AN: Okay, so we are getting somewhere with this. If you are familiar with my other River crossover fics, its going to be a slightly different POV style in this. River still had some trauma/ speech/ thought irregularities (again similar to my other stories), but she is going to be a little more focused/ capable than she might have been in Firefly.
Also, I love Batman, but am not a fan of Ben Affleck's version (Christian Bale is far superior). Anyways, fair warning he isn't going to come off as likable in this story (blame Ben Affleck). But enough of me talking… lets get on with this show.
Chapter 1: Deal with the Devil
River's POV
XXX
The woman's hand was smooth and cold, a contrast to the slightly calloused warmth of my own. The cold seemed to seep into my body; sending tiny tendrils of memory and subconscious thoughts along my skin and into my head.
Greed, but not monetary greed. Greed for knowledge… for power. "Making a better world…whatever the cost."
This woman was a very familiar type of beast.
"Do you know why you have been brought here?" The woman asks as her grip loosens and the icy thoughts fade from my mind.
"A weapon…" The voice from before, the Enchantress, whispers in my head. I glance to her right briefly to steal a look in her direction and receives a small nod in return.
"A weapon… it's what I have been called before." I reply slowly.
The woman, Amanda Waller, raises an eyebrow at her response. "By whom?"
I sigh. There is no use in deception. Not when the alternative to cooperation with Amanda Waller would be much more…counterproductive. "The others… like yourself. Sought a weapon, something they could shape and mold. They succeeded, made me into what they desired."
"Which is what, exactly?" The man next to Waller, Colonel Richard Flag, Jr., Military Special Forces, asks as his hand tenses around his still drawn pistol.
"A psychic assassin, Colonel Flag."
"Bullshit. No such…"
But Waller holds her hand up to silence him before he can say anything else. A small smirk plays on her face, threatening to become a toothy grin. "Tell me, Miss Tam. Why be so forthcoming with this information?"
"Because getting people to act against their own self-interests for the national security of the United States is what you do for a living. Deception or evasion would not create a favorable environment… or build trust."
While Colonel Flag seems to be stunned into silence, Amanda Waller's mouth does form a the toothy feral smile. She reminds me of a jackal about to bite into its prey. "Most interesting, Miss Tam."
I do not like this woman. Do not trust her or her pearly white smile. I can hear all the thoughts, plots, and inner machinations rolling around in her brain fighting for dominance. But I am a stranger in a strange land, and I need employers… not more wardens.
"Well, considering your effort to be forthcoming, I will return the courtesy. I have a proposition for you Miss Tam. One I think it would behoove you to accept."
The Enchantress's laughter bounces around in my brain and I shake my head ever so slightly in an effort to dislodge it. It does not work.
I sigh. I just want to get this over with. I spent enough time running from one set of would be puppet masters just to be stolen away and delivered to another version. At least this time, maybe I can set the rules of engagement.
"I accept, under the condition that I be allowed a modicum of freedom and discretion to make appropriate choices."
This piques her interest. "Such as?"
"Silent. I would prefer to be a silent member. Not something paraded around like… other people." She says as she throws a pointed glance in the Enchantress's direction. It earns her a visible sneer from the witch. "The rest will need to be determined as more data is collected."
"Considering your…origins and supposed skillset, I think this can be accommodated. It will require more information than what you have already provided." Amanda Waller says as she extends her hand once more to seal their agreement.
"Tests…demonstrations of ability…" Waller's voice echoes in her mind.
"I expected as much." I say as I take the icy hand in my own again. I can't help but feel I made a deal with a devil… I just doesn't know if it's the right one to be dealing with yet.
XXX
…Gotham City, 5 1/2 months later…
It had been easy enough to pass Waller's "tests," the battery of mental examinations and physical endurances that she had been put through. Psych evaluations, weapons proficiency, mental endurance… she threw everything she could at me.
"Mentally scarred, but has a stable grasp of reality and her environment," is what the final report had read.
