Thanks you guys for all the great reviews. Seriously, you're awesome and make me feel awesome when I see how much you're enjoying the story. Now, strap in - shit's about to hit the fan.
Harkness stretched his legs across the sink counter, ankles crossed comfortably, his back leaning against the tiles with Tamry curled up in his lap, her face tucked against his neck. They'd dressed again and, though she didn't strictly need it, he'd zipped her up securely into his Captain jacket. He was softly jabbering about a summer in his teens when he'd decided to become a pearl diver and realized how absolutely terrified he was of octopi. Tamry had no idea what had brought up the memory and was morbidly curious if there was some point to the story.
"Y'd think it'd be sharks, right? Straya, white sharks," he mused, brushing a lock of copper hair against his own clavicle. "Nah. Bloody sea aliens. Y'know some of em' got little teeth in their suckers? Bloody fuck is what!"
She laughed softly at his horrified tone.
"Y'don't think that's fucked up?" he demanded. The detective shrugged.
"I think they're neat," she told him, slightly apologetic. He made a sound of disgust and betrayal, which only made her laugh again. The mirth died in her throat as their radios crackled.
"If you two are about finished," Flag's voice came over the comms. "SEALs just got back. They're gearin' up now."
"Copy that," Tamry responded, then sighed before hopping down off her lover's lap. Digger stood and stretched his long limbs, grumbling softly to himself. She went for the door, but he flattened his hand against the green-painted wood and held it shut.
"Tam, before we go out there, there's somethin' y'should see," he said. When she turned to face him, George was pulling a folded up piece of paper from his pocket. He offered it to her. "That binder Deadshot found wasn't just about the clusterfuck we're dealin' with here; was stuff about all of us in it."
Sheer's brow furrowed as she took the still damp paper and carefully unfolded it. She blinked in surprise to find that the page had her own picture on it - the one from her police academy graduation - where she'd been expecting to find Digger's. She'd thought there was some secret he wanted her to know, but couldn't say outloud. Now, she was just confused.
"Nothing about my past is a secret, George," the woman said, looking up at her lover. "I always figured there was a dossier on me."
"Read it," he ordered gently, nodding down at the page in her hands. Tamry did as he said, not sure where he was going with this, but willing to follow along. Instead of clearing up her confusion, what was printed on the paper only made it worse.
Det. Tamry Elsvet Sheer. AKA Temerity. Gotham Police Dept. Blah blah blah. Multiple instances… hospitalization… unqualified recovery… multiple GSW, puncture wounds, fractured bones, head trauma… Okay, so she was resilient and lucky. Her early years on the job were highlighted, specifically two instances where her former patrol partners had been taken down - one with a bullet through his skull - during a couple of really nasty situations. Both men had survived, but had come so close to going out they'd been labeled miracles and Sheer had gotten a reputation for being a bad luck charm. There was also reference to the dozen or so times she'd had to play EMT with a civilian, trying to keep them from kicking off before the ambulance arrived, and the many, many questionable deaths noted in her GPD file.
Then it got weird, talking about her family history, things about her ancestry that she didn't even know, and a bunch of conjecture about old gods and warriors and half-assed mythology. An addendum had been added at the end, referencing her brush with death while part of Taskforce X as if it were confirmation of something; confirmation of the bold print halfway down the page that declared her a 'possible metahuman'.
"What the hell is this?" she asked as if Digger could answer such a question. "This is crazy. Cops get shot, people get shot every day! A couple close calls and I'm Ra's al Ghul?"
"Dunno, love," the Aussie shrugged. "Just thought you oughta know what Waller's sayin' about you." He paused, then narrowed his eyes, one side of his mouth quirking up with humor. "That bit about gypsies and medicine men and all; that true?"
Tamry rolled her eyes, folding the paper back up and stuffing it in her pocket. "My grandma's dad was a gypsy, but he ran away to have a normal life. I think his mother was Native American; I dunno, he didn't tell my grandma alot about that part of the family. The rest of this is bullshit."
