viciously when she noticed the microwave's green light blinking at her that it was 5am.

"Piss piss piss." She grumbled, half inside the shirt as she started grabbing things she'd need for the day and chucking them in a large, trusty black bag. Looking back up at the time, she groaned impatiently and ran to the pantry, throwing open the flimsy wooden doors. Something was packaged in a clear box on the main shelf and she fumbled with it, finally grabbing a pen from the breakfast bar, and stabbing it through the box with a zealousness that only someone late to their first day of work can manage, before using her fingers to pry open the hole she'd made.

"Helloooo baby." She crooned as she revealed a chocolate filled croissant and shoved it in her mouth, mumbling, "Thank you, yesterday-me."

Stumbling back over to her now full bag, she zipped it up so quickly she almost broke it and threw it over her shoulder as she ran to the front door, grabbing a jacket as she went. Popping the lock in place and double checking her keys were with her and not about to be locked inside her apartment; she closed the door and skittered over to the lift, smashing the down button with her index finger a few times.

When the doors opened, she stepped inside and spun around, bashing the lower ground button and tapping her foot quickly as the doors closed.

"Professional. I'm a professional. This isn't even that big a deal. I just kicked ass on a tougher job than this. I'm a composed, in control adult and I know what I'm doing. I-" Her half-assed affirmation was interrupted by the nervous laugh that bubbled its way up from where her chest was constricted in nervousness. " – have no idea what I'm doing. Oh God. Alright, fake it till you make it. Or…fake it till you get home and have a panic attack. That's better. I can do that. Everything you've been taught is in your head, stop being a pussy and just fake it. Good. Alrighty."

The elevator doors opened and she sprinted to her car. Well, at least she wouldn't be too late. Not too bad, given her record. Now it was just a 3-hour drive to Belle Reve Penitentiary…great.


Rick Flagg had been informed that morning that not only did he have to get Task Force X, better known to him as 'those damn idiots' together again for a mission, but that they had to get new nanite injections and he was getting some new hotshot replacement for GQ. It'd been about a month now since Midway City, and hard without GQ at that. They'd been working together for a while up until his death and he'd gotten used to his reliability. Hot tempered, but definitely reliable. And now after being spoilt, he was being thrown in the deep end without even a briefing of who this new person was. It was ridiculous.

He looked up as a salt-and-pepper haired man began tittering over to him from where he'd been puttering on a monitor with the other doctors in the glass booth.

"Uh…sir?" He asked, holding a hand up in a timid wave to get his attention despite Rick already looking at him. As if he expected to be purposefully ignored.

"What?" Rick answered shortly. He wasn't a man for fluffing around.

"Um, well we were thinking we might bring the…the criminals out now." The man stumbled.

"You're ready?" Rick asked, looking over to the 3 other doctors who were beginning to place what looked like guns out of a Star Trek movie on a dolly and start wheeling it out into the corridor.

"Y-yes sir." The man answered.

"Right then," Rick said, turning to what remained of his team, who stood together in a corner waiting for orders. Addressing them, he called out. "I want Task Force X out here in 10 minutes. Get them in chairs, Croc on the trolley, like last time." He went to add something else, like 'be nice', but thought against it. He had a reputation to maintain and the squad could deal with some rough handling. The men instantly made their way deeper into the compound and Rick took a few steps backwards, leaning against a wall as he waited for the fun to begin. Today would be a long day.

"Hey!" Shouted a familiar voice. Rick turned his head to regard Deadshot as he was wheeled around the corner, strapped to the back of the chair so he couldn't move. "Hey Flagg! You tell your damn cronies to lay the hell off! We're cool now."

"You won't be cool in a second, Lawton." He smirked as the hitman was wheeled past him, glaring at him in confusion. Addressing the doctors, he called, "First one's up!"

Meanwhile, Boomerang was being wheeled around the corner looking like an angry cat being held down as he struggled violently against the restraints and cursed at the soldiers accompanying him.

"Now hold up a minute here, we already done that shit last time!" Floyd said in the distance with growing alarm as a doctor approached him with the medical injector. "You keep that shit away from me! You- ah!" He gritted his teeth and dropped his head as the new device punctured his neck.

"Next!" A female doctor ordered, and Floyd strained to look over his shoulder at Rick.

"You're gonna' regret that, man!" He called, raising his eyebrows. "Again!"

