Authors notes: Hello everyone. I hope you all enjoyed chapter one. I forgot to give some notes with the last one so here we are. As I'm sure you've all figured out this is kinda my response to the upcoming Suicide Squad film. I have this labeled as an Another-FEAR cross over but it actually crosses a bunch of video games over. I've included unsavory characters from a bunch of different horror themed games, including Condemned Criminal Origins, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, The Suffering, The Darkness, and Blood. I've have created a multi-franchise Suicide Squad of my own, simply called Death Squad. I hope you all enjoy this fic. I've been a fan of Another since first watching it a few years ago. I even went as far as reading the book, which is just as good as the show and gives more insight and details to the story. Please give feed-back.
Jackie Estacado awoke to the sound of the large security door at the end of the cell block opening up. He soon heard dozens of boot-steps marching down the block. Jackie removed the blindfold and opened his eyes to the blaring lights around him. Given the nature of his aliment, he was surrounded day and night by lights in the ceiling and walls of his cell. If it weren't for the blindfold they gave him he'd never get any sleep. On the bright side he never had any trouble reading library books. On the rare occasion they would allow visitors (usually government suits and shrinks) there were always extra guards and extra lights up in the visiting room. Soon the guards were all lined up outside his cell. He could see a few of them through the safety glass window in the door. They were all decked out in full riot gear. "All this for me?" he thought out loud. "I'm flattered fellus."
The door burst open a few seconds later and the guards poured in. Jackie raised his hands above his head in submission, but the guards took no chances. Smart men. They wacked him across the face with their night sticks then went for the gut. Once they were confident he knew his place they dragged him out into the cell block, also with extra lights shinning, and down the hall. Jackie kept his head low, he knew if he looked any of them in the face, they'd smack his down. What was going on? Maybe he was about to meet his first parole board.
The gaggle of guards dragging Jackie dropped him to his knees. "Get up Estacado!" one of them barked. Jackie complied and found himself out in the jail yard. It was broad daylight, probably around noon. The blazing sun of the Mojave Desert beat down on him, something dark in his mind hissed. Jackie giggled at the demonic parasite's misery. It was hard to believe that the famed Area 51 was really just an elaborate prison. A prison built to house "special" prisoners; like him.
He looked around and saw that the guards had dragged his neighbors out too. Sunderland, the wife-killer with a conscience, was standing to his left. Past him was that smiling long-haired hippie-looking freak named Sullivan, the bastard gave Jackie the creeps. Jackie looked to his right and saw Cohen, the marine, and Nikolai, the Russian. Beyond them was the old geezer Caleb the cowboy, and Tork, the butcher of Baltimore. There all seven of them stood in their orange jumpsuits. They all shared the same look of annoyance and uncertainty. Jackie was pretty sure they weren't all about to be executed though.
Sunderland was an interesting puzzle, he was a retail worker who smothered his sick wife with a pillow in the hospital. He then had a paranormal episode in some New England town in which he temporarily forgot what he'd done and fought off demonic monsters to piece his state of mind back together. The demonic presence in the town clearly wanted him to off himself, but he ended up walking outa the town with his wits about him, he even turned himself in. Got a life sentence. He'd be in a normal prison if he hadn't shot his mouth off about what happened to him in the town, which got the attention of the Feds who ran the prison. Jackie guessed they thought he was a security hazard in a normal prison.
Walter Sullivan was a stone-cold psycho. He had grown up in the same tainted town Sunderland had his episode in, in an orphanage no less. He was known for brutally murdering people, women, children, ect, all in the name of resurrecting his mother in some bizarre demonic ritual. What's more, he had been executed and pronounced dead years earlier. Somehow he had conjured himself back to life and almost performed the ritual. The fed took him alive and had been keeping him locked up, probably for research.
Cohen was a marine with an attitude. He was a convicted war-criminal, slaughtered an entire village in Africa. He was originally sentenced to death but was able to escape in the wake of the Raccoon City incident back in 98. New evidence came to light that implied Cohen was innocent, but apparently someone had friends in high places so rather than risking a re-trial, the fed just locked him in the hush hush prison. Jackie didn't think he was guilty, not that his opinion mattered.
