"How are we supposed to take out this bomb?
"In one piece I guess?"
"Shit, I ain't doin' it."
We were all looking up at a hanging bomb that was swaying back and forth on a crane that was stuck on some kind of mechanism that wasn't letting it move. We were all in a new mission and predicament: a bomb about to go off if we don't dismount it and get it out there before it would explode and damage the city.
"Waller wants us to dump it near the river at least," Deadshot explained as we were all looking high about us at the swinging bomb that was swaying back and forth slightly with the wind. The whole area was evacuated and we were the first to be called to dismounting and dialing a bomb.
"So what…someone has to crawl up there and disable it before it goes off?" Chato asked as I looked at the bomb myself, trying to think of the possibilities that could happen for us and what couldn't work. So far, I was loosing ideas.
"That's her plan," Deadshot replied back to him.
"As if we know how to bloody take off a bomb," Boomerang muttered to the group now.
"Apparently the rest of the police here there thinking the same thing. Alright, how do we do it," Flag said to us now as we were standing there together and time was slowly running out for us to just stand there and not making a move. I thought of something that could be dangerous, really dangerous on my end now.
"I'll go up there," All of them were looking at me now as I was looking at the bomb now, "Flagg will feed me what to d up there and I'll take care of the bomb as long as someone moves the crane over to the river there."
"You're gonna be blown up if it goes wrong," Deadshot said to me in a warning, "It's too risky."
"Not with my diamond form on," I reminded him, seeing him think to himself now as Chato spoke up, walking over to me now as he was looking at the bomb too.
"It's not safe enough for you to do it on your own," He explained, now having me look over at him now with a raised eyebrow. Once again, he was playing the protection car don me, and for some real reason, I was having enough of that from him.
"I can handle something like that," I reasoned, but he shook his head.
"It's a bomb, Rose," He said in a lower register now, as if to prove his point.
"And this is our job, Diablo. We have to disable it and I'm the only one on the team that can do it and not get hurt if something does go south," I explained as I took a deep breath now. I could see it there, the uncertainty and was uneasiness written all over his face. But there was also the small amount of anger that he was trying to hold back, he wanted to argue with me and hold me back.
We were going to have a fight.
He pulled me away from the group and we were on our own from the others, now a bit closer to me as he stared at me with a hard look.
"Why are you gonna do this?" He asked me with his voice so low that I could hear the boom there between us.
"Because it's my job, Chato," I said back to him calmly, trying to keep myself calm in this situation now since he was the one that was getting me angry and I was the one who was trying not to be protected all the time by him.
"No, it's all of our job, not just yours." He reminded me, pointing his finger at me now and I could see the heat rising in his anger. I was now staring at him with a hard look now as he went on, "Don't keep throwing yourself into this kind of shit just to prove a point! Don't be stupid!"
"You think that's what I'm doing?" I asked him, feeling like he was trying to pick at me with things that I was still working on. He thought I was trying ti prove how strong I was from my past since he knew plenty compared to the others from all the talks that we had, but now it felt like he was bringing it back around again now.
"Talbert, we need you to go dismantle the bomb, now," Waller said in my earpiece as I was staring up at Chato with a hard stare now, not wanting to deal with this anymore. We were never one to fight, this was our first real one about myself and how I viewed myself in my life. I moved away from him, not bothering with him and trying to reason with him anymore. That was over, and I was mad at him for pulling that card on me.
"What are you gonna do?" Croc asked me now as I walked past him and took off my jacket that I was wearing, showing my sleeveless shirt and combat vest there and my skin being cold there in the wind as I could feel my own diamond form coming over me.
"I'm gonna prove a point."
The whole area shook now as I stood on the end of the chain from the crane and the bomb went off in the river, the explosion was making waves there within the water and the whole place lit up for brief second from the force of the bomb. Even the ground shook as I was swaying in the wind of the chain there, holding on as I was morphing back from my full diamond form to my human form again, looking over at the others who were watching and Flag who was at the controls of the crane there.
"Well done," Flag said to my ear now as he was moving the crane over to where the sidewalk was and the others were waiting for the both of us. I was still fuming from the fight I had with Chato, thinking that I was once again placed in an awkward place but now from him. I knew what I was there to help and to get the job done, and yet he thought I was going to get in trouble and almost killed over and over again. Did he think I was restless and not careful? Did he think that this was some kind of game with me and that he could control me? I already had someone like that in my life and it ended me in jail because that trust was long gone.
So it was not going to happen to me again. Even with him.
I landed on my feet in front of my the others now, none of them said a word or smiled. I sneezed that they knew Chato and I had a fight, and I was not at all embarrassed by it. I just needed some air and being away from them, get my head back in shape and not think about this fight that I just had. I didn't know if he was putting me in my place or just trying to make sure I knew I was doing, but either way, it was rubbing me the wrong way.
"Well done, Talbert," Deadshot said to me as I walked over to the group, but not joking them and just walking past them without another word about. I walked back Chato, seeing his eyes on me the whole time and I could see some twinge of regret there with his eyes. I wondered what he was thinking about in that moment as I walked by him like he didn't even exist. But it was only for a second since I was still mad at him
I wanted to be in peace.