Waller was pleased to hear the news. But she hadn't stopped there, because after the tests came training. Weeks with special forces operatives, Political Scientists, Linguists. I learned advanced weapons training, vehicle training, languages, foreign policy, current affairs, both domestic and international. Waller wanted nothing but perfection, and it was easy enough to fall into the part that she wants me to play.
But the one thing that Waller didn't have on me was the one thing she kept trying to dig for: leverage. She wants something to control me with. Something she can keep just out of arms reach and keep me on my best behavior, while remaining in her pocket. The only problem for her was that I didn't have anything. I had been ripped away from everyone I knew and cared about. While she could choose to restrict the liberties I had been allowed, she was also smart enough to know that I would not cave to such pressures. It bothered her like nothing else ever had, because she couldn't control me the way she could Flag or Dr. Moone.
Flag had eventually warmed to me. He'd been the one in charge of the additionally training I was to receive. He was nothing but pleased when my training assessments had started to come in from my instructors. He was cautious and wary, but he was friendly enough.
Dr. June Moone had warmed to me more quickly than Flag. In a sea of testosterone, I was a welcome sight. She was pleasant enough to be around for small amounts of time. But it was hard for me to be around her. I have nothing against her... she is smart, talented, and sunny. It just reminded her too much of Kaylee, and at times it was a bitter pill to swallow.
The Enchantress also complicated things. I did not like being around the witch at all. Felt her pulling and prying into her mind. Made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on edge. It didn't help that she could only ever hear bits and pieces of her mind. And when she did, it was so foreign, like she was thinking in a million different tongues.
After a reliable and bullet proof backstory was crafted by Waller, I essentially became her "aide." Of course what this really meant was that I was effectively Waller's left hand. The shadowy counterpart to Flag's role as right hand. I went where they couldn't and I supplied the information they couldn't.
And tonight… tonight that meant passing along an "anonymous tip."
As I approach the door of the restaurant before me, the two security men at the door give a small nod and quickly open it. I returns their nod with one of my own before ducking inside.
The hostess quickly comes over and silently offers to take my coat. She has seen me enough with Waller on other occasions to know she won't get much more than a nod or a thank you from me.
"He's already been seated." She says as she receives the coat and moves to store it.
"Thank you." I say as I walk further inside and towards the man seat facing away from the entrance.
My heels clicking on the polished tile floor announce my presence before I reach the table.
"I have to say Amanda, I'm not sure…" But he doesn't finish as the surprise and then amusement registers on his face as I slide into the seat opposite him.
"You aren't Amanda Waller." He says with a small chuckle.
"No, I'm her aide Mr. Wayne."
"Of course, Miss?" He's trying to be charming as he extends his hand to shake mine. He's falling back into the practiced persona of his public image. Bruce Wayne, billionaire playboy by day, and secret masked vigilante by night. While I commend his desire to do good for "his" city, the public persona just feels oily and it makes my skin crawl ever so slightly.
I don't take his hand, but rather place a file in his outstretched one. "Miss Tam, Mr. Wayne."
"Call me Bruce." He says with a smirk. The various thoughts of me bouncing around in his head do nothing to warm to him. The thoughts of undressing me especially make me want to punch him.
"Not Batman?" I say with a smirk as I cross my hands in front of me.
I am moderately happy when he at least seems to blanche ever so slightly. "That's not…" He tries to start before I hold up my hand to stop him.
"Spare me. I wouldn't be here if I didn't know about your night job."
He's on edge now. He doesn't like it when people know his secret, and I probably played that card a little early. But at least the thoughts of me naked stop. "And why are you here, exactly?"
I nod towards the file I handed him. "Floyd Lawton, AKA Deadshot. He is the most wanted hitman in the world…Rumor has it you've been looking for him."
He takes the file he set down and proceeds to open it and scan the contents. "So, Deadshot has a daughter. How'd you find that out?" He asks as he glances back up at me.
I can't but feel dirty myself when he asks this. That was one of the ways Waller had "employed" my talents. I was the one who had to research Waller's targets, assess their potential for Task Force X… and the one who had to find their weak spots.