In the back of her mind, behind all the confusion, incredulity, and outrage over the insane things in her profile, she realized that it did make a sort of sense. Not the crazy mumbo jumbo or twisting her medical history into evidence that she was superhuman, that was completely bughouse, but the fact that someone at the top of the food chain believed it explained how Sheer had ever even heard about a top secret, black ops, fully expendable kite team like Taskforce X. How else would an embarrassment of a Gotham cop ever have made the cut and been ranked among the likes of El Diablo and Killer Croc? Like so many times before, Tamry had benefited from the misconceptions of others.
"Not rushin' you or anything," Floyd's deadpan voice broke in irritatedly over the radio. "Just waitin' to save the world up here, that's all."
"Calm ya' tits," Boomerang shot back at him. "We're comin'."
He stepped back to let her open the door, but Tamry didn't leave yet. Sheer looked up at the convict who was suddenly such a huge part of her world - a world that was very possibly about to end.
"Why did you come back? It wasn't for me, was it?" She didn't ask if it was because of the insane ramblings on Waller's profile of her, because that was too out there to even consider, but the idea that Harkness had come back to rejoin a fight that could get him killed for her made her twist inside. If he died and she lived, she could handle it - she'd dealt with loss and sorrow before. If he died because of her, Tamry didn't think she could survive the guilt.
Boomerang grinned widely, blue eyes bright and laughing at her. "Ooo, look who thinks her arse is dipped in gold," he sang. Pulling open the door himself, he gave her a little nudge forward. "Nah, sugar. I couldn't just run out on me mates, could I? 'Sides, witch is tryin' to take out the world, right? Where the fuck am I gonna go?"
There was, of course, a chance he was lying, but Tamry hoped not. She liked the idea that George -who never had a partner he wouldn't sell out who had let Slipknot die rather than risk himself - thought of the squad as his mates, that he couldn't run out on them because he felt that connection. And that he was smart enough to realize that end of the world also means end of Captain Boomerang. He was pretty under all the layers of sleeze, but not pretty enough that he could get away with being that stupid.
As they climbed up the escalator, Sheer felt the back of the jacket lift and heard a deep chuckle rumble up from behind her.
"I take it back, love. Yer arse is definitely golden."
Tamry Sheer's No Touchy rule was being broken all over the place tonight. Even the woman who voluntarily put her tongue between the Joker's silver teeth cringed when the detective's hand - cartoonishly tiny by comparison - closed around a bared, scaly arm.
"Be careful down there, big guy," Sheer told Croc, who was more startled by the contact that anyone. "You know I'd miss that pretty face."
For half a second, the beast-man had no idea how to respond - to the touch, to the clear sincerity of her tone - and looked down at the much smaller woman with a cross between fear and sheepishness. It would have been adorable on someone who wasn't a recovering cannibal. Then he curled his lip and let out a snort that fluttered animalistic ally before pulling away and scuttling headfirst down the steps into the flooded subway tunnel.
Tamry turned her attention to the SEALs who were watching with expressions not quite as neutral as they aspired to be. "Seriously, if you let anything happen to him, I'm gonna change your name from GQ to Fangoria."
One side of the lieutenant's mouth quirked upwards. "Yes, ma'am."
Yeah, he was growing on her.
Down one homo-crocodilyan, the Suicide Squad moved out to earn their moniker. Creeping stealthily through the abandoned station, they headed up into the terminal. There were no sentry bubbleheads in their path, no traps, no defenses of any kind and every step they took unaccosted made Tamry's dread increase. The fact that there wasn't even an attempt at keeping any threats out meant that Enchantress believed there were no threats; not that no one might try to stop her, but that she had no fear of anyone who did. Sheer gripped her gun tightly, sweat making the rough surface of the handle scrape her palm and fingers uncomfortably. The big Aussie was practically glued to her back, their footfalls as in sync as Flag and Lawton up on point.
