AN: I'm baaackk! Getting that last update definitely helped push past the writer's block, so we got another update! Hope you guys like this chapter!

Chapter 12: I feel like I'm drowning

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River's POV

Time is tricky…like the rain starting to fall as we stand on the roof. You can put your hand out and try and catch enough to matter, but all you are left with is a few precious drops… a few moments. This was one of those moments. One of those moments that you catch in the palm of your hand. A moment that burns its way into your memory.

The raindrops are like acid on my skin. Each drop leaves a burning trail as Flag's radio crackles to life.

"Mayday…mayday… we're hit." GQ's voice calls out from the scratchy static of the radio.

Those words suck the air out of my lungs as if I was free-falling from the thirty story building we're on.

XXX

In the blink of an eye I am no longer on that roof in Midway City… I'm in the galley of Serenity. There is a moment of calm, a moment of perfect silence, before everything come crashing down.

Everything begins to spin, tumbling and falling out of cabinets, off of counters, and I am thrown violently against the wall. The G-force keeps me pinned their until something seems to kick in and I feel the ship right itself.

My body slumps to the floor and I quickly scramble out of the galley and towards the center of the common area. I don't have long before I feel the next earth shattering crash of the ship. It hits the ground hard, and I nearly bounce to the ceiling from the impact. I can feel the ship continue to skid across the ground until it seems to crash into something and teeter before finally coming to a stop. My body aches, but I will myself to try and pick myself up. It takes a moment, but I gather my strength.

But when I do, it's as if I have been plunged into icy water. There they were… Inara, Book, Simon, Kaylee, and Jayne… all strapped into the emergency harnesses. All dead.

Enchantress' unmistakable cackle rings in my ears.

XXX

I force myself out of the delusion and open my eyes. I am back on the roof. Back in this reality. Or was this the dream? It's getting harder to keep it all straight. It all feels so real.

Flag quickly issues orders. I vaguely hear him thru my mental haze. The other's wait a moment before they follow him off the roof. I don't say anything. I allow myself to get lost in the sea of voices and bodies that catch me in their current and carry me away. For once, I want to block out the sounds of my own thoughts with everyone else.

XXX

Harley Quinn doesn't know exactly what happened. One minute she was looking out the side door of the helicopter, the next she felt her body hurdling down towards the hard earth below her. She tried to grasp for metal landing skids as her body fell threw the door, but her grasp couldn't hold on.

She had managed to semi-right herself and when she sees the roof of the building underneath her, she tucks into a gymnastic roll to lessen the impact of the fall. It works, and she manages to tumble a few times before coming up into a run. She dashes to the edge of the building and looks on in horror as the burning helicopter struggles to stay flying.

She knew a crash was inevitable and it feels like her heart breaks into a million pieces as she watches the fiery wreck disappear behind the buildings. She quickly turns and looks for the stairs to get off the roof, hoping she can meet up with the others on the way to crash site.

XXX

When the helicopter hit the street, it had sent everyone tumbling from their seats. The impact had been had enough that the fuselage had shredded and twisted into a mess of sharp metal. It had screeched across the asphalt for a few moments before ramming into a few parked cars in the side of the street.

GQ groans as he pushes some of the debris off his body and tries to stand. He nearly doubles over in pain as he tries to put weight on his left leg. He steadies himself against the side and looks around the cabin. He can hear Waller's soft groans and see's Joker's man Frost somehow climb out of the cockpit.

"Ma'am?" GQ calls out to Waller.

"I'm okay." She says from behind some broken pieces of the helicopter.

Frost calls suit. "Boss?" The Joker doesn't make any noise and GQ can see a flash of panic on Frost's face as he shuffles closer to GQ. "Boss?" Frost calls out again, but still nothing.

GQ watches as Frost takes in the likelihood of the silence and make a move towards him.

"You ok kid?" Frost asks as he takes in GQ's posture.

"Busted leg."

Frost nods in understanding.