Nikolai was a real snake. Former Soviet Spetsnaz, turned mercenary and started working for Umbrella Corp after the curtain fell. He betrayed and murdered his own team to steal from the corporation during the Raccoon City incident and managed to negotiate his way out of the city alive. It didn't take long for the fed to grab him and lock him up. One look at his shark smile and Jackie knew Nikolai couldn't be trusted.
Caleb the cowboy, like Sullivan, gave Jackie the creeps. He claimed to be a time-traveling gunslinger and former member of a dark cult. Caleb looked freakishly old and his eyes had a faint red glow to them. Caleb had allegedly been betrayed by the demon he worshiped and went on a quest for revenge that consequently prevented an apocalypse. "Stranger things have happened," Jackie had thought out loud when he'd heard the man's story.
Then there was Tork, the butcher of Baltimore. He had allegedly broken out of an island prison, overrun by demons, escaped to Baltimore, which itself was facing a demonic invasion, and taken on the demons and a rogue para-military group. But even after saving the city and countless lives, the fed figured they didn't have the evidence to declare him innocent for the murder of his wife and sons so they locked him up here. Jackie also had his doubts about Tork's guilt.
The guards and some military types all formed a ring around the prisoners. Jackie still had no idea what was up. "What's this supposed to be?" asked Cohen. "Field Day?" he snickered. As if on cue, a hum-vee pulled up from behind the guards and soldiers. Four uniformed figures got out. Three men, one woman. Jackie couldn't help but eye-ball the woman. She wore what looked like a SWAT team uniform, Jackie could barely make out the name Mason on her name patch. She was blonde, or at least wanted to be. Jackie could make out brown tinges that gave away dyed hair. Despite her looks she had a no-nonsense look on her face and had an uzi clutched in her arms. Jackie had a feeling she meant business.
The next one he noticed was the leader. He had learned to recognize military ranks and spotted captain's bars on the man's collar and the name Raynes on his name patch. The man next to him was a sergeant named Burke. The other soldier was dressed totally in black with long black hair and beard. Special ops guys were known to be given liberties with the whole clean-shaven rule in the military. Jackie couldn't spot a name patch on him though. He correctly deduced that these guys were the reason they were all there.
There was some rustling from behind the guards and two more guards appeared dragging a man who looked like some homeless bumb off the streets. The bumb looked pretty lean and fit but had overgrown hair and a poorly kept beard. And the stench of alcohol and some other earthy smells were radiating from him. The guards un-cuffed the bumb and one of them soon tasted the man's knuckles. The bumb was about to swing at the other guard when Captain Raynes cut him off.
"Take it easy Agent Thomas!" Raynes shouted. "There's a situation and we need your insight and experience," he said.
"Agent!" Jackie thought. "You gotta be shitting me!" he groaned out loud.
"Just tell em to keep their fucking hands off me," the rag-clade agent grunted. "And what the hell are we doing here? With them?" he asked with a glare towards the prisoners. Jackie could already tell this guy was gona get on his nerves.
"These are our recruits," Raynes announced. "Like it or not," he finished with a low voice. Mason huffed in disgust.
"Fake blonde's ain't my type anyway sweetheart," Jackie snickered, incurring a deadly glare from Mason.
"Lock it up, Estacado!" one of the guards bellowed at him from behind. Jackie felt a night stick stab at his side. He turned his head slightly to look at the guard, who glared back at him.
"Better be careful, donut muncher," Jackie growled. It sounds like these fellus want me to join their little team. You wouldn't wana pick a fight with the good guys would you?" Jackie finished with a grin and a wink.
"Enough!" Raynes shouted. "Okay gentlemen, let me introduce myself. I'm Capt. Raynes, this is Sgt. Burke, Sgt. Mason (formerly of Boston PD SWAT), and this is our Point Man; he doesn't do names so just call him Point Man," Raynes explained. Each of his team members nodded with their intro, except the Point Man, who just stood there looking mean. Jackie wasn't sure what to make of him.