Tatsu brought up the rear, her hand resting ready on the hilt of her sword, and Chato and Quinn were just ahead of Tamry. As they climbed the final set of stairs that would lead them out into the open hub of the terminal, Floyd paused to fall back in step with Diablo.
"You gonna fight with us?" he asked far more calm than he had any right to be. The pyromancer glanced back at the detective before responding.
"I could lose control again," he said. It was a warning and an admission of fear. Floyd just half smirked.
"Then maybe we'll have a chance."
The terminal proper was surrounded by various shops and kiosks, ringed with stairs and lined with tall thick pillars. Most of the area was sunken down from the walkway surrounding it, where the team now slunk silently from cover to cover, and was filled with vintage-style wood benches. At the head of this space was a smaller platform that rose only a handful of steps above that, where normally an equally vintage clock would have stood. A massive portion of the roof was missing, letting the rain fall into the terminal. The centermost steps had been gouged out, melted and smoothed into a glassy divot above which rose higher still a small pedestal. On this platform stood Enchantress, silhouetted in the too bright light of her creation. Sprawling, flowing wings formed of shadow and black mist sprouted from her back and spanned the dais, undulating with every sinuous contortion as the witch swayed and snapped her body in near sensual gesticulations, feverishly working her magic.
The team got their first real look at the lightning geyser and the thing was far more intricate than any of them could have guessed. The pillar of sun-bright electricity was ringed by an ever churning series of massive, interwoven machine parts that appeared to be just as much smoke and ether as stone and metal. It sounded like the clanking knock of train wheels and gears, the hissing and spitting and grinding of every archaic machine ever dreamed and nightmared into existence.
"Hey, everyone can see all this trippy magic stuff, right?" Harley asked, blue eyes huge and gaping at the deadly lightshow.
"Yeah," Flag told her, brow furrowed in question. "Why?"
The blonde shrugged with an overwhelmed expression. "I'm off my meds."
"That's your old lady, man. You need to handle this shit, alright?" Deadshot told the colonel firmly. "Get up there, smack her on her ass, tell her, 'knock this shit off'."
Flag turned wide eyes on the assassin beside him. "I do not think that'd be wise."
"Anyone have eyes on Incubus?" Tamry hissed. The others shook their heads.
"We need to draw him out." Rick motioned with one hand towards the far side of the terminal. "Get him in that corner and the SEALs will detonate the bomb from underneath."
"So, how do we draw him out?" Sheer asked, thinking they needed a better strategy than to just run in, guns blazing. She needn't have bothered.
"I've been waiting for you all night," Enchantress declared in her surprisingly deep, smoothly smoky purr. "Step out of the shadows. I won't bite."
Tamry decided someone should have been keeping up with Quinn's meds, because the cordial command apparently sounded perfectly reasonable to the cracked babydoll and she moved to do just that.
"Harley!" she hissed, grabbing for the functionally deranged woman. Digger's thick arm came around her own waist, holding the detective in place when she would have lunged out of safe cover. Luckily, Floyd and Rick snagged the runaway blonde before she could get out into the open.
"Why are you here? Because the soldier led you?" the witch asked in a honeyed, coaxing tone. "And all for Waller, who sends you to your death in shackles. Why do you serve those who cage you? I have ever been your ally. I know you all and I know what you want; exactly what you want."
Tamry's ears popped, muffling the ceaseless hollow grind of the machine as if she'd suddenly plunged underwater. Stars sparkled at the edges of her vision as night crept up her spine and threatened to slip over her mind like a soft, dark hood. She shook off the sensation, listing to the side in a sudden rush of vertigo and dropping to her knees hard on the polished stone floor. The shaking woman pitched forward on all fours, panting as she tried to overcome the feeling of heat and ice pressing in on her mind.
"Don't fight me, little one," Enchantress cooed soothingly. "Accept my gift."
