AN: Ok, so full disclosure, updates might not happen as fast for awhile. Monday I start a new job (super excited!), so I am not sure how much time I am going to have for writing during the week yet. But I am very much committed to finishing this story (soon-ish), and it really is kind of writing itself. Anyways, hope you guys are enjoying the ride.

Chapter 10: Light it up!

XXX

Harley watches as Boomerang looks over to where River is standing near the windows. She moves to stand next to him and nudges his arm. Boomerang looks at Harley. She doesn't say anything, but she motions towards where River is standing. He seems to get the hint and walks over.

XXX

"You wouldn't have made it without them." Waller tells Flag nonchalantly as he enters the small control room.

"We got lucky. I don't do luck. I do planning and precision." He says calmly as he moves toward Waller. There are a three low level aides packing up stuff and wiping computers still, but they aren't paying him any attention.

Waller is just about done packing up her things. "Admit it, Rick. I was right." She says as she finishes packing her briefcase.

Flag grits his teeth. Before he had left to the main evac location, he and Waller had been in an intense argument over her staying. She had said the squad could handle getting her out if she needed it, and he hadn't wanted to risk it. "Yeah, I told you to get on the damn truck. Why'd you stay?" He responds.

That was the problem with both of them working together, they were both damn stubborn. Waller glares at Flag and hands him a file she had been working on. "I was studying your girlfriend. She takes an average person ... A yoga mom, an elderly retiree, and she turns them into a soldier who can take a headshot and still fight. It's an instant army."

"Tam called them Reavers. You may want to ask her about them." Flag volunteers.

This catches Waller's interest and she files it away for later. But she still has more questions for Flag. "But how'd she do it Flag? How'd she game the system with you watching her every move?"

This time, Flag isn't to forthcoming. He squares his jaw and looks Waller dead in the eyes. "I'll accept the consequences."

That's all Waller needs to hear to know something happened. That Flag had fucked up and had failed to report it. "I am your consequence." She says with a minor hint of menace in her tone.

XXX

…Outside…

River's POV

She feels him slide up next to her, but this time he's careful not to touch.

"So…I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to say." He admits a little sheepishly.

I smile and glance over at him. "Harley scolded you."

A faint blush creeps in around his mutton chops. "Harley may have talked to me."

I look over where the Doc is hanging out near Chato and Croc, watching Digger and I expectantly. I smile at her and she returns a beaming one of her own. What she's trying to do is sweet, and reminds me a little of Inara. Inara always wanted people to be happy.

I decide to let down my guard a little. "I'm not used to being… so open with people." I admit as I fidget with my hands. "I…when people would try and touch me before… it was never with good intentions."

Digger's mind is rather more focused than usual, and I know he's making an effort to respect boundaries. "How old were ya?" He asks quietly.

I know what he's asking, and he's trying to be delicate. "Twelve."

Anger blooms in Digger's mind and I know he wants to ask other things, more personal things. I decide to to volunteer more information surrounding that before he has to ask. "It wasn't sexual. It was torture, just never like that. They were monsters, but there were at least some things they wouldn't do in the name of science."

He seems to let out a breath and the anger slowly fades from his mind. He turns from the window to face me and I do the same.

"This shits hard fer me. I don't right understand everything you said or what Harley told me, and I don't always do or say the right thing. But I want you to know I ain't like that. I ain't like them."

I knew what he meant. He may be a sociopath who doesn't play well with others, but he wasn't going to hurt me. Not like they did at least. I smile at him to take some of the tension away.

"Well, I can always kill you with my brain if you did, so…"

He laughs nervously, not sure if what I said is a joke or a threat. I laugh too.

XXX

The only person who River hadn't been paying attention to before she was distracted by Boomerang, was Deadshot. And when Deadshot saw his opening, he quietly slipped from the atrium into the room Flag had entered. What he saw when he got in there was minutely unbelievable, and damn near comedic.

"You might need to be careful. They think we're rescuing Nelson Mandela." Deadshot says as he walks towards Flag and Boss Lady herself… Amanda Waller.

Flag looks almost a little sheepish as he sees Deadshot walking towards them. Waller doesn't look the slightest bit phased.

"Hey, man I know you can't hear me 'cause you're trapped ... In your temple of soldierly self- righteousness ... But a two- faced dude like you wouldn't survive a second on the street." Deadshot says quietly to Flag as Waller moves towards where the low level aides are finishing up.

But between Waller and Deadshot, Flag is more than a little on edge and takes Deadshot's bait. "Oh, says the guy who shoots people for money."

Deadshot just smirks. "My cards is on the table, man."

Flag's jaw tenses. "It got done. didn't it?"

But before either one of them can say anything else in their verbal sparring match, three gunshots ring out in the room. The three low level aides that had been there are lying on the floor, and the gun in Waller's hand is still smoking.