Frost surprisingly helps GQ move closer towards Waller, who is having a hard time disentangling herself from the harness and debris holding her in place.

"Goddammit!" She yells as she tries to move some of the metal debris off her legs, and GQ and Frost are quick to try and do the same. But the trio don't get very far into their task before the sound of booming footsteps and inhuman hissing can be heard getting closer.

"Fuck." GQ says as he draws his side arm and passes it to Waller before going back to trying to free her.

They aren't having any luck though in their state, and Waller knows it. "It's no use." She says as she sets the gun down momentarily beside her and wiggles the case holding Enchantress's heart out and throws it to GQ. "Go."

"Ma'am." GQ tries to argue.

But Waller won't have any of it. "That's an order Lieutenant."

"I can't leave you here!" GQ yells back as the footsteps become louder and Waller fires the sidearm into the head of a Reaver that's ahead of the pack.

"If you don't and the witch gets her heart, we're all dead."

GQ hates to admit it, but he knows she's right. "I'm not getting far on this leg." He says reluctantly.

"Come on kid." Frost says as he takes GQ's arm over his shoulder and helps take some of the weight off his bad leg. It takes a minute for Frost and GQ to step out of the carnage of the helicopter, but once they do they begin to pick up the pace away from the the approaching hoard of Reavers.

GQ steals a glance behind him and hope Waller saves at least one of those bullets if she needs it.

XXX

River's POV

By the time we hit the ground level I have managed to pull myself somewhat together. Their minds had been a cacophony, but it was enough to ground myself in the moment. To hold on to something here and now, instead of letting her push delusions into my brain.

As we exit the building everyone's thoughts focus on one particular point of interest… Harley sitting on a nearby car hood.

"Hey, guys I'm back! I missed you all so much!" She says with a smile plastered on her face.

But I can see the worry behind the smile.

"We're glad you could make it." Deadshot says as he walks towards her and helps her off the car.

We all fall into line and walk towards the direction of the helicopter's path. The remainder of Alpha team and Flag are on high alert, and I can feel pinpricks of worry from the others too.

"Any idea what hit you guys?" Flag asks we continue to walk along the street.

Harley shakes her head. "One minute I'm looking at the swirling lights, and the next thing I know I'm falling outta the chopper."

But I knew what had happened… could feel the energy pulsing in the air. I also knew Flag would wait until he wasn't overheard to ask me.

I pick up my pace a little so I am not so close to Deadshot and Boomerang as Flag's steps slow slightly to meet me in the middle.

"Tam?" He asks quietly.

"It was him." I respond under my breath.

"Who?"

I give Flag a pointed look and he gets the picture. He can't quiet the curse that flows from his mouth. "Shit!"

XXX

As the horde of Reavers swarm around her, Waller faintly hears the Joker groaning from somewhere behind her. But before she can say anything to him, the mangled door is ripped off it's hinges and there stands Incubus with dozens of Reavers at his command.

His eye's narrow at Waller as he looks around for the container holding his sister's heart. "No matter… she will come." He says as he steps back and allows the Reavers to begin pulling Waller from the wreckage.

"Bring her…and him… to my sister." Incubus instructs the Reavers as he points to Waller and Joker.

They drag them along the street towards the train station and once again Waller hears the Joker chuckling.

"Having a bad day yet?" He asks Waller.

But she is not in the mood for his antics. "Go fuck yourself."

XXX

River's POV

They're a few blocks away from the crash when she sees them. Two figures limping along in the shadows.

"GQ!" Flag yells as everyone heads in their direction.

I watch as Frost helps lean GQ against a nearby building and pick up on the amount of pain he's in. I rush over and take off my backpack so I can fish thru it more easily for the minimal med supplies I carry on me.

"Nice to see you in one piece." I say as I tentatively touch his leg to access the damage.

He winces when I get a few inches above his knee. "I've seen worse."

I turn to my bag and fish out the duct tape and bandages I look for something to use as a brace on GQ's leg.