'I wanted to go off with you, Tam.' Sheer could almost see him, see them. Almost, but not quite. It's not a gift if I have to pay for it, she thought. And the cost was far too high. The words repeated again and again as she pushed the witch back. With a feral snarl, the detective lurched forward, grabbing hold of the first solid thing her fingers found and dragging herself to her feet. Chato went stiff as a board, almost tipping over himself as the woman leaned on him for support. He blinked at Tamry with unfocused eyes, their centers as black and shiny as onyx.
"Hey," she said to the dazed man, gripping his shoulders tightly and giving him a shake. "Hey, snap out of it."
"I'm showing them all the things they dream of; all they desire. What can you offer them, foolish girl?" The smoky voice carried a sneer to the detective that only served to ignite her anger and strengthen her resolve.
Tamry took Santana's face in her hands, looking into those vacant eyes and finding deep longing and anguished need. She was only a shady cop and couldn't offer him anything more than toil and pain as they stood shoulder to shoulder, but at least those things were real.
"Come on, Sparky! Wake up!" she called, putting every ounce of authority and command and need and love - because she did love her beautiful pieces of filth - inside her into her voice and her touch, willing him to hear her, to feel her and come back. "You don't get to check out! You owe me, you puta bitch!"
Diablo blinked and in the fraction of a second between when his eyes opened and close, they'd gone from dead and beetle-black to vibrant and rich brown.
"I can't change what I did," he declared, his face hardening into a mask of fury. "And neither can she. It's not real."
"It's not real," Sheer agreed with a nod. She looked away from the shaken, but furious man. The others were all standing shock still, staring vacantly ahead, oblivious to everything around them. She pushed Santana towards Flag, Lawton, and Quinn. "Wake them up!"
While Chato went forward, Tamry went back, rushing toward Digger and Tatsu. She grabbed the big Aussie and shook him, shouting his name. He looked down at her with the same black glass eyes, gazing through her at whatever fever dream Enchantress had filled his mind with. Harkness's lips curved upwards in a warm, foolish smiled.
"Y'look so pretty, darl'," he murmured, lifting a hand to brush his fingertips lightly across her brow. Tamry's jaw tightened in annoyance and she shut down the way her brain wanted to reconcile that gentle touch with what Digger could be seeing in his mind's eye.
"Wake up, dumbass," she snapped, pulling his head down to touch her own. He hunched forward, as pliant as a sleepy child. Sheer kissed him, her mouth as hard and demanding as his had been out on that city street. "Whatever she's showing you, you better let it go and get the fuck back here, 'cause your ass belongs to me, Captain."
Boomerang flinched, blinking rapidly until lifeless black was banished by clear sky blue. "Fuckin' hell," he gasped, shaking the fuzz from his head, then looking down at the detective with wide eyes. "It wasn't my idea, I swear, Tam!"
Tamry rolled her eyes and made a sound of disgust, though she was knee-weakeningly relieved he'd been so easy to pull out of the witch's clutches. She shoved the man towards the still thralled Katana.
"Wake her up," she ordered, then spun away, marching herself between the pillars and out into the open. Maybe it wasn't the most prudent course of action, but Temerity Sheer was pissed. She glared up at Enchantress and snarled, "You can't have them, you fucking mud cunt; those are my scumbags!"
The witch, wearing a skimpy Goddess bikini, adorned with sigils and bangles like an D&D wet dream, only curled her mouth into a hungry grin, cold, superior, and wicked. "Impressive for such a small thing, but you could be so much more. The sun is setting and the magic rises," she half growled, her glowing eyes flickering brightly with malicious excitement. "Our kind rises. Our time has come again."
"Your time is up." Tamry raised her gun. She knew June was in there, the witch was leering at her with the shy archaeologist's sweet face. She didn't want to shoot, didn't want to kill June, but the world was at stake. The choice was easy, one life for billions, one gone so seven could remain; it was pulling the trigger that proved difficult. But then, when was her life ever easy?
