Alex sat in the armory, twirling a .50 CAL round in his hand as Ivy watched their prisoner, who was now tied up to a folding chair across the table from them. On top of the table sat the M2 heavy machine gun, a fresh belt of ammo resting on the feedway, and the barrel pointed towards Frost's chest. Speaking of him Alex must have hit him harder than he thought cause he was still off somewhere in Lala land.
"Are we going to question him or do you intend to watch him sleep all night?" Ivy asked, not bothering to hide her annoyance.
"I was hoping he'd wake up by now, but fuck it." Alex sighed.
He crossed the room to where Frost was sitting, tightening his grip on the .50 round, slammed the point of the bullet down into his thigh, burying the round down to the neck of the casing. Frost woke with a yelp of pain and started screaming as he saw what Alex was doing.
"WAKE THE FUCK UP!" Alex shouted while jamming the round further in.
"HOLY SHIT!"
Alex ripped the round out of his leg and pointed the bloody tip towards Frost.
"Holy shit is right, now you're going to answer my questions, else I use this big ass gun behind me to blow you in half." Alex threatened, jerking his thumb over his shoulder to the heavy machine gun.
"I don't know nothing man, you got the wrong guy!"
"Bullshit! I know Joker tells you everything you little worm!" Ivy shouted from across the room.
"Ivy!? I aint done nothing to you, what the hell do you want with me!?"
"Joker. Where is he hiding!?" Alex snapped his fingers to get his attention back on him.
"Wait, I know you! You're that guy Joker tried to off, Harley's friend, right?"
"I'm asking the questions here." Alex replied after punching him in the face. "Where is he!?"
"I don't know."
So, they were going to play this game then. Alex walked back behind the machine gun and racked the charging handle back once, readying the first round to be chambered.
"Two more tries Frost." He warned, holding up two fingers.
"I swear I don't know! We change hideouts so often it's hard to keep track!"
Wrong answer again. Alex charged the weapon again, loading a round into the chamber and taking the safety off.
"Last chance."
"Ok ok, we're using the old ACME toy factory downtown but I'm warning you, Joker's got a lot of hired muscle, you'll never make it out of there alive."
"Gangbangers and second rate mercs don't scare me, we'll be fine." Alex said. Frost then turned his gaze to where Ivy was standing.
"You'll never get to her ya know? Joker will kill her before giving her up so I hope you've said your goodbyes." He taunted as Alex retrieved his Berretta from its cage.
"BANG!"
Frost cried in pain as a bullet tore through his shoulder. Ivy looked at Frost and then to Alex, a look of surprise on her face.
"Oops, my finger slipped." Alex shrugged his shoulders innocently. Did he need to do that? Absolutely not. Was it worth it? Hell yeah it was!
"Gah, you can have fun dealing with that . I do know the place he mentioned though, it's right here." Ivy said, pointing out the building on the city map hanging from the wall.
"Cool, give me some time to pull the buildings specs and develop a plan of attack, where going to need more than just the two of us to pull this off."
"Ugh, do I really need to work with the Bats?"
"If you want to stay on this team and get your shot at a new life, yes."
"Fine, just don't expect us to be all buddy-buddy."
"Hey, the best friendships are forged under a hail of gunfire and they'll be plenty of that where we're going. Trust me, by the end of this we'll all be one big, dysfunctional family."
It's true that people who go through the shit together come out as the best of friends, hell Alex's platoon back at Pendleton feels like an extended family. They'd only gone on a handful of missions together but Barbara, Robin, Batman, and Ivy are already his brothers and sisters in arms and he'd gladly lay down his life for them. Frost may have been right though, they'd be vastly outnumbered and outgunned even with the head Bats help, the chances of someone getting injured or worse was high and that made him worry. It was easier one his own, no one else to look after but now Alex had people counting on him to lead them, if they died it would be on his head. But they were a hardy bunch that can look after themselves as well and that gave him some relief.
But before Alex could worry about any of that he needed to devise a plan of attack and for that he needed intel. After patching up Frost and dumping him with the CIA he pulled out his phone and dialed Barbara.
"Hey, I need some intel on a place. ACME toy factory downtown, I need to know avenues of approach, how many entrances, and the number of perimeter guards." He told her.
"Yeah no problem. What's all this for?"
"We believe Joker is using the place as his current hideout, I need that intel to formulate an attack plan. Find out what you can and report back to me asap."
"Sure, anything else?"
"Actually yes, we got a new teammate. An old friend of yours"
"I'm not gonna like this am I?" She sighed and Alex could imagine her rubbing her brow in annoyance.
"Probably not, but you'll just have to trust me on this."
"Ugh, alright. I'll get back to you as soon as I can."
"Oh and before I forget bring your boys too, gotta feeling we'll need their help as well."
"Got it, later Sarn't."
"Tango."
...
"Poison Ivy!? Really?" Barbara asked in disbelief. It was early the next day they were gathered in his apartment in order to devise their plan with the intel she had brought. She had been very thorough with her gatherings, pictures, notes, even the equipment the guards were armed with. Although she was here Batman and Robin had prior engagements and wouldn't be able to be here until later, hopefully before they executed.
"Relax Babs, she's been nothing but helpful and she was even cleared by the General. Besides, I thought you guys were all about helping people like her reform themselves."
"Yes, well, it's still a little hard to believe. Ivy's been nothing but a pain in our side for the longest time." Barbara retorted, staring daggers at the older redhead.
