"The inmate of D wing must go to the canteen to eat lunch together with the inmates of wing G."
Renegade merely blinked at the announcement and let out a yawn. He grabbed his mask on the bed and put it back on -fortunately the camera in the corridor in front of his cell was not aimed at where he was standing: the sensation of continuing to wear the mask for a long period of time could become annoying without ever taking it off- and, after using the toilets, he left the cell. A few meters away was a guard who motioned for him to follow, which he did.
Dick had spent the whole night awake and had allowed himself some rest only after he saw the sun begin to illuminate the corridor in front of him.
He hoped that the night patrols would always be the same, otherwise his efforts had been in vain.
The last Flying Grayson had also learned that there was no recreational activity for the scum held in A.R.G.U.S. facilities, which gave him both relief -because they did not deserve such treatment- and dismay -at least if he could get out for a while he could have studied the facility's defenses- but that was fine.
However, he had a plan in mind to carry out, thought of and planned while he spent the sleepless night.
Not that he had anything better to do than ignore his bruised body.
It didn't take long to reach the cafeteria and Renegade limped into line behind one of the two lines already formed, raising a surprised eyebrow behind his mask when he saw the criminal in front of him putting as much distance between them as possible.
Eh. Not the reaction I expected.
Fortunately this time he was the last in line, so there was no one to grope, molest and annoy him.
A little blessing.
About ten minutes later he reached the kitchen counter. He grabbed a tray and with a barely suppressed gasp handed it towards the chef, happy to see the same black man from the day before who helped him survive in the mega brawl against all 300 inmates.
Chef looked him up and down and Dick saw him twist his lips downwards seeing the dark bruises on his face, his face paler than usual and the other wounds less visible at first glance all over his body. Silently the big man filled his plastic plate with the same food as last night and this time handed him two glasses of water instead of just one.
Renegade sent him a genuine smile. "Thank you, sir."
The chef just grunted and the seventeen year old walked away, silently chuckling at his attitude. He intended to slip silently into the shadows so as not to attract attention, although he didn't know if his body would be able to balance on just one injured leg while the other knee held the tray. However, as he passed one of the tables he observed in shock how all the inmates sitting there, as soon as they saw him, took their trays and immediately walked away, leaving all the seats empty.
Limping Dick sat down on the bench, placed the tray on the table and looked to the side, frowning when he saw that literally no one among the countless inmates was staring in his direction.
There's something not right here. Yesterday every inmate wanted to break me, rape me and talk to me with their disgusting comments while now no one even looks at my face?
As he began to eat the food, an idea crossed his mind.
Maybe the rest of the prison learned how I alone managed to kill over 300 inmates in a short time, also helped by the fact that I managed to get rid of my inhibitor collar, and so now no one wants to get on my bad side anymore because they know that I will not hesitate to kill them. If so, even if they are among the worst of the worst scum in existence, they have a minimum of survival instincts.
If this theory of his had been correct, he would have been really happy since this would have meant no more pain in the ass, threats and attempts to rape him etc.
And Dick should thank the living reincarnation of Chef Hatchet for that.
As soon as I get out of here, one of the first things I'll do is give him a few million dollars that I'll steal from A.R.G.U.S.. At least then he can stop working in this hell and enjoy the rest of his life to the fullest.
Renegade spent the rest of lunch in peace and quiet: the only audible noises were the threats that the inmates hurled at each other but fortunately none of them paid attention to him even for a second.
I doubt my human body could hold out for a second mega fight when I already feel like I could fall apart at any moment.
Once lunch was finished Dick handed the empty tray to Chef -damn it, he should have found out his real name- and thanked him, getting in response a curt nod from the big man who raised his upper lip a few centimeters in a smile that only more trained eyes might have noticed.
The mercenary tensed when someone called his name and turned around. His muscles didn't relax at all when he saw a guard approaching him but became even more tense.
"Follow me. You have a mission to carry out together with the Suicide Squad. We need to meet Waller and the rest of the team."