"Walter Sullivan, James Sunderland, Jackie Estacado, Billy Cohen, Nikolai Zinoviev, Tork, and Caleb; both of whose last names are not on file for some reason…" Raynes called off all the in-mates names like a roll-call. The last two of which he said with clear sarcasm. "Your Uncle Sam would like to make you all an offer you can't refuse, no offensive pun intended Mr. Estacado."
"It's fine," Jackie smirked.
"I won't bore you with too many details just yet, I don't have all of them yet anyway," Raynes went on. "Long story sort, you're all being recruited to the U.S. Army, to join my team and I on a mission to somewhere very dangerous, to go on a mission you probably won't live through. If by some miracle you don't die, Uncle Sam promises to, at the very least, shorten your sentences if not release you outright."
"Like hell he will," Cohen giggled.
"Bullshit," Jackie sneered.
"No bullshit around here gents," Raynes replied, pulling a legal document from his uniform. "I have it in writing right here, all you need to do is agree to have tracking devices injected into you and to follow our orders, and once it's over, you may soon find yourselves free men."
"Horse shit," Caleb grumbled in his grizzled country drawl.
"Mason," Raynes turned to the fake-blonde. "Hand each of them their copy of the document to make believers out of them," he ordered.
"HORSE SHIT!" Caleb threw his head back before shouting. Jackie and the others couldn't help but laugh. Mason just glared and followed her orders, giving each man a copy of the document. Jackie was surprised.
"Well what do you know?" he giggled out loud. "The new President really did greenlight this shit… What an asshole!" he finished with a laugh. The Russian spoke up next.
"I notice it doesn't specify how many years will be trimmed off our already un-clear sentence, and it doesn't say how soon we will be released if we come back alive," Nikolai said with his usual wicked grin. "Very convenient for Uncle Sam."
"Read a little further," Raynes cut him off. "It all depends on if the mission was accomplished and if my men and I say you played nice." Cohen laughed.
"So you're the guys who go after ghosts and paranormal stuff?" said Cohen. "FEAR; First Encounter Assault Recon," he read out loud from the document. "Nothing like a snappy code-name," he finished with a smile.
"I thought I made my intentions clear when I turned myself in all those years ago," Sunderland spoke up. "I just want to do my time and square myself with what I did. Besides I don't see how helpful I could be, I was never even in the military. You were fine with locking me up in here to keep my mouth shut about Silent Hill for all these years and now you suddenly want me to do your dirty work!"
"You got anything better to do, Sunderland?" Raynes asked. "Sit around in your cell, read the bible, feel sorry for yourself, pine for a woman you loved just enough to murder?" Raynes finished harshly. "If it's some kind of redemption you want then maybe you should try doing something useful with your life! You fought your way out of Silent Hill! You escaped a force that most people who get caught up in, never escape! All of you have been through some crazy-ass situations and survived insane odds against forces you shouldn't even have survived against, let alone came out on top of! You can either stay locked up and be treated like chained beasts for the rest of your lives or you can come with us and risk your lives for the chance of at least some kind of freedom," he finished. "So you want to keep making jokes? Or do you want to saddle up with us?" he asked.
Jackie was impressed. The man had a way with words. But Jackie wasn't fully convinced. Didn't they realize that as soon as he got somewhere with the lights off he could easily kill the soldiers and run off? But then, the feds new all about him and his mob associates back in New York. If he ran off they might try to make trouble for Aunt May and Jimmy the Grape and the others. And Raynes was on the level, then it meant that something was out there causing trouble that scared the fed more than he did! Jackie knew he was no hero, but he did care about his friends and family back in New York. And anything big and scary enough to make the fed come and ask him and his fellow inmates for help could be dangerous to everyone; including the New York mob.
"What do you think, Mother?" Walter Sullivan asked out loud, his face to the sky and his eyes shut. Jackie especially didn't like the thought of having to work with Sullivan. Even the New York mob knew better than to work with psychos like him. The mob's professional standards were relaxed compared to some, but even they drew the line somewhere. From what Jackie had heard of Sullivan, he knew this man didn't draw the line anywhere. Sullivan was silent for a moment before his eyes shot open. His face twisted into a smile. "Mother knows best," he hummed. "Alright, Captain. I'll do it," he said plainly. Jackie rolled his eyes.