Sheer wasn't Deadshot, but she was capable enough. The bullet she fired should have been a kill shot, right through the pale, creamy skin of June Moon's exposed sternum. If not the first, than the two that followed in rapid succession. Three slugs, center mass, and the swamp water spell caster should have dropped like a stone. Instead the rounds sparked where they struck flesh like flint, as if the witch were carved from stone.
"Well shit."
Enchantress sneered as the rest of the squad tromped down the stairs, coming to gather at the detective's back. "Do you see, now?"
"You know what I see, lady? You. Are. Evil!" Floyd shouted, aggressive and challenging. This did not please the witch, who scowled at the continued resistance. She spun to the side and called out in a strange tongue. "Oh, wow."
Out from the shadows stalked the giant Incubus. Enchantress's brother was a behemoth that stood at least ten feet tall and appeared to be a being made of glass imbedded with strips of wrought iron, glowing fiery red from within. Twin pauldrons rested atop otherwise bare shoulders, fanned like the Sydney Opera house, high inside to guard the neck. Atop his skull sat a headdress done in geometric shapes, more for form than function, yet the glowing green gem at the center of his forehead screamed weak spot to Sheer.
"This is gonna be bad!" Colonel Obvious shouted as Incubus stomped down into the terminal.
"We should run!" was Lawton's brilliant contribution.
"Light him up!" Tamry barked, emptying her clip at the approaching goliath. Deadshot and Flag followed suit, for all the good it did them. The bullets had as much effect on Incubus as they did his sister. However, big brother was more the strong, silent type and instead of leering at his enemies, the colossus raised his hands and from his outstretched palms shot thick tentacles of molten glass and steel.
Everyone dove for cover as the red hot whips streaked towards the squad, spearing straight into the stone steps and pillars when they failed to find their flesh and blood targets. Incubus swept a deadly cable in a wide sideways arch, barely missing the scrambling detective and leaving a deep trench in the wall behind her. Digger shouted for the monster's attention, throwing a boomerang grenade at his head - and she would have to talk to him about that particular weapon in the future. If they survived this.
Incubus swatted the bomb aside like a fly and came after the Aussie with murderous intent. Harley rushed in to haul Sheer to her feet and out of harm's way as the behemoth kicked a bench into Harkness like heavy structure was made of balsa wood. Katana flew through the air, an anime character come to life, slicing one giant hand clean off, giving Digger time to escape to relative safety. The injury only gave the golem a moment's pause as he simply grew the severed appendage back, showing his new hand to the tiny warrior and sneering before blasting another deadly tentacle straight for her.
"I lost one family, I ain't gonna lose another one!" Tamry heard Chato shout above the mayhem. "Over here!"
Incubus turned to face his new opponent, shrieking inhumanly as he was engulfed by Diablo's hellfire. The advantage was only momentary, however, as the colossus kicked out and launched Santana through the air and through the storefront of a barbershop on the walkway above. The squad converged on their enemy, Floyd opening fire with his wrist guns on one side, Tamry with her sidearm on the other, Harley and Digger moving in from behind with bat and blade respectively. All for naught, as Incubus lashed out with whips and limbs, striking each of his attackers down with ease.
Sheer rolled under a nearby bench, not bothering to hold back the whimpering groan that clawed its way up her throat. She hugged her side, each fast breath in causing a stab of anguish. If she didn't have at least one cracked rib, she was buying a lotto ticket first thing in the morning. The bench lifted away from her, flung carelessly aside by the monstrous Incubus. Tamry had lost her gun when his anvil-like fist slammed into her, not that it would do much good against the creature, but now she was completely defenseless.
As the goliath reached for her, a vicious, rasping wail echoed through the terminal. All eyes turned towards the ruined barbershop as a twelve foot tall Mesoamerican fire god, replete with breechclout and massive, blazing feather and tusk headdress, stepped out into the open. The terrifying being could only be Chato, transformed into an immense, flaming skeleton.
