EPISODE 5: IN THE TIGER CAGE

Rick marched through the grassy rain forest where he was already covered in dirt and blood coming down from his face. His team was sent here for an extraction mission and now he was fighting for his life being hunted by some psycho. The plane they came in was shot out the sky and he had to make a crash landing as the rest of them parachuted out. The one time Hal is not his piolet and this happens. He is never going to hear the end of it if he gets out of this mess. There's no telling where the rest of the team is since they all jumped out separately. What he needed to do now was find a way to contact Waller and get out of this mess.

Floyd's eye opened and the first thing he saw was the ground. He was dangling from a tree by a parachute he used to exit the plane when it was shot down. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a knife cutting the ropes attached to his vest. He cut away at the parachute till he fell down landing hard on the ground. He brushed himself off and began to inspect his surroundings. He was having a hard time remembering what happened during the crash. He knows it was shot down and everyone grabbed a parachute except for Rick who took control of the plane. He expects that he had to crash land it somewhere in the forest, so he could be dead for all he knew. He doubts that though because he was stubborn. He jumped out next to Harley…Harley! Floyd remembers now as he begins to move faster through the forest. Harley's parachute didn't work and he grabbed here at the last minute as they were falling. She had to be close by since he held on to her as long as he could before they hit the forest. He looked behind a tree and found her unconscious with scars all over her body. Blood was mixing with the makeup on her face. Floyd cursed to himself picking her up off the ground and began to march hoping to find somewhere he could tend to her wounds.

Rick marched trying to track the source of the attack that hit his plane. He had to make an estimated guess on where it could have come from. He was about to walk up a small hill when he heard rustling from the trees. He quickly rolled to the side dodging an attack. The attacker was a dark skinned man wearing an orange and brown jacket. He had metal claws on his hands that he pulled from the ground. Rick narrows his eyes pulling out his knife and gun. He has heard of this guy before and he has quite the reputation. Bronze Tiger assassin for hire and responsible for multiple assassinations all over the world. Unfortunately for Rick he was considered one of the best in the business.

"Like I tell everyone," Tiger said. "This isn't personal."

"Answer a couple of question?" Rick said trying to stall.

"If it doesn't compromise my employer."

"Are there any ARUGUS agents that need extraction?" he asked first.

"No."

"So it was a trap."

"There were agents but there dead now," he said.

"All I needed to know," Rick said firing his gun. Tiger dodged quickly moving towards Rick.

"Damn forest," Harkness said walking through the rain forest. "Damn ARGUS, Damn Waller, Damn Rick, Damn Floyd, Damn Harley, and DAMN THEM ALL!" he shouted to the sky. "When I'm rid of this government team crap I'm going to kill Flash for locking me up."

FEW YEARS AGO

Harkness moved through Central City passing civilians by as he kept his hands in his pocket. He was paid pretty well by someone to take out this new Flash that has been running around Central City. The old one vanished a long time ago and the local criminal element thought they were free of a speedster till recently. Harkness knew a speedster could be trouble but he had no problem with taking up the challenge. All he needed to do was get his attention and have him run right into his trap. He entered a bank where every day normal people were minding their own business. He has never been a robber but he always wanted to experience the thrill of robbing a bank like in those old movies. He took a moment to look around seeing all the guards which was nowhere near enough to stop him.

"Excuse me officer," Harkness said approaching one of the security guards.

"What can I do for you?" he asked turning to Harkness.

"I was wondering if you could get the Flash on the phone," he said with a smile.

"Yeah, sure," he said sarcastically turning away from the Australian man.

"Thank you," he replied pulling out a sharp boomerang and cutting him down gaining screams from the nearby civilians who saw what he just did. The other security in the bank rushed pulling out there guns but soon fell as Harkness quickly tossed his boomerangs around the room making them all fall to the floor. Harkness looked to the woman behind the counter who was reaching for the emergency button to signal the cops but she stopped when he looked dead at her. "Go on, push it," he said to her. "I need to get someone's attention."