"What the hell," Cohen huffed. "It can't get a whole lot worse than zombies and giant centipedes. I'm in."
"Lieutenant Nikolai Zinoviev, at your service," the Russian said with a wicked grin and a sharp salute. To little surprise, none of the military returned his salute.
"Count me in," Tork chimed in.
"Well I was getting bored here anyway," the century-old cowboy sighed with a firm nod.
Sunderland sighed deeply. "Well I guess I can die just as easily out there as in here," he said. "I doubt it can get worse than that red pyramid thing. I'll do it," he finished.
Jackie realized it was his turn. He chuckled at the situation. "A bunch of prisoners given a chance at freedom in exchange for taking on a suicide mission," he thought out loud. "I think I saw a World War Two movie like this once," he laughed. Sunderland and Cohen laughed along with him. The military types kept strait faces; tough crowd. Somewhere, deep in the recesses of his mind, a deep strained voice hissed at Jackie.
"What are you waiting for? Say yes!" the Darkness demanded its prisoner. The monster wanted out and saw this mission as its chance.
"Fuck yourself!" Jackie growled in response.
"What was that Estacado?" Sgt. Burke called out from beside Raynes. Not a hint of anger in his voice, he clearly hadn't made out what was said.
"I said I'm in," Jackie lied. "I can be a boy scout if it means getting outa here," he went on with a smile. Raynes sneered and nodded.
"Glad to hear it," he said, his voice expressing no gladness at all. "Okay doc, get crackin," he called out. On cue, a doctor and a nurse emerged from behind the wall of guards and soldiers. The doctor carried a large syringe. "The doc is going to inject tracking devices in your necks, this is one of the conditions so deal with it," he finished grumbling. None of the prisoners objected. Sullivan and Sunderland both held still as the doc did his work. The doctor and nurse were both visibly shaking with nervousness. Jackie smiled.
"Scared of little old us are you?" he thought. Jackie figured these two knew what kind of monsters they were sticking a needle in. Soon it was Jackie's turn. "Don't worry, doc," he said with a smile. The man replied with a nervous smirk. "I'm cool as long as you don't grab my balls and make me cough," he joked. "Unless you do it for him huny…" Jackie winked at the nurse; a pretty young brunette. He almost didn't notice her flinch, but her eyes spelled her terror out well enough.
"You secure that shit, Estacado!" the guard bellowed behind him. The doctor and nurse both jumped with shock at the yelling. Jackie turned to the guard.
"Take it easy there, tiger," he said. "You're frightening the professionals here," he grinned wickedly. A sharp pain in his neck drove the smile from his face. "Fuck!" he roared. The two professionals fled towards Cohen. Jackie had always hated needles. He had hoped a few jokes would loosen the doc up, all he did was make his hands shakier. Jackie grumbled to himself that he'd gotten shots from a drunk mob-doctor with steadier hands than that. Soon the doctor had finished his round and rushed off behind the soldiers with the nurse.
Raynes motioned to the guards, and seven guards approached the prisoners, each with what looked like an over-night bag. Each one left his bag at the feet of one of the prisoners and walked away. Jackie was surprised to look down and see his name on the bag. "These are your personal clothing," Raynes explained. "Get changed," he ordered. The prisoners looked at each other, then the guards.
"Can we get a little privacy?" asked Sunderland, for all of them. Raynes replied with a blank stare. Jackie took that as a "no". Nikolai began undressing.
"I have nothing to be ashamed of," he said. Soon the rest of them were getting changed too. Jackie wasn't surprised to see Mason, the fake-blonde, looking skyward. Most of the prisoners were at least middle-aged, but they all looked lean and grizzled. They were fed just enough to keep healthy, albeit the food wasn't very good, and had little to do with their spare time but exercise and read books. Jackie and Cohen boasted the healthiest and youngest bodies in the group. And both picked up on the interested glances from female guards and soldiers, except of course for Mason.
"You ladies liking the angle of the dangle?" Cohen asked as he stretched himself out, buck-ass-nude. The female guards and soldiers didn't even smirk, the men just glared. "Tough crowd," Cohen smiled.