Rick shook his head, grinning. "Not my orders!" He called back. Next, Boomerang was rolled up, and his struggling got worse as he got closer, the chair rocking on its wheels.

Rick stepped over to him and kicked the metal chair sharply with the steel cap in his boot, a ting reverberating through the hall.

"Settle down." He growled at him and Digger stilled. His eyes shot to look at Rick, the whites visible as he breathed harshly through his teeth, his chest heaving.

"Fuck off!" He snapped at Rick, eyes wildly shooting to his right where the female doctor was approaching him. "Don't fuckin' touch me! Don't fuckin' – AH! FUCK!" He yelled. "You damn bitch!" He yelled, his voice getting higher at the end.

"Next!" The doctor called. Boomerang was wheeled away, making a growling noise, a murderous expression on his face that gave Rick a headache in anticipation of the attitude he'd get later on from him. "Next!" The doctor called again, impatiently.

"Can we get Croc out here?" Rick shouted, looking back to the corner he should be appearing in.

A heavy rattling sound clanked from the darkness, something Rick knew to be the trolley Croc was restrained to, struggling to hold his significant weight over the uneven cement ground. He appeared out of the shadows, accompanied by six soldiers as he was wheeled in, mouth covered by the brown mask they made him wear to prevent him from taking a chunk out of the guards. With his mouth forcibly closed, Croc's turn to be injected was comparatively no-fuss. All they got was the grumbling snarl that came from deep in his chest and he was on his way again.

"Clean this up. We're rolling out." He directed this to another soldier who was presiding over the security for the doctors. Knowing just how unruly the squad might get at seeing the doctors again, he motioned at them and spoke into the soldiers ear.. "Keep these guys away from the backyard."


The backyard, as Rick referred to it, was something of a cleared field at the back of Belle Reve that served as a good base for his men to set up and to receive incoming aircraft.

Walking out into the overcast weather, as it always was in this corner of the world, he surveyed just how foggy it was in the distance. Possibly a storm coming. The one benefit of the backyard was that you didn't have to worry about the inmates running off in the spur of the moment because of the lack of fencing. Belle Reve was surrounded by a labyrinth of marshland. Swamps that would hold onto your foot and suck your boots off your feet if you were lucky enough to escape.

The assembly of special forces soldiers was set just off the swamps, tents erected in something of a half circle to give the illusion of having their own private area.

To the left of him, Rick heard the rattling as Deadshot, Captain Boomerang and Killer Croc were wheeled into the centre of everything. It was obvious several soldiers were avoiding the immediate area around them, possibly remembering what had happened the last time they'd been released from their constraints. Specifically, the guy who'd got his lights punched out as soon as Boomerang was free.

Approaching them, he waved off the people guarding them and reached into one of the large pockets in his pants. They watched him wearily as he stopped in front of them and brandished the phone screen at them, revealing a certain familiar app.

"When you guys get up, you're gonna' be cool. You know why? I got an update on this." He tapped the corner of the screen and he heard a growl from Croc. "You ain't gonna' do shit here, you ain't gonna' do shit anywhere, because if you do, I'll tap on your little face like this-" He tapped on Boomerang's image and he froze, waiting for something to happen until he realised a second page had popped up on the screen. "And then I'm gonna' do this." Rick said cheerfully, and pressed a yellow button on the screen. Boomerang instantly tensed and the others watched him, waiting for his head to blow off, but instead he gritted his teeth, something obviously happening inside him. Involuntarily, the muscles in his hands, feet and neck began to spasm violently and he shouted out in pain as his eyes rolled, back arched. This ran through him for about ten seconds and then he slumped, exhausted into the chair, breathing heavily.

"You get the picture?" Rick asked pointedly. Deadshot nodded, eyes wide and Croc snorted in the affirmative. Boomerang was all but dead to the world. "Alright, get this shit off 'em." He commanded, and a couple of soldiers stepped up behind the prisoners and un-strapped them as quickly as possible. As soon as he was free, Deadshot stood up and looked down at Boomerang whose restraints were off, but he remained in the chair, turned to the side as he wheezed.

"What the hell is that, man? He asked, turning back to Rick as Croc stepped off the trolley.

"An extended pulse of electricity." Rick answered, putting the phone back in his pocket. "Enough to keep you in line without losing an asset."