PRESENT

Floyd sat in a cave that was only lit by the fire he made. Harley was lying on the ground using Rick's shirt as a pillow and his jacket as a cover. He patched her up as best he could using pieces from the parachute he tore up. He was only wearing his muscle shirt now and was getting pretty cold but he was used to it. All the long hours when he was in the army waiting to get that one shot no matter how long it took. He had patients, willpower, and above all else nerves of steel.

"What happened?" Harley softly said opening her eyes a little.

"Plane was shot down," he informs her. "Don't know how the rest of the team is doing," he said to her.

Harley slowly sat up looking at her wounds that were wrapped up. She looked down at Floyd's jacket that was on her like a blanket. She glanced over to Floyd and gave him a knowing smirk.

"What?" he asked.

"You went out of your to bandage me up and cover me in you jacket. Mister Lawton if I didn't know any better I would say you care about me," she teased.

"Don't look too much into you psycho," he said poking at the fire with a stick. "I'm not so heartless as to leave you to die. I'm not that bad of a guy."

"I don't think your bad guy at all," Harley said moving closer to him while keeping his jacket wrapped around her. "I think you just do bad things." She lied her head on his shoulder. Floyd just shook his head at the absurdity of the situation.

Harkness was cutting his way through the forest using his boomerang. He cut down a group of vines and the first thing he saw Rick come crashing into him. They both got up meeting each other's gaze.

"Watch where the hell you're going Flag," he shouted at the team leader.

"We got to keep moving," he said. "There is an assassin after me and I'm guessing the rest of the team as well."

"So this mission was a trap?" he asked following behind Rick.

"No, there was a team that needed extraction but the assassin killed them," Rick informed him.

"Then that just leaves how the hell he knew we were going to be here," Harkness said.

"Thinking there may be a leak at ARGUS?" Rick said.

"Guess it's a possibility," Harkness said.

"I suppose," Rick said before a knife came flying pass them causing both to turn around to see Bronze Tiger.

"You didn't tell me it was Bronze Tiger after us," Harkness said with a groan.

"Afraid of a challenge Boomerang," Rick said keeping his eyes on Tiger.

"Hell no," he responded whipping out his boomerangs. "I love a challenge."

FEW YEARS AGO

Harkness walked around the bank waiting for the Flash to show up as the hostages quivered with fear. They had nothing to be scared of he wasn't hired to kill them. Hell even the security guards were still breathing. They lost a lot of blood but they should be okay by the time this was over. The police were already outside demanding to know what it is he wanted and he just ignored them. Suddenly a gust of wind and lighting made a smile come on his face as he saw a man in red with a lightning bolt on his chest now in the room.

"There you are?" he said to the hero.

"What do you want?" Flash demanded to know.

"You," Harkness said.

He tossed a boomerang at the speedster who quickly moved out the way and charged at the criminal. What the Flash didn't know was Harkness had dropped a bomb on the floor that was very sensitive. The Flash stepped on it sending him flying through the air and landing on the table breaking it. Harkness charged at him and began to swing his boomerangs trying to slice the hero. Flash was able to use his super reflexes to dodge the attacks then began to quickly punch Harkness rapidly all over his body. This caught Harkness off guard and hurts a lot more than he thought it would. It felt like each punch had ten behind it. He turned around quickly trying to hit Flash but missed then tossed his boomerang at him.

"Can't believe I'm fighting a guy that uses boomerangs," Flash said not seeing the boomerang Harkness threw turned around and was heading straight for him. He turned to late getting hit square in the face falling to the ground.

The Flash rose seeing Harkness make his way over and began to spin his arms in a circular motion creating a strong wind that pushed Harkness back slamming against the wall. Flash quickly removed all the weapons he could find on the body and tossed them to the ground.

"Take that Captain Boomerang," Flash said speeding off as the police made their way inside.

"What the hell did he just call me?" Harkness said as the cops began to handcuff him.

PRESENT

Both Harkness and Rick were engaged in close combat with Bronze Tiger who was the better fighter than both. He kicked Rick to the side as he swiped away at Harkness who was blocking with his boomerangs causing sparks to fly as the two metals clashed together. Rick stood up quickly coming behind Tiger with a swing that he ducked and then kicked Rick across the face he then nailed Harkness with a cut across his shoulder.

"Son of a bitch!" he screamed ripping his coat off. "You want to play kitty! Let's Play!"