Jackie smiled as he stood up in his old clothes and his lucky black duster. He felt like himself again. Cohen stood in a grey tank-top, blue jeans and military boots. Nikolai had on his old Umbrella Corp combat uniform, fitting wardrobe for the occasion. Tork had just unzipped his jump-suit and put on the only article of clothing he had, a white tank top; he'd been picked up by the fed in Baltimore, without ever having gotten out of his Carnet Island prison uniform. Sullivan had put on civilian clothing and a large blue duster. Jackie felt a stab of annoyance, like the psycho were trying to steal his thunder. Sunderland stood in blue jeans, a shirt, and a green jacket, it almost made him look like a soldier… almost.
"Oh and by the way, gentlemen," Raynes began, his arms crossed and a grin on his face. It was the first time Jackie had seen him break a smile. He had a bad feeling about this. "Especially you, Estacado," he went on. "That little plan I know some of you are thinking up about going along with us until it gets dark and then running off or using your little… abilities to kill me and my team. Not really gona work out for you now," he finished. Mason, Burke, and the Point Man all cracked menacing grins of their own. Then the coin dropped. Why hadn't Jackie thought of it before? The doctor. The injection. Jackie looked at his fellow prisoners-turned-soldiers. They all shared the same wide-eyed look of realization.
"What the hell did you do to us?" Jackie demanded.
"Relax, Estacado," Mason called out. "You boys will all be fine as long as you behave," she finished smiling.
"The tracking chips the doc injected into your necks were equipped with explosive charges, all linked to my team-mates and to the big-wigs in D.C." Raynes explained. "All we or they need to do is press a button and it will trigger and explosion. Not a very big explosion, mind you. But just one big enough to…" he paused raise his fist and flex his fingers outwards. "Open your arteries, you'll be dead in seconds."
Nikolai burst out screaming vulgarities in Russian. Sullivan smiled and clapped his hands. "Well played Captain. Well played indeed," he mockingly cheered. Jackie clenched his fists so tight he thought his fists would bleed.
"Bastards!" Cohen bellowed. Caleb just stood with his arms crossed, his face twisted into a scowl. Sunderland face-palmed himself.
"You fuckin feds!" Jackie finally growled. "How the fuck do we know you're ain't just gonna blow our necks open anyway once we're done with your little mission?" he asked. The smile ran away from Rayne's face.
"You don't," he answered. "Part of team-work is trusting people at their word. You're just gonna have to trust us." Jackie spat and told him to screw himself in Italian. The darkness laughed.
"Better listen to him, Jackie," it said. "We can always find a way around this later," it said. Jackie's temper didn't cool.
"Maybe I'm not interested in your little deal anymore," Jackie barked. "What then? You gonna press my button?" he asked.
"The brass in D.C. told me to threaten you with that if you guys took offense and tried to back down," Raynes began. "But I'm not gona. I don't want anyone on the ground with me against their will. That's why I waited till after you all agreed to do it before I put the doc to work," he explained. Jackie paused. The man was telling the truth. If it was all a load of shit from the get go, they could have just injected them all and told them they had no choice but to play soldier. Maybe they really were going to let them go after this. The tracker and the bomb was probably their way of making sure they weren't just letting bad guys out to go back to doing what bad guys do. Jackie still didn't like it, but he was pretty sure Raynes was on the level. Nikolai stopped shouting, so he figured everyone else felt the same.
"The brass will be watching everything that goes down by satellite feed," Raynes went on. "You disobey, we press the button. You kill someone who we don't think needed to die, we push the button. You try to run off, we press the button. You kill us, or the brass thinks you could have done more to save us, we press the button. In fact you murdering scum are going to have learn the meaning of discipline really fast in order to stay alive," Raynes finished. "Do you all understand?" he asked. All seven prisoners nodded. "Good," said Raynes.
"Because if you don't, we press the button!" Cohen finished for Raynes with a smile. Raynes just glared at him.
"Don't tempt me," he said. The chopping rumble of helicopters was heard and the prisoners looked up to see a double engined Chinook approaching. "I hope none of you are afraid of flying. As for you, Lieutenant," Raynes said with a step towards Cohen. "Welcome back to the special forces."
"Shit!" Cohen grunted.