Diablo swore at his adversary, taunting him in Spanish, the man's voice having dropped several octaves into an otherworldly rumble that spoke of ash and death. Flame met glass once more as Santana spouted fire from his boney hands so hot it burned blue. Shrieking in pain, Incubus retreated under the onslaught, cringing away from the hellfire inferno engulfing him. Not quite able to bring the golem to his knees, Chato threw a skeletal fist into his enemy's face that landed with such force that Sheer could feel the impact in her chest.
"Rick, we're in position. Standing by," GQ announced over the comms.
"Diablo, drive him into the corner!" Flag shouted.
Diablo did just that, catching Incubus's wrists and shoving with unbelievable strength. The colossus tried to plant himself and resist, but he just slid backwards across the ground, scraping gouges into the stone as they went. Chato tore away the iron banding over his adversary's sternum, then flattened a boney palm against Incubus's chest. The sharp smell of melting glass and seared metal flooded the terminal as Diablo's touch liquefied the body beneath it, sinking into Incubus's breast. The giant howled, flames spouting from his open maw.
"Get 'im, mate!" Digger shouted from behind Tamry. The woman herself couldn't have made a sound if she tried, awed and terrified by the spectacle before her.
"Yeah, do it!" Floyd cheered.
Celebrating too soon, the fatal flaw of so many villains. They'd all forgotten that Incubus sucked life energy. He took everything Chato had to give and when the fire god had nothing left and his flames went out, the golem smiled and caught his enemy by the throat, slamming Santana to the ground viciously and looming over him. With a flurry of smoke and firefly embers, Chato shifted back, human and vulnerable once again.
"Diablo, get clear!" Flag bellowed. "Get outta there!"
The other man, at the mercy if the angry giant, only glared across the terminal. "Blow it!"
"Wait!" Tamry rushed towards her fallen comrade, her friend. She couldn't just let this happen, she had to do something. Just a distraction, that's all they needed, so Incubus would loosen his hold and Chato could slip away. Two seconds, that's all she would need.
Two seconds Digger took from her as he snatched the detective up from behind, lifting her clean off her feet and hauling her back to safety.
"Now, GQ, now," Rick ordered.
"No!" Harley shouted it, Tamry screamed it, fighting to free herself from Boomerang's protective embrace, but it didn't matter. GQ followed the order.
"Everybody down!" The squad followed Flag's command, dropping to the ground just before the explosion rocked the building. The ground shuddered beneath them, the force of the blast throwing bits of rock at their curled and braced bodies.
Enchantress let out a cry of pure anguish and collapsed to the stone on which she stood. The squad lifted their heads, tentatively looking around the terminal, having had too many false moments of triumph in the short, but intense battle with Incubus to not expect the goliath to inexplicably come charging back again. But the witch was curled into herself, moaning piteously and it was the only sound in the terminal - even the great machine had stopped churning for the moment.
Tamry bent Digger's thumb back until he jerked his hand away and let her go, scrambling to her feet and rushing for the last place she'd seen Santana. All that remained was a pile of broken marble and concrete surrounding a hole directly into the flooded subway tunnel beneath. The others came up behind her a moment later, all of them staring silent and solemn into the crater.
Sheer's chest twisted with fury and pain, grief fueling the black rage that bubbled up from within. She turned towards the witch.
"You next," Floyd echoed her thought.
Enchantress rose to her feet, snarling down at the team. "My spell is complete. Once your armies are gone, my darkness will spread across this world and it will be mine to rule."
Before anyone could make a move, the witch spun and threw her arms into the air. The lightning pillar burst into brightness so intense it was blinding. Sheer covered her eyes, turning away to stop the sharp lance of pain searing into her skull. A shockwave blasted through the terminal as the machine slammed back to life, knocking them all to the floor once again.
The power being put out by the magical super-weapon caused an unnatural wind to blow through the terminal, tearing at their clothes and hair. When the lightning fired, the skies opened up and rain began to pour in through the destroyed roof.
"You got a move here, Flag?" Floyd shouted to be heard over the clanking roar as they all struggled to gain footing.