Simply fantastic.
"Who are we waiting for?" Captain Boomerang repeated for what must have been the tenth time, keeping himself from stomping his feet on the ground like a petulant child.
"Ask that again and I'll make your head explode." Waller threatened him absently, sitting on one of the plane seats while idly scrolled through her phone. "There must be a reason if I haven't told you yet."
"Not very reassuring, actually." Harley Quinn pointed out and at her side King Shark nodded.
Enchantress just snorted, her eyes lazily wandering around the plane.
A few minutes of silence passed and finally they heard the sounds of tires stopping. Seconds later, all of them jumped up from their seats when they saw the new arrival.
Renegade himself.
"Renegade? What the hell are you doing here?" Enchantress hissed in shock, watching in worry as her best friend/little brother was escorted by an officer.
The attention of all the members of the Suicide Squad fell first on the inhibitor collar closed around the mercenary's neck and then on the several dark bruises that filled his face, his face paler than usual and his chapped and dry lips, the how he favored his left leg over his right, how his left arm was tilted at an unnatural angle, how he jerked almost imperceptibly with every step he took, and how he seemed unable to keep his head still.
Simply put he looked like total shit.
None of them had ever seen him in that state and it made their worries infinitely greater.
Renegade smirked crookedly, highlighting how he was visibly missing a tooth. "Looks like I've become the newbie on this team."
Suddenly his knees gave in and he fell to his knees with a grunt.
"Renegade!"
Killer Croc, Harley Quinn, Deadshot and Enchantress immediately ran towards him while Captain Boomerang and King Shark remained distant, worriedly watching the situation develop.
"What happened to you, sweetheart?" Harley Quinn whispered, her blue eyes looking worriedly at her nephew's very vulnerable form.
None of them had seen him in such bad state.
Such a thought was unthinkable, to say the least.
Renegade was the very representation of strength, invincibility and efficiency: someone who couldn't be stopped and defeated, no matter how hard you tried.
Of course, despite everything he was currently far from being defeated but still.
Killer Croc whirled around, letting out a low, menacing growl at Waller. "What did you do to him, bitch?" he asked, showing off all his sharp teeth.
She stared back without fear. "I told you I could capture him."
Horror, fear and shock seized the insides of every member of the team. "Don't tell me you took him to one of the A.R.G.U.S. maximum security facilities!" Deadshot hissed in shock and horror, his face turning pale at the thought.
The smirk she sent them was a complete answer.
"I'll fucking kill you!"
Waller remained unfazed by the supervillains' threats. "You won't do anything." she said calmly, pulling out a remote control that froze them in place.
"Don't worry about me." Renegade grunted as he got to his feet, sending a grateful nod to the huge crocodile as he helped him to his feet. "I am fine."
"It doesn't seem that way." the red-haired sorceress pointed out dryly.
Everyone was relieved when the familiar shit-eating smirk appeared on his face, a sign that nothing serious had happened yet to hurt or traumatize him. "You should see the other 300 inmates."
Pause.
"You killed 300 inmates even without your superhuman abilities and equipment?" Captain Boomerang asked highly wary and skeptical, clearly not believing him.
"A huge fight broke out in the canteen last night at dinner. At a certain point I managed to free myself from my inhibitor collar thanks to cleavers that some inmates had stolen from the kitchen." the mercenary shrugged casually, wincing slightly at the movement, but his cruel smirk gave him away. "There is nothing left of them. Literally." his creepy and menacing cackle spread throughout the plane. "Those fucking rapists and pedophiles."
The others felt their limbs freeze, panic threatening to overwhelm them. "They have…?"
"No." he shook his head at Floyd Lawton's hesitant question and relief immediately washed over them all. "Now all the other inmates are so terrified of me that I might carry out another massacre and bloodbath that they completely ignore me. No more rape or death threats. A real relief."
The other members of the Suicide Squad exchanged looks, all of them uncomfortable, shocked and scared at all the shit and hell their mutual friend has to go through on a daily basis.