"What happened?" Flag asks from behind me as I get to work bracing his leg.

"Dunno. We got hit by something… killed all power and next thing I know we're crashing."

"Your boss lady gave us this and told us to get lost." Frost says as he hands Flag the case he had been carrying.

"Where's Mr. J?" Harley asks Frost.

"I dunno. We had a horde of those things closing in on us and that broad was pretty insistent we get that outta there. Said we'd all die if that witch got her heart."

I freeze. Shit. They didn't know… and there would be no way to keep it from them now.

"Thought you said it was terrorists." Deadshot replies cooly.

I turn and stand to face the group, preparing for what I know is coming.

"You all been playin' it awfully close to the vest with this shit. First all the hero code bullshit… I think it's time we got some answers."

"Deadshot…" Flag starts to say something but it quickly cut off by Deadshot.

"Save it errand boy. I want to hear it from her." He says as he points at me. There is a chorus of echoes behind him and a growl from Croc. Even Harley is looking at me expectantly for answers.

Shit.

I was hoping it wouldn't come to this. Hoping to spare them the ugly truth of it all. How all this worked, what the real mission was. But it doesn't look like I can avoid it. Their minds and words are pressing into me and I feel like I am going to be sick.

Apparently I don't answer quick enough for Deadshot, as he quickly leans down and swipes my open backpack. "Alright, let's see what answers we get in here." He says as he pulls out the files I had stored in there.

Shit. Shit. Shit. My hands are shaking from trying to hold it together… trying to hold my walls together and keep their emotions at bay.

"Deadshot stop." I say as I move forward to try and grab the files from him.

He quickly twists away from my grasp as Croc and Harley step in front of Flag and Katana while Boomerang and Chato step in front of the rest of the Alpha squad.

I feel it when he gets to the most important part. Feel his mind slide over the words in my files. He turns and faces me… horror and realization marking his face. He throws the files in my direction.

"You tell everybody everything. Or me and you gonna go right now." He says with seething anger.

I close my eyes and hold my temples with both hands. It's so loud. Their voices are so loud. I feel like I'm drowning.

Enchantress cackles. "You keep dreaming and dark scheming…You're a poison and I know that is the truth. All your friends think you're vicious…And they say you're suspicious."

I shake my head violently and hold my hands over my ears to try and get her voice out of my head. But it's too much. After everything we've gone through in the last 24 hours… it's finally just too much.

"She's drowning…You're holding her down and killing me slow." I say as I turn and stumble towards the nearest building.

I can feel them following me. Feel the angry glares and suspicion. Feel their accusatory glares like daggers in my back. Oh just wait until they really know… it's only going to get much worse.

I push through the doors and nearly collapse at the bar of the cafe I stumbled into. "It's twisted…it's all twisted." I say as a I bury my head in my hands and shut my eyes tight even though it will do no good.

When Deadshot comes over and rather forcefully sits me upright the tears begin to fall. Everyone's crowding into the bar now and I laugh in all their faces.

"You want to know? Want to know what a fucked up terrible, very-bad, no good day this is? Why we're here? It's because Flag's lady friend…that fuckin' witch… decided to unleash something. And when they sent her and Flag to fix it, she bolted." I continue to laugh as he takes a step back and considers what I'm saying.

My laughs continue to echo around the silence of the room. "We're the fuckin' clean up crew…" I say as I practically dissolve into a fit of laughter.

But Deadshot's not done. Oh no, he wants all the cake he can have and eat too. He take a step forward and tries to shake me to stop my laughing. "What's the top secret weapon we're transporting. What's Weapon X?"

I throw his hand off of me and try and move away. But all I do is collapse onto the floor, a mixture of laughs, sobs, and tears.

"The girl…me… she's the weapon."

XXX

AN: FYI, some of Enchantress and River's dialogue is from the song I feel like I'm drowning by Two Feet. Highly recommend checking it out for some mood music for this chapter, and I will try and update soon!