"Jesus." Deadshot hissed, looking back at the man who was still struggling to recover himself. "Fuck that shit."

"Shall I give you a few more minutes, Captain?" Rick asked smugly.

"F-Fuck off." The Australian grunted, attempting to lower a foot to the ground but finding it increasingly difficult with how much it was shaking.

"Can we get their gear out here?" Rick shouted and a few soldiers ran off to grab it. Looking at his watch, he frowned as he saw it was 8:26am, meaning his new lieutenant was almost half an hour late. He spotted Katana – dressed in her red and black uniform – approaching and he looked back to the squad. "You all remember Katana?" Boomerang's head raised, but it appeared he was too tired to make any unwanted advances.

"Miss Chatty." Deadshot smirked, nodding at her and receiving a nod back.

"Anyway," Rick continued, "You're all out here because Task Force X has received another mission. Something that has to be dealt with, and have been advised that this rowdy bunch would be best for the job."

"Again with the pep talks." Deadshot mumbled, rolling his eyes.

"It's a simple apprehend and incarcerate mission, however the target is a meta-human. Which is where I presume you guys come in with your…special talents." Rick finished.

Boomerang was finally getting himself to his feet now and he took a spot between where Deadshot and Croc were standing, mind, a decent distance between them.

"You realise we really ain't much of a squad anymore, we've lost a few." Deadshot mentioned and Rick nodded, unconcerned as he was handed an iPad by another soldier.

"I have it on good authority that won't be a problem." He replied, looking at the screen. "We also have GQ's replacement coming in for their first day; which I'm sure you're all so interested in, but meet Lieutenant…Jones?" He read from the screen hesitantly, looking up towards their on-coming new team member.

"No way." He said to himself audibly. The squad looked towards the new second in command, expecting a same-same-but-different GQ, not understanding what the fuss was about. What they were greeted with was instead a young woman, who had to be cutting it close to the legal drinking age, in a fancy bun, dark eye makeup and a cheeky grin on her pretty face.

"No fucking way," Flagg continued to say. "Jonesy!" He practically shouted at her, abandoning his place and hurtled towards the woman whose eyebrows raised and seemed to brace for impact. Reaching her, he swung her slight frame up into his arms so her feet were in the air and twirled her about, arms pinned to her side in a fierce bear hug. The squad watched in bemused fascination at the complete departure Flagg had just made from his steely façade he always put on around them and showed his obvious enthusiasm at the new addition.

When he'd appeared to get it out of his system, he dropped her to the ground so she could stand again and began barraging her with questions.

"How are you here? I thought you were still in Kenya! When did you get called in? Where are you even staying, you should've stayed with me and June! Why didn't you tell me you were back?

"Whoa there, boss," she interrupted as she grinned at him. "I got pulled out for this, specially. I only just got back. And I wanted it to be a surprise anyway. Look how surprised you are!" She said all this with a distinct accent that made Digger frown at her and then throw his head back, chuckling to himself. Oh, this would be fun, he thought.

"So you're my second?" Rick confirmed and she nodded, both still smiling. "Man, I thought I was going to get some hot-shot rookie. This is worse!" He joked.

"Oh, ha ha, mister funny man. You know you love me." She shot back.

Rick looked unconvinced for a few seconds before the smile broke through again and he wrapped her up in his arms, smothering her in his chest again.

"Good to see you, Cat." He whispered. She smirked back.

"Good to see you too, boss." She replied. And breaking out of the hug, she turned to the squad. "Now, are you going to tell me what I've gotten myself into?"

Rick's smile at having Jones back instantly sobered as he realised just how badly he'd shown his cards in front of the criminals and his own men. He coughed, slightly embarrassed, and turned to regard the squad himself, stepping up next to her.

"Ah..yes, meet Task Force X. Squad, meet Th-" He grunted as he was interrupted by a sharp jab to the ribcage. "Meet Jones. I pulled her out of the army and trained her myself. She's on the younger side, but don't expect that to mean she'll take your shit because you'll find yourself unironically sorely mistaken.

"Jones, this is Floyd Lawton, also known as Deadshot; Digger Harkness, goes by Captain Boomerang; and Waylon Jones, who we know as Killer Croc, or just Croc." Rick introduced.

"That's a lot of names for three people, boss, I'm not going to remember that." She said, quirking her eyebrow at him.