"We gotta cut her heart out!" the colonel replied. Tamry grabbed for Digger, reaching into his jacket and pulling one of his razor-edged boomerangs free.
"I'll cut the bitch's heart out," she growled, the sound coming from a place so low in her chest she hadn't known it existed until that moment.
"Tam!" Harkness grabbed for her, but she slipped his grasp, stalking her way towards the platform.
Enchantress spun in a puff of green sparks and smoke and gone was the slim, pale sensuality of June, replaced by a being composed of more shadow than flesh with limbs unnaturally long and slender, eyes glowing like burning emeralds. The primordial wretch sank down into a predator's crouch, shoulders shifting like a cat about to pounce. Sheer pulled Grigg's baton from her belt and snapped it open.
The witch vanished in another puff of smoke. She appeared directly behind the detective, but Tamry was already turning, lashing out with the boomerang. Enchantress dodged back in a move so fluid Sheer would have had no trouble believing the hag was made of water. She felt solid enough, though, when the baton caught her where her kidney should have been an instant later.
Enchantress disappeared again, popping up between Flag and Lawton, throwing each man to the ground before finding herself surrounded by the three remaining squad members. Digger, Tatsu, and Harley kept her busy for a few seconds before a well timed swipe of Katana's sword had her vanishing again.
When the witch didn't immediately reappear, Flag reminded them all, "While we're fightin' that thing's layin' waste to the whole damn world!"
"Well, where is she?" Lawton asked.
"I don't know!" Harley spoke for all of them and too soon. The moment the words were out of her mouth, Enchantress flashed into being atop her pedestal once more - this time, holding twin machete-length swords aloft.
"Well, fuck." Tamry really wished she hadn't thrown away that body armor about now.
The witch went after Floyd first and the man managed to land a solid punch to her jaw before being kicked ten feet across the terminal into the side of a bench. Enchantress turned her attention to Katana and Tamry rushed in from her opposite side. The witch spun easily between the two women, blocking every attack and countering with all the ease and precision of a dancer. She flung the small samurai into the detective and moved on.
Tamry shoved Tatsu aside uncaringly, focused solely on getting the sharp steel in her hand into the bog wench's chest. Harley was kicked back and Floyd slid between Enchantress and Flag to block a deathblow meant for the colonel. Tamry launched herself over the fallen soldier, her kick catching the witch in the small of her back and making her stumble, but only for an instant. She whirled on Sheer in a swirl of smoke, steel flashed in the light of her machine as the two women tried to put metal to flesh again and again.
Digger sent a boomerang towards the witch's head, but Enchantress easily knocked it away, continuing her defensive spin into offense and slashing at the Aussie. She sliced through his beloved coat, the very tip of her sword sliding through the tank below like butter, parting the hairs on his belly but not the flesh. Tamry swung her baton, cracking the steel against the back of the witch's neck and dropping her to her knees. Enchantress used the new position to her advantage, kicking one deceptively frail looking leg out and sweeping the detective's feet from under her.
She swooped down on Sheer from above with both blades and Tamry just barely managed to get her defenses up in time. Enchantress cocked her head slowly to the side, ethereal green eyes shining down at the woman beneath her.
"Stop fighting me," she said. It wasn't an order, but it wasn't meant to be refused, either. "Come with me. Let me show you what you are."
Before Tamry could tell the swamp hag to go fuck herself, the witch was yanked off of her. Croc swung Enchantress around by the ankles, slamming her into the nearest pillar once before flinging her away. He hauled Sheer to her feet with one strong hand.
"The hell did you come from?" the detective panted; not that she wasn't grateful for the timing. Tamry was suddenly wrenched away from the big man and tossed up onto the platform.
"You will be mine," the witch growled. She lifted a hand and Sheer jerked up from the floor. Half standing, half suspended, she was raised up on her toes, hands cast out from her hips. She couldn't move, she couldn't speak, but she could see and hear as Enchantress turned back towards the others. With a quick swipe of her hand, all their weapons were torn from their grasp and flung aside. "Enough!"