"Looks like your plan has failed, Waller." June Moone mocked the black woman.
"Not exactly. I really enjoyed torturing him last night." she stated with a casual shrug.
Rick Flag wearily ran a hand over his face. "Christ, Waller." he muttered.
All members of the team gave the director of Belle Reve deadly glares. "You won't get away with it, bitch!" Joker's ex-girlfriend hissed, a dangerous glint in her eyes.
"But I think so. Now enough wasting time: let's move on to the important things." Waller stated sharply, glaring at every supervillain on the team. "Your mission is to attack Jothunaim, a military base in the country of Quraq where some supervillains belonging to the terrorist cell known as Jihad, led by Rustam, are trained."
"All this mess wasn't necessary. If you wanted to destroy a terrorist cell, all you had to do was contact me and I would take care of it." Renegade joked, chuckling softly at the black woman's glare.
Waller took off the inhibitor collars of all the supervillains, and Renegade let out a sigh of relief when his healing factor came into play, perfectly healing all of his wounds within seconds. Even the missing tooth grew back within seconds, without any uncomfortable sensations. "Now that's better." he commented, cracking his neck and walking away from Killer Croc, no longer using him as a crutch to hold himself up. "I'll need my armor and weapons."
"Absolutely not." Waller bluntly denied it. "Do you really think I'm so stupid as to freely give you your armor and weapons? You will use the weapons given to us by the government, so we will know if anything is missing."
The Talon looked down, staring at his orange prison jumpsuit before returning his gaze to her with a flat gaze. "Are you really sending me on a mission with this crap?"
"I won't waste government resources on decent armor when you have a great healing factor." Waller snorted contemptuously before smirking coldly. "If you survive well, if you die it's good anyway."
"Damn, thanks."
Who knows what her reaction would be if she ever learned that I cannot die and, even if I die, it is only temporary. Man, that would be so hilarious. In a way she's right: I don't need armor when I have my excellent healing factor, even if it will be hateful to continue fighting with bullets in my chest and heart.
"No rash moves: Flag will keep me updated and, if you do something stupid not related to the mission, I will not hesitate to make your heads explode."
"You sound like a broken record."
"I hope you die on this mission, Renegade."
"Love you too."
"Great job to all of you." Rick Flag nodded in satisfaction at the members of the Suicide Squad.
"I never thought it would take us just a few hours to destroy that terrorist cell." Captain Boomerang commented on the ride back to the plane. "I thought it would take us days."
"This is thanks to the Renegade experience." Enchantress pointed out, her head resting comfortably on her little brother's shoulder.
"As mentioned before, I have already permanently taken down so many mafia and terrorist organizations that this type of thing is just another Tuesday for me." Renegade hummed absentmindedly, his eyes closed blissfully behind his mask as his aunt Harley Quinn played tenderly with his hair.
"We heard about how you so brutally and violently exterminated ISIS, man." Deadshot said as he absentmindedly cleaned his trusty sniper rifle. "Simply fantastic."
"Thanks, dude."
"How's your stay in the most dangerous federal prison in the world going?" Killer Croc asked him, his eyes showing his genuine concern for the younger.
"As said before. At the beginning it was truly total shit and hell to the point that every inmate threatened to kill me, break me and rape me. One in particular had the audacity to grope me." at his friends' fiercely protective, indignant and angry looks, he gave them a dangerous smirk. "Don't worry: he was the first one I killed during the mega fight in the cafeteria."
Captain Boomerang shook his head in disbelief. "Dude, I can't believe you killed 300 of the worst scum inmates in the world by yourself." he said, a hint of admiration and respect in his voice.
"I killed and seriously injured like fifty in total when I was still only human. It was pure luck that they stole two cleavers from the canteen with which I was able to get rid of the inhibitor collar."
"It is still mind-blowing that you slaughtered approximately 250 inmates until there was nothing left of them but guts and pulped flesh with just your superhuman abilities." the other best sniper in the world remarked. "Without even your armor or weapons."