He charged as the assassin continuing there close combat fight. Harkness did multiple spins trying to nail his opponent with his boomerangs. He managed to cause Bronze Tiger to back off long enough to throw a boomerang at him. Tiger was able to knock the boomerang away using his claws but was hit by Rick who came in with a punch to his jaw. Tiger was surprised by the sudden attack but retaliated with a quick attack with his claws. Rick was able to dodge the attack and grab Bronze Tiger's arm flipping him over his shoulder. Tiger's agile skills allowed him to land on his feet and take his fighting stance eyeing his two opponents.

Back at the plane one of the squad members was able to find his way back to the crash site. Clock King or Tockman has been looking through the wreckage trying to create something to contact ARGUS. The last thing he needs is to be stranded in the rain forest with his condition or having the bombs he created going off in his head. The deal he made with Waller was he helped her with the bombs and she would give his sister the medical care she needed. She was very sick with a rare disease that he also had but wasn't as bad as hers. There deal didn't include medical care for him but he didn't care about himself just that his sister was taken care of. He was playing with the planes radio trying to boost the signal when he finally got a light to come on.

He could hear static coming from it. "ARGUS do you read?" Tockman said waiting for a response. "This is Clock King we were shot down entering the area and need extraction."

"This is ARGUS responding we read you loud and clear, sending extraction teams now," Waller came in over the radio.

"Roger that," he said lying back on the airplane seat holding his side that was dripping blood. He looked down to see the damage and it didn't look good.

Rick fought hard against his opponent engaging him with his knife. He was in full concentration as he battled the much more skilled enemy. One mistake would mean the end for him and without the help from Boomerang he would be dead already. He ducked a swipe by Tiger and punched him in the face tossing the knife into his other hand and trying to hit him with it. Tiger was able to roll out the way hitting Rick in the leg with his claws. He fell to one knee hard as he turned to see Harkness was able to attack before Tiger could finish him. Rick stumbled trying to get up but fell as the gash on his leg was making him loose blood by the second. Harkness was trying his best to hold his own with Bronze Tiger but soon found himself disarmed by the assassin. His boomerangs went flying from his hands as he was pushed against a tree and had the sharps blades pushed into his shoulder. He let out a scream but refused to give up the fight as he grabbed Tiger's arm and the bringing the other one down hard enough to break it. He released Harkness holding his arm in pain looking up at the Australian.

"Not a lot of people earn my respect Boomerang," he said getting ready to fight with his one good arm.

Before they could continue the sound of a helicopter could be heard in the distance. They looked up to see but couldn't make out if it was friend or foe. A sniper bullet could be heard and the bullet whizzed right by Harkness's head causing to shout.

"Bloody hell," he said falling to the ground.

Another bullet went off and this time hit Bronze Tiger right in the leg and then another came hitting him in the shoulder. As the helicopter got closer they could see a certain female ARGUS agent hanging on the side of the helicopter. Lyla dropped down along with other agents who quickly moved to secure the wounded Bronze Tiger.

"Good timing," Rick said leaning against a tree bleeding all over.

"Jesus Christ Rick," Lyla said going over to him putting his arm around her. "We need to get you medical attention."

"AY!" Harkness limped over to them. "That was you who nearly to my bloody head off," he said pointing at her.

"I'm no Deadshot, Harkness," she said helping Rick to the copter.

"No kidding," he said. "Where is he and that crazy one anyway?"

In the cave only lit by the fire Floyd had made he and Harley were embraced in passion as they locked lips. Harley was on top as she held Floyd a little too tight digging her nails into his back leaving marks. He pulled her hair as he gently kissed her neck. The sounds could be heard from outside as two ARGUS agents sat on a log awkwardly standing around not knowing what to do.

"Sooooo," the first one said scratching his head. "You want to flip a coin to see who goes in there."

"You could flip the whole damn planet I'm not taking the chance of interrupting that," he said lighting a cigarette.

"So what do we do?"

"We ignore it and wait," he said blowing a puff of smoke.

"YAHTZEE!" Harley yelled making the agent shake there heads.

NEXT. EPISODE 6: DEATH'S STROKE