"Relax baby bat, I assure you I have nothing but good intentions for being here." Ivy assured the younger girl with a pleasant smile.
"I've been around her for forty-eight hours by now and I'm still here aren't I? Trust me, General Anderson and I know what we're doing and we've given her enough rope to hang herself with if she tries anything." Alex added.
" Ugh...Alright, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt but don't expect the boss to be as easy going about it." Barbara finally relented.
"Noted, now come on we have a mission to plan."
The rest of the day was spent planning out the raid, using both the location they'd obtained from Frost and the recon Barbara had done. Alex pulled the buildings blueprints from the city archives, it was a three-story building comprised of a reception room, assembly floor, loading bay, and staff recreation areas making for a rather large facility. The building had its main entrance on the west side while the loading bay doors were on the south side, finally roof access was the last point of entry. Barbara's intel showed a group of about four thugs armed with Dragunov sniper rifles patrolled the building's roof, they would need to be dealt with first. Once inside they'd need to fight their way through dozens of armed thugs armed with AK's, SMG's, and a few machine guns to get to Joker and Harley, who they assumed would be holed up in the staff recreation wing. Capturing Harley alive however was a secondary priority, the Bat's didn't know yet but command wanted Joker dead at all costs. Alex would be using live ammunition during this raid, Barbara had come to terms with it during their little trip to the sewers earlier but he didn't know how the others would take to it, hopefully they'd understand that this was a military operation and that Alex followed Marine Corps doctrine first and foremost.
The basis for the plan laid out Alex spent the next few hours' op-checking his weapons and gear, trading out his LBV for a full plate carrier and Kevlar helmet, the extra forty or so pounds of protection would be worth having with all the rounds that would be flying down range. On top of that he grabbed a handful of stun and frag grenades in the event that they'd need to make a quick getaway. Finally, once all this was done Batman and Robin showed up just in time for Alex to kick his brief and upon seeing Ivy there Batman just raised an eyebrow at Alex but didn't say anything. They gathered around the dining table that had the buildings blueprints laid out over it with a few magazines and bullets scattered about on top of them and Alex had brought General Anderson on screen to watch over the brief.
"Ladies, Gentlemen thanks for being here. As I'm sure your all aware we've learned the location of Joker's hideout and we're ready to move on him. If you'll look at the table, you'll see he's holed up in the ACME toy factory in downtown Gotham. The building is isolated between adjacent warehouses, we have no chances of civilians getting in the way. Points of entry include the main doors on to the west, loading bay to the south, and roof access however snipers are emplaced on the roof providing a three-sixty-degree coverage of the building. Inside the building there's the reception area which I suspect to be booby-trapped, the assembly floor and loading bays where we'll likely run into the most resistance, and the staff recreation area where we believe Joker and Quinn will be located. Our intention is to assault the building, clear it of hostiles, capture Quinn if possible, and eliminate the Joker."
"You mean to kill him right?" Batman interrupted. After all Joker's done he still wouldn't kill him, it was admirable how he wouldn't break his oath but at the same time how many people would still be alive if he'd just killed the man?
"He's proven too unstable to successfully rehabilitate, you of all people should know that Batman. Time and again he's escaped Arkham leading to more innocents being killed. We're making the call, for the wellbeing of Gotham's citizens Joker must be permanently removed. SGT Westbrook has orders to shoot on sight, but if you can successfully capture him alive we'll gladly arrange a pick up and transfer him to the most secure holding facility we have." Anderson told him. Alex didn't like that he had to appease Batman just to get his help, he just hoped he'd come through for them in the long run.
"Very well. Sergeant you go after Quinn, leave Joker to me." He told Alex and he got the feeling that it wasn't a suggestion.
"Roger that. Alright before we can actually breach the building those snipers need to be dealt with, that's where Batman and Robin come in." Alex said, moving a small bat toy and an R magnet, representing the two on the table.
"Once the snipers are down Batgirl, Ivy, and myself will breach through the front door and make our way to upper catwalks of the assembly floor and distract the thugs inside allowing Batman and Robin to get in from the roof and flank the enemy." He further explained, moving a small leaf to represent Ivy, another bat toy for Barbara, and one of those green army men for himself.
"From there Batgirl and Robin will hold off the remaining thugs while Batman, Ivy, and myself go for the HVI's, represented by this screw and piece of garbage I found. Once there in custody we'll egress through the loading bay and make our way to the docks for pickup. Hopefully we'll be done in time for me to catch my showing of Rogue One later." Alex finished, earning a chuckle from Barbara and Robin. They thought he was joking but it was a serious matter, Alex could put up with a lot of things but he'd be damned if he missed out on the new STAR WARS movie.
"Negative on that pick-up Sergeant. Commands coming up with something, drop Quinn at Arkham Asylum and await further instructions. If you capture Joker alive we'll arrange for pick up at the docks."
"I…very well Sir. Ok, back to business, hostiles will be armed with standard Com-Block weapons, AK's, SVD's, and the likes. Be advised we have no means of medevac, care will have to be rendered on site so try not to get hit. Any questions?"
It was a straight forward plan and everyone seemed to understand their roles. Alex looked across the table once and when no one said anything he shrugged his shoulders and grabbed his M27 from where it was resting and slung it.
"Alright then, let's do this."
…Mission Complete…