"You'll figure it out eventually." He sighed. "They're not usually this quiet."

"I'm quiet because you just bloody zapped me with a lightning bolt!" Boomerang shouted.

"Okay, backtrack, did I hear another Aussie and another Jones within all that?" She asked, looking at the three men.

"I'm from Australia, luv'." Digger said, practically leering at her and Rick had to refrain from zapping him again.

"Oh yeah," She nodded, "Where are you from?"

"Up Darwin way." He answered. "And you?"

"Don't answer that." Rick interrupted.

"What's it gonna' hurt, it's not like I live there anymore." She said to Rick and then directing her voice back to Boomerang. "Melbourne."

"Ah, so we're opposites then, ey? I'm from the dry and you're from the wet." He sniggered and Deadshot snorted.

"Or someone here is a bogan, and one of us has a little class." She shot back and Rick grinned.

Boomerang arched an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth lifting in appreciation of how quick she was with that. "I never said I wasn't a bogan, love."

"I'll keep that in mind." She said, shaking her head. "And the other Jones?"

"I'm Jones." Croc answered, his voice deep and rumbling.

"Ah!" She said, stepping forward. Rick reached for her to pull her back but she'd already jumped in front of the massive scaled man and was holding her hand out. Croc stared at in confusion, surprised she'd just come right up to him, let alone want to shake his hand. Nobody touched him. Nobody wanted to touch him.

"You gonna' leave me hanging or what, big boy?" She asked.

"Jones!" Rick warned, but Croc reached out and enveloped her comparatively tiny pale hand in his, trying to give it the gentlest squeeze he could.

"Twins!" She grinned at him as she squeezed back, and his face managed to look even more confused. The other squad members watched on with equally surprised expressions.

"Well, nice to meet you all." She said, disengaging the handshake and stepping back to stand next to Rick, only coming up to his shoulder.

Rick himself was a bit stunned from what had just happened but kicked his ass back into gear.

"And you know Katana." He said, nodding to the woman to his right.

"Never met her before." Jones said and Katana took a step towards her, an overly pious look on her face as she surveyed the new arrival. And then they banged their heads together, literally smashing their foreheads against the other's .

"What-what was that?!" Deadshot asked as the two women patted the other on the back.

"Meet the troublesome two." Rick rolled his eyes and turned as a transport chopper started to descend behind them. "This is us, gang. Grab what you need and we're off." The squad's trunks of belongings were delivered in front of them and they instantly began to shuffle through the belongings. Jones watched for a second before they began stripping off in front of her and her eyebrows ascended into her hairline and she spun around to look at the aircraft.

"Lordy." She mumbled to herself.

"You get used to them." Rick said suddenly to her and she looked up at him, her large blue eyes looking more grey as the storm continued to roll in. "You doin' good kid?" He asked.

She nodded. "Yeah. I'm pretty good. Glad to be out of Kenya, you know?"

He looked at her for a second more. You could never know with her, she kept so much to herself.

"Alright, Cat. But you might want to go back after you've been with these guys for a day." He smirked as he stepped closer to the chopper.

Her smile dropped slightly when he wasn't looking at her anymore.

"I doubt that." She whispered, the sound being taken away by the wind.

"You ready?!" Rick shouted back at the squad and there was some hurried shuffling and then she heard heavy footsteps approach from behind.

"Yep!" A gruff Australian voice replied and she felt a large hand clap down on her shoulder. "You gonna' sit next to me, dahl'?" Boomerang asked, smirking at her.

"No, I'll be sitting with the ones without the criminal record." She said as she stepped out from under his hand.

"What, you worried you won't be able to resist me?" He called as she kept walking.

"Nope!" She called over her shoulder, struggling to be heard over the sound of the aircraft blades. "It just smells better!" And she jogged up the chopper's ramp, joining Rick and Katana.

"Shot down, man." Deadshot said, walking past the Australian.

Boomerang grunted and followed him as they were herded by the soldiers that would be accompanying them.


Please let me know what you think. It's just a short little chapter to get things going. I'm interested to see if people enjoy it and if you want to see anything happen. I've got a bit of a long-term plan for this fanfic, and I want this to be on the longer side, but it's all free writing, which I haven't done before, so chuck us a review.

As always, thanks for reading!

Next chapter we get Jones' thoughts on meeting the squad and an old friend.