"Damn. That is just ...A mean lady." As Deadshot just watches Waller walk back towards them as if nothing had happened.

"Yeah. You get used to it." Flag deadpans. He hadn't seen that coming, but it didn't surprise him coming from Waller.

Deadshot chuckles. "And I'm the bad guy? That shits gangsta."

But Waller has little patience for Deadshot's color commentary. "What? They weren't cleared for any of this any of it."

Deadshot holds his hands up and shrugs. "Hey. I'm not judging. I've buried a lot of mistakes, too."

XXX

River's POV

"Croc, Mr. Fire-man, or Deadshot?" Digger asked with a lewd wiggle of his eyebrow. I broke into sputtering laughs when he did this.

Digger had wanted to lighten the mood, so he had started a game of 20 questions. The first few had been relatively benign… favorite food (ice cream)… favorite weapon (my kerambits)… favorite type of music (classical). But the more he asked, the more crude he got. The current question was kill, shag, or marry, and I really didn't want to even think about the choices he was giving me.

"I am not answering that." I said between laughs.

"Oh come on luv, have a bit o fun." He said teasingly.

"Still not answering that."

"Pft, fine." He says with a bit of a sulk. It doesn't take very long for him to think of another question though. "That night at the bar, if you hadn't run away…" He starts asking.

My laughs die down as I hear the question forming on the tip of his tongue.

"What would you have let happen?" He asks with a smirk.

I can feel my face immediately flush red. It was something I had thought about briefly that night when I had walked back to the hotel. In his drunken state he hadn't been hard to read, and even if he had, it wouldn't have been hard to imagine what he was thinking about. The real question was, why hadn't it bothered me as much when Digger thought those things, then when Bruce Wayne or Griggs had similar thoughts?

"I don't know." I answer honestly, because I don't know what I would have allowed to happen.

Digger's smirk widens and turns into a toothy grin that shows his gold tooth. It's the same smile he had that night.

"You looked like a right tasty treat that night, in the black dress…" Digger says as he draws closer. "I kept thinkin' about what you mighta had underneath it."

He's close enough to me I can feel the warmth of his body radiating off of him. I watch as he slowly bring this hand up, hesitates for a brief second so I can see what he's doing, before running a finger gently down the side of my face. "Course' I was more thinkin' about how soft you mighta felt."

As he traces his finger down the side of my face it leaves a scorching mark in its wake, as if his fingers are fire and they are leaving a permanent burn. I'm completely lost in thought memorizing exactly what his touch feels like when Harley's voice breaks me out of my reverie.

"No way." Harley says from behind me.

And just like that, Digger's spell is broken, and my eyes snap to what Harley is so amazed by and my stomach sinks… Waller. The look that Waller is giving me in this moment freezes the warmth I had previously felt from Digger so suddenly it's like being dunked in liquid nitrogen. Because Waller has finally gotten her leverage over me, and she knows it.

I refuse to move away from Digger, that would just give more credence to Waller's leverage. No, instead I stay firmly planted until Flag signals for us to move out.

"Let's go home." Flag says as moves towards the stairs to the roof.

But his words do not have the best effect and before I can intervene, Digger is opening his mouth. "Yeah. let's go home. That sounds good. you guys wanna go home? Or you wanna go back to prison?"

"I'm not going back to prison." Harley says behind me and I can feel the smallest amount of panic begin to rise in me.

"What I'm saying is ...We kill the pair of 'em now before they kill us." Digger continues mouthing off as he moves towards Waller and Flag.

All around me are thoughts of violence and bloodshed, they're like daggers piercing my brain over and over. I am trying to keep up my walls; I don't even realize what I am doing when my hand shoots out and grabs at Digger's arm. "Guys come on." I say before I can keep the words from spilling out. It's the final nail in my coffin so to speak, as Waller realizes it's not just Digger that's her leverage… it's all of them.

Waller holds up an arm as Katana readies herself to intervene if necessary. "I got this." She says in a stern command to Katana to get her to stand down. Katana does, and Waller holds up an identical smart phone to Flag's, complete with detonation app on the screen. "You all made it this far. Don't get high- spirited on me and ruin a good thing." She taunts everyone.

No one makes another move towards her as she walks through the atrium and to the stairs. The threat was received loud and clear. Checkmate, Waller. It's only when the door to the stairway closes behind her that we all unfreeze.

"I like her." Croc says before heading up to the stairs himself. Chato and Deadshot follow behind him, with Flag just behind them.

Harley and Digger move to follow them, but I stand rooted in my spot. Harley soon realizes I am not moving and turns back towards me. "You comin'?"

I don't look at her, but I do respond. "Give me a minute." I say as I look out the window over the city.

I don't need turn around to know they are giving me space. I can feel Harley pulling Digger to the stairs with her, and it's only when I hear the door open and close behind them that I let out a groan of frustration. I had worked so hard to keep that woman from sinking her talons into me like a piece of flesh, and now? Now she finally had found the right place to dig in.