The rest of the squad stood almost in a perfect line at the foot of the stairs leading up to the platform. Beaten, but not broken and not even close to giving up. Even if they failed, even if they all died, Tamry's heart swelled with pride as they faced down their adversary. The wretch moved to stand atop her pedestal, gazing down at the collection of wondrous miscreants below as a queen upon her subjects. Tamry would have snarled, but all she could manage through the magic restraining her was a throaty growl. They weren't the witch's, they were hers.
"Of all who have face me, you have earned mercy," Enchantress declared, grandly magnanimous. "For the last time, join me or die."
The squad looked at each other, not willing to give in, but not knowing how to win the fight. That's when Harley spoke up.
"I'm not much of a joiner… but, maybe we should."
All eyes turned to the blonde and Tamry's stomach dropped away in horrified disbelief. Floyd glared at Quinn.
"Hey!" he snapped angrily. "She's tryin' to take over the world."
"So?" the doc challenged. "What's the world ever done for us anyway? It hates us!"
She turned away from him, from all of them, and walked towards Enchantress.
"Hey, Harley!" Floyd tried to call her back. "Harley!"
She ignored him, lifting a hand to shield her eyes from the bright glare of the lightning geyser and addressed the witch in a hesitantly hopeful voice. "Hey, lady? I lost my Puddin'… But you can get him back, right?"
So, that was it? The Joker? Harley was willing to trade the whole world for her beloved Mr. J.. Tamry probably shouldn't have been surprised, but she was. She knew Quinn was crazy, she knew the woman was selfish and brutal, she knew the doc loved the deranged, green-haired terror of Gotham. She knew those things, but still this - this, giving up everything and everyone, for a pretty, comforting lie - was never something Sheer would have believed; not from the jubilant reaper who embraced and flaunted all the ugliness within herself and the world around her.
"I can, my dear," Enchantress told her smoothly. "Anything you want."
"You promise?" Harley pressed, vulnerable and kittenish, the bluest of eyes wide and pleading. The witch stepped down off the pedestal, practically slithering she moved so smoothly down the stairs to meet her new disciple.
"Yes, child," she assured the blonde. "You need only bow and serve beneath my feet."
Quinn nodded, sinking down to her knees before the wretch. "I like what you're sellin', lady," she said, dropping her hands to her sides. "There's just one teeny problem… You messed with my friend."
Enchantress only had enough time to look down in surprise - premature victory strikes again - as Harley snatched up Tatsu's discarded katana and surged upward, swinging the blade as she went. The sword slashed across the witch's chest, releasing a flood of brilliant green light before Quinn shoved her hand inside and yanked out the source. The hag toppled to the side. The witch was no longer strong enough to keep Tamry frozen and the detective crumpled to the ground, but enough of her magic remained that Sheer was struggling to get to her feet.
"Her heart's out!" Flag shouted. "We can end this!"
Strong hands, hot and sweaty, grabbed Sheer and hauled her from the ground. Digger scooped the incapacitated woman to his chest and bounded back down the stairs as Rick handed off a massive amount of C4 to Croc to throw into the heart of the machine and Lawton called for Harley to toss him the nearest gun - her own harlequin revolver. Harkness had just dropped down behind the closest bench when Floyd fired his shot - a shot only he could have made, hitting one of the blasting caps and setting off the bomb just as it slipped between the giant, churning gears.
Every sense Tamry had ever possessed was replaced by sound. The explosion was loud, but it was nothing to the deafening, thunderous roar that filled her head as the machine collapsed in on itself. It lasted an eternity in only a few seconds and then even sound left her and for an instant, she floated in am vast, empty void. Then, Digger's heavy panting filled her ears and fell hot upon the back of her neck where his face was pressed to the skin.
"Fuckin' 'ell, is it over yet?" he growled, lifting his head and checking, but keeping his arms locked around her. When he slumped back down against the floor, Tamry had her answer. "Fuckin' Christ, man."