Memories shadowing Lawton… overhearing him talk to his daughter and trying to be a parent still ring in my ears.
It was what bothered me the most about my arrangement with her. In her eyes, these weren't people. Waller saw people as replaceable cogs in a larger machine. Even Flag, June, and myself were expendable for her larger vision.
Granted Waller's list consisted of some of the "worst of the worst" as she called them. I still can't help but feel they deserved better. They were just doing what they felt like they had to do to survive in a world they didn't agree with. Like Serenity used to.
I push the rising emotions down and steel my gaze. "We have our ways."
"Uh-huh." He says as he looks back at the file. "So, why give this to me? Why not, pick him up yourself?"
"Mr. Wayne, you of all people should know that's not Amanda Waller's style." I say as I rise out of my seat and motion for my coat.
"You mean she can't use him for that rumored task force she wants to put together if he thinks she's the one behind his capture."
He may annoy me, but he does have Waller pegged. I smile at him as I start to walk out. "Goodnight Mr. Wayne."
As I am walking past him I hear his intentions. His hand doesn't manage to reach me though before I grab his and surprise him.
He chuckles at my reaction and I glower down at him. "So what does she have on you, Miss Tam? You're clearly more than a typical aide."
I hold his gaze before releasing his wrist. He shakes it out and I am sure he will have a few fingernail size bruises from the force I use. "Mr. Wayne, while I have some respect for the good that you try and do for Gotham, please keep in mind that if you try and touch me the next time we meet, I will leave more than a few bruises." I say again before taking my coat from the waiting host and walking towards the door.
As I walk out, I hear a few lingering thoughts in Mr. Wayne's head about claws and other things, but he has at least moved on from lurid thoughts to a begrudging respect. I allow myself a small smile. At least I won't have to kick his ass the next time Waller sends me to deal with him.
XXX
…1 week later…
"So now we have the man who never misses." Waller's voice comes through the phone after I pick up.
"I take it your friend found my tip useful?" I reply as I put the phone on speaker and place it on the desk next to my computer.
I'm still in Gotham doing "research" before flying back to Belle Reeve. Most of the time I keep close to Belle Reeve… close enough for Waller to keep an eye on, but outside the jurisdiction of the guards and military personnel. I'm allowed to come and go as I please, so long as I stay in contact. "So long as you cooperate, the privilege will remain." Waller had explained. More like the guards and I, well I should say Griggs and I, didn't play well together and Waller had been forced to allow it as a peace offering. Griggs could do as he wanted with the prisoners, but Waller's special "aide" was off limits, and he'd found that out the hard way from Flag.
He was worse than any of the people Waller had on her list, he just knew how to hide it better. Except he couldn't hide from me. Now every time I am forced to be in his vicinity, it makes me want to gouge his eyes out with rusted nails.
"Delivered to Gotham PD this morning. Along with Dr. Quinzel."
"Lucky you." I reply sardonically as I begin pulling up my records to update Deadshot and Harley's statuses. Both were on Waller's list of potential candidates, and the briefing file would need to be compiled.
My response doesn't phase Waller though. "Have you managed to find anything on the others?" She asks without missing a beat.
I grit my teeth. "I'll have an update ready tomorrow, and tips will be sent to the appropriate contacts in the next few hours."
"So they will all be handled before the meeting with the Security Council next week?"
I inwardly groan. Her tone was like a parent asking if your homework was done. "Yes, I would imagine Harkness and Weiss will likely be delivered by then."
"When are you due back?" She asks coarsely.
"A week. I'll be there when you, Flag, and Dr. Moone get to Belle Reeve."
"Good." She says before she disconnects.
I glare at my phone as if it was Waller before turning back to my computer. Time to send those "anonymous tips" to Barry Allen and the FBI.
XXX
AN: So was that enough backstory to how River is fitting in to all this, or do you guys want more? I may throw in a few observations she has made about each of the squad members as we progress too. Anyways, I hope you guys like this! Feedback is always appreciated.