"You're weak." Enchantress's voice bounces around my head. "They make you weak."

I screw my eyes shut and try and block her out. "Can't you just leave me alone." I say through my clenched teeth.

"You could be so much more… I could make you so much more."

I open my eyes and immediately draw my pistol. Just like the first time I saw her, Enchantress's reflection is in front of me in the window. "Go to hell." I spit at her as I let loose a few rounds into her reflection. After a few rounds, I blink a few times and she's no longer there, but her cackle still echoes around me. I don't say anything else as I holster my gun and head to the roof.

XXX

River's POV

A few minutes later I make it to the roof and everyone seems to be milling about. Alpha team is around the perimeter of the roof, securing it and simultaneously on the lookout for transport. But the fact that air transport isn't here yet is odd, as they should have been here by now.

I stride over to where Flag and GQ are standing. Waller isn't too far away, but the rest of the squad is keeping some distance from her.

"Didn't you take care of evac?" Flag asks me as I stop next to him.

"I did. They should have been here by now." I say as I look out over the city.

"Boss!" One of the guys from Alpha team calls out. "Incoming."

"Savior one- zero, this is Ground Element. Savior one- zero, how copy?" Flag calls out on his radio, but he's met with silence.

I walk towards the approaching helicopter, and each step I take brings an icy chill to my skin. I look back towards Flag, who still is trying to hail them on the radio. "Savior one- zero, the LZ's clear…. They're not talking to me."

But when I turn back around I am face to face with a Reaver trying to slice my throat. I scream and fall back to avoid the blade, but when I look up… the Reaver is gone.

"Tam?" GQ says as he rushes to my side and helps me stand up.

It all makes sense to me now. She wanted to distract me. As if on cue, the incoming helicopter begins to fire at us. "That's not our transport! It's Reavers, light it up!" I yell out over the approaching gunfire as I unholster my pistol and take cover.

The others are quick to follow suit. "You heard her! Light it up!" GQ yells as he and everyone else on the roof begin to fire at the helicopter. "FUCK! How'd they learn to fly a fuckin' chopper."

I am not sure how she managed it, but that fuckin' witch had managed to get her Reavers a military chopper. If our ride didn't show up soon, we were going to be in some serious trouble.

"We're running out of bullets here!" Someone from Alpha team yells out.

Fuck. Where was Boomerang? I peak my head out from my cover to try and see where she is. He's ducked behind a nearby air vent with Deadshot.

"Digger!" I scream over the gunfire.

He manages to hear me and looks in my direction. "You have any of your special boomerangs?" He smirks at my question and fishes into his coat and produces a thicker boomerang than his bladed one.

"Thought you'd never ask luv!" He says as he throws it towards the chopper. It's a direct hit and the aft motor goes up in flames as the boomerang explodes against it. The chopper's blades begin to buckle and stutter, and pretty soon it begins to fall into one of the nearby buildings in a fiery blaze.

Everyone seems to breath a collective sigh of relief and begin to stand up as they watch it crash, but the relief is short lived as another chopper seems to come around the corner of the nearby buildings firing at us again.

Again, everyone dives behind their cover.

"We're sitting ducks up here!" Deadshot yells from behind me.

"Just keep shooting! We can't let them land on the roof." Flag yells.

As the amount of gunfire we are able to send towards the chopper begins to dwindle, I notice another chopper closing in from a distance. Except this time, the icy chills aren't running down my spine. I watch as the incoming chopper seems to stop short of the roof, and before I realize what's happened, someone from the other chopper has fired a rocket-launcher at the other helicopter. Once again, everyone watches as the metal beast explodes and crashes in a fiery mass of twisted metal.

"There they are!" I say as I fish into my backpack and produce a flare. I light it, and walk into the middle of the roof to signal the helicopter. As it gets closer, it becomes evident that it's not what Flag, Waller, Alpha team, or the squad was expecting… because there are white HaHAhAs spray painted all over the chopper.

As it lands, the Joker, impeccable dressed in a a full suit with tails and holding a rocket launcher, jumps out of the open doors.

"PUDDIN!" Harley screams as she runs towards the Joker. He opens his arms and embraces the petite ball of mayhem. "Puddin'! You got all dressed up for me?" As she plants kisses all over his face.

"You know I'd do anything for you." He says before releasing her and walking towards where I am standing.

"Nice of you to show up!" I say over the whir of the chopper's engines.

"Fashionably late kitty-cat. Nothin' less for you." He says as he gently knocks under my chin.

"You want to explain what the HELL he's doing here!" Waller yells as she moves towards me.

I turn and give her the most smug look I can muster. "He's your ride!"

XXX

AN: Ok, so the movie underutilized the Joker. We all know this. Hopefully this makes up for it! I will try and update soon, so try to not kill me over the cliffhanger (Hides behind the rocket wielding Joker).