"The cleavers were more than enough."
"And you gouged the eyes out of them with damn plastic forks." Enchantress giggled in amusement, sighing happily when her best friend wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him.
"Every single object, even the most innocuous looking ones, can be used as a lethal weapon and this is proof of that."
"Do you think your stay will be better from now on?"
"I think so." Renegade nodded at Harley Quinn's question. "They may be the worst scum in existence with no scruples and no morals towards anything or anyone but even they have a minimum of self-preservation instincts."
"Which you don't have." the huge crocodile joked.
The Talon snorted in amusement. "I can't argue with that." he continued. "It could still happen that I manage to get rid of the inhibitor collar in case of another fight and they know it, which is why they didn't bother me at all this morning at lunch." he let out a sigh. "I will only have to resist Waller's torture but rest assured that she will not be able to break me. She may have broken many criminals in her career but she is not at the level of being able to break me, no matter how hard she tries."
Only they are able to break me.
The team members exchanged a worried look: each of them wanted to ask him if he already had a plan to escape and to neutralize the threat of Waller and her hold on him and the identities of the heroes but they couldn't, not when Rick Flag was there with them ready to go straight to the black woman to spill the beans.
But from his confident posture, they were pretty sure that yes, the mercenary already had a plan in mind. And they also knew that once he accomplished his plan, it would only be a matter of time before the Suicide Squad would cease to exist, allowing them to return to living their lives.
All of them couldn't wait for this to happen.
Even during dinner no one had dared to bother him, to his enormous happiness. So after thanking Chef for dinner and returning to his cell -not without being tortured by Waller and her agents for at least two hours but it could have been more- he groaned as he fell onto the hard, cold bed.
Once again his entire body ached with pain, particularly his left side where Waller had burned his skin and his back where he received forty more lashes.
Every movement felt like his entire back might fall into thousands of pieces. He moved his mouth, wincing at the movement, and his tongue passed over the empty places of two teeth, encountering only metallic liquid.
With great difficulty he pulled a phone out of his underwear, chuckling silently as the memory of how he had stolen it from a guard crossed his mind.
FLASHBACK
"Take him to his cell." Waller abruptly ordered two guards after they finished torturing him but had not received any useful information.
"Yes ma'am."
Once outside the torture room, Renegade's gaze fell on one of the guards, especially how his phone was sticking out of his pocket.
He knew that such an opportunity was unlikely to arise again, so he would have to seize it.
Using the excuse of all his injuries making it difficult for him to even move or stand, Renegade staggered to the side, colliding with the guard who grunted upon impact. Dick took advantage of those few milliseconds of time gained and, when his body was practically attached to that of the older man, his hand silently slipped towards the agent's pocket, without ever touching the fabric of his trousers, and grabbed the phone of the guard, suddenly placing the object back in his underwear.
Somehow he successfully ignored the searing pain in his arm and held back a painful gasp.
"Be careful, damn it!" the guard snapped, glaring at him and shoving the mercenary away from him.
The young assassin staggered to the opposite side and was held with a firm grip on his shoulders by the other guard who barely paid him any attention.
END FLASHBACK
Now that Dick had a phone, he could easily access the layout of the facility, using the agent's data and codes or hacking them in case the man hadn't memorized the passwords and stuff, even if in that case he would have needed more time since it was a phone and not a computer to hack. He would also spend this sleepless night -it helped that hours earlier his body had gained all its energy thanks to Talon's abilities during the Suicide Squad mission, even if he currently felt like shit given the torture he had undergone- to memorize the floor plan of the prison while simultaneously keeping an eye on the night patrol to find out whether it would be the same as the one the previous night or not.
The acrobat put the phone on silent mode and lowered the brightness just enough to not attract the attention of the patrol. He cracked his neck, wincing as pangs of pain shot through his entire body in protest, and smirked.
His plan was ever closer to being realized.