A few days later Flag called me into the quad where the others were saying, and he sounded desperate there on the phone as I was about to head over to the prison anyhow and talk to him about another mission that was coming up. Since my fight with Chato, I steered clear from the others and mostly him since I was fuming from the jab at my pride and thinking that I was stupid. It was making me mad, seeing his stubborn side coming through and having me feel bitter at him and at myself at the same time. Who knew he had that in him to bring out something like that in me. I never saw it coming.
"Come on," Flag urged me as we were now jogging through the main hall over to a familiar part of the cells. it was churning my stomach to why he needed help over there, it made me worry that it had something to do with someone in the Squad. But as soon as we turned a corner, I felt my heart drop to my feet now since I could see the flames roaring out into the hallway a bit, some of the men were screaming out in both fear and agony.
Chato.
"How long as this been goin' on?" Flag asked as we jogged close enough for us to meet with another guard, who looked like he was about to pass out in fear. Flames were everywhere in the cell, and I could see someone in the middle roaring out in pain and in anger now as he was breathing out more flames from his hands like he was in some kind of trance.
"For about an hour now. He started it without talking to anyone, nothing set him off. It just happened," The guard explained as another roar came through the area now and more flames were being ignited now in the whole area. He was not in his right mind, I could see it from where I was and how he was behaving like something that playing tricks on him. His own face was blind by something else that was not like Chato, not the Chato that I knew.
"This is me begging you, Rose. I'm asking you to go and try to talk to him," I looked at him in shock now as Flag looked at me with a serious look in his eye, "No one else was able to, not even Deadshot and Boomerang. I think you're the only one that can talk him down." It was sticky situation to be in, to be the only one that someone could talk down from a ledge of some sort. The fight I had with Chato some time before was now out the window as I was looking over to the cell there and seeing more flames. Now matter how mad I was at him, I still cared about him through and through.
"You better make it quick before Waller comes back and decides to kill him," Flag advised me as I was going into my diamond form without hesitation there. I walked over slowly, the cell door was already opened but Chato was not going out, already trapped in his mind there and not thinking about anything else. I could feel the heat there as it was rising around me, some of the flames touching my diamond skin and they were licking me, telling me to go back. I was getting closer and closer now to the edge of the cell, placing my diamond hand there on the bar and I watched him for a moment as the fire was getting more intense around me.
He was still screaming, rowing back and forth and the flames were going along with him now as I was waiting for some kind of moment for me to step in there and trying to stop him. Was he seeing something in his mind that set it off like a trigger? What was he seeing? I felt afraid and scared for him as the flames were now engulfing me, having me be the only one close enough to him as the others moved away and gave him space.
Finally, I moved towards him slowly, trying not to spook him now as he roared another great boom of a voice and it was filling the whole room with fear, the heat in his eyes as he was thrashing and not stopping at all. I had to be able to be brave enough to face him and stop him from either hurting others or hurting himself.
When I was close enough, I reached out and grabbed one of his arms that were close to me, seeing him thrash a bit and look right at me. His chocolate eyes were gone, they were now fierce red and they were glistening in anger and fear. I watched him with my own diamond eyes now, giving him a reassuring now as we locked eyes together and he stopped moving like he was frozen solid there and I smiled at him.
"Chato," I whispered to him over the flames, watching him staying so still there and watching me like a hawk now as I was staying so still there. My diamond hand was on his fiery arm and nothing else mattered. Not the fight we had, not the fear that we were going to fall apart: nothing. All that mattered was the two of us.
"It's okay," I said to him calmly, the fires around us were dying down and his own breathing was calming from my own words. He was slowly coming back, his breathing was still harsh but it felt like something was opening up inside of him and he had no real way to controlling it, something raw and unsure. The flames were slowly dying away as were the ones of his body, seeing his tattoos again and his face that looked shell shocked from what happened to him. Finally, after mere moments of waiting there and holding onto him, his eyes were normal again.
"Hey," I said to him softly, seeing him almost tremble there from what he did, like he was getting his memory back to him now. The opening of his eyes made me now feel like he was about to break into a thousand pieces.
"I'm sorry," He said in a gasp as I was morphing back to normal now, seeing the pain there on his face, "I'm sorry….so sorry." He was about to cry there, and as soon as I was back to my human form I wrapped my arms around him and he hugged me back, trembling there and resting his head against my neck there. I could still feel the heat from his episode, but I said nothing as he was clutching me like a lifeline.
"I saw them burnin' in my head….me pushing them away….and it was the same way for you," He said to me into my neck as I just held him and tried not to have him get riled up again,"I'm so sorry…..I'm sorry…"
"Shhh, it's okay," I reassured him, feeling him grip the back of my shirt so tight and I held him closer still, "It's okay with us, Chato. It's all okay."
It was a hard thing for him to go through something like that and think that he lost me too from one simple fight. That's all it was, a fight between two people who cared. I have seen my parents fight and those were bloody and vicious, but this fight was nothing like it. I wasn't going to make it like that, I was not going to have a repeat of what happened with my family be with Chato and I. Chato may have thought it was an end, but not me. So I would repeat the same phrase to Chato over and over now as he would calm down in my arms, having us reset our relationship again.
Of course, the optimist.
"I'm not going anywhere, Chato. I promise I'm not going anywhere."