Epilogue: Blaze's Suicide Squad: The Fifth Mission

Thunder cracked. The bright line of the lightning seared itself into the vision of everyone present, left weird echoes. The prisoner barely had time to feel it. One minute they were alive, defiant, ready to spit into the face of god...and the next, they were a burnt corpse. That weird smell of burned bacon, the pop and sizzle of molten fat. The never five prisoners were silent.

One of them was pregnant.

"We have to do something!" Blaze whispered.

"Not our job, Red," Harley Quinn said. Everything except the Clown Princess of Crime's eyes were hidden by her burqa. "This is Khandaq. We don't even know what they did."

A figure stepped forward. He could have been a body-builder. Broad of shoulder, tall, narrow-waisted. The tight black outfit hugged his muscles. A bright golden lightning bolt crossed his chest. Black Adam pressed one hand on the forehead of the condemned. With one word, he would sentence them to ****, and carry it out.

Flagg grabbed Blaze's shoulder. "Blaze, stay focused. We've got a mission."

There was a blur of movement. Though none of the crowd could see it, Blaze could. The moment after he spoke the word, Black Adam stepped back. The bolt of mystic lightning he called struck were he had been...and the second of the criminals fried, not even able to let out a scream as their brains boiled in their skull.

"Fuck your mission!" Blaze hissed as Black Adam stepped up toward the pregnant woman. "They're going to kill her!"

Flagg's grip hardened. "People die every day. Criminals are executed every day. It's not our business!" His voice grew harder. "I'm giving you an order. We have to go."

She shook off his hand, took a determined step forward.

Rick Flagg whispered the incantation Waller had taught him.

"...Sabbac." He finished.

Blaze sank to the ground, suddenly off-balance. Her burkha was loose, and she felt...weak. She raised a hand...

It was human-pink. She turned it around, not able to comprehend what she looked at.

On the execution stage, Black Adam's head jerked up. He stared directly at them.

"Shit," Flagg whispered. "We're made!"

Twenty-Four Hours Earlier

"...it was a beautiful wedding," Katana said. "Neat, elegant, simple. Open bar."

"Thanks," Blaze said. "You thinking of dragging Flagg down the aisle?"

The Japanese woman said nothing...and then Amanda Waller began to speak.

"A group of American sex tourists picked the wrong destination," the black woman threw faces up on the screen. "Including the adult children of a former U. S. president. Khandaq is a...sensitive area, politically. Your mission is to infiltrate and extract. Quietly, if possible. If you screw this one up, rescue and back-up are not options. Getting caught is not an option. Which is why we're going for a smaller team than usual."

There was only Flagg, Harley Quinn, Katana, and Blaze in the room. No Captain Boomerang, no Killer Croc, or any of the others.

Harley asked a question.

"If we do get caught..."

"We can't afford any exposure on this one, Quinn," Waller said. "The United States of America cannot afford war with Black Adam. We cannot be seen to have violated Khandaq sovereignty. Anyone captured isn't just disavowed...they have to die."

Harley's eyes went wide.

"Even Flagg?"

"Got my explosive implant this morning," he said. "That's the job."

"I didn't get one," Blaze pointed out.

Waller stared at her levelly. "We've made arrangements, Mrs. Lane," the black woman said carefully...and Blaze did not like the confident tone in her voice.

"Don't fuck up."

Now

Black Adam floated above the crowd. Flagg drew his AK-47 out from under his robe and opened fire. The depleted uranium rounds wouldn't seriously hurt Adam, but they would get his attention. Harley hauled Blaze onto her feet and dragged her in the other direction.

"What...what did he do to me?" Blaze nearly stumbled in her robes. "I'm human!"

"Welcome to the club!" Harley kicked open a random door and dragged the former demon inside. It looked to be an abandoned kitchen. "Didn't you listen to Waller? What part of 'fuck around and find out' did you not pick up on!?"

"Shit," Blaze swore. "We have to go back and help Flagg."

"Are you nuts?" Harley said as she tore through the room as if looking for something. She tested the knives, scowled, stuck them under her robe, and then finally settled on the spice rack, pouring peppers into old coffee filters. "Black Adam can break a battleship in half with his dick! Flagg's dead, and unless you want to die with him, we need to meet up with Katana and finish the mission."

Blaze's hands tightened into fists. She tore off her burqa.

"No," the now-human Angelica Blaze Lane said. "I know Black Adam of old. I can distract him. You extract Flagg."

Harley's eyes widened. "That's suicide."

A Mona Lisa grin.

"That's what we do."

Metal tore from Flagg's hands. Dark eyes bore into his own. Black Adam held the man at arm's length, ignored the kicks and strikes that would have broken anyone who was merely human.

"Who are you?" Black Adam said in English. "Does your life mean so little that you would try to rescue them? Criminals. **** dealers. Peddlers of filth..."

The hand tightened.

<<He did not come for them, Teth-Adam.>> A woman's voice called out.

The tongue was old, and there were only a handful who still spoke it. Black Adam turned to stare at Blaze.

"You!" He said, his face betrayed surprise and anger.

"Me," Blaze answered in English.

"You dare..." He looked back and forth from Flagg to Blaze. "What are you doing here?"

"Surrendering," the former demon said.

Black Adam stiffened.

"Why?"

<<You of all people should know how the love of a good woman can change you.>> Blaze answered in the old tongue. <<I do not think to make amends...but I will not let another die on my account.>>

Strange wisdom came into his eyes. "You're human. Mortal. How?"

"An enemy's spell. I don't know how long it will last." Blaze said truthfully.

Black Adam lowered Flagg to the ground, but did not let go.

"You're telling the truth." He seemed to consider. "That will not save you."

"I know," Blaze said. "An exchange. My life for his."

"You are in no position to bargain—"

Something white hit him from above. A puff of peppers, black and red, formed a cloud over his face. As an irritant, it would buy perhaps two seconds.

Katana only needed one. The blade sliced down, passed through the muscles of his right hand. Tendons snapped. The grip loosened. Flagg was on his feet and away before Black Adam could roar with pain.

Blaze stepped up to him, her hands raised.

"Not a bargain, Adam." She said. Her heart thundered in her chest, and she hoped Lois and their children would forgive her. "I surrender."

The room was bare, accessible only by a trap door in the ceiling. A hole in one corner served as a toilet. Ten gallons of water in jugs were all she had for sustenance. No light. No way up the wall to the door, which was locked and bolted. Little air rattled through the high vents.

"You will stay here," Black Adam said. "Until I decide what to do with you. If, perhaps, it is not my pleasure to simply leave you here until you die."

The door had closed...and Blaze was left in the darkness.

She sighed, almost in relief. The darkness was an old friend of hers.

In her mind, she replayed the events. The former demon didn't know exactly what incantation that Flagg had used—Waller's little trump card, obviously—but the last word had been a clue. Sabbac represented the names of six ancient demons. Normally, to invoke such power would lead to a superhuman transformation...but if it was channeled into a spell...yes, that could **** her into mortal form.

Perhaps permanently.

"You have been in nicer prisons," the darkness spoke. Though Blaze could not see, she felt the disturbance in the air, smelled the warm, male, animal smell, at once intimately familiar.

"Hello brother," she said. "What brings you here, Satanus?"

"I have been keeping an eye on you. Interesting company you keep these days," his voice came out, with the same accent she had. Languages came and went, and their voices still carried the accent of the languages of Hell, which they had learned after birth.

"They're my friends," Blaze managed.

"Are they?"

She sighed. It was very like her brother to fall back into old habits. Not that she could blame him. Six months ago, if their positions had been reverse, she would have done the same thing. It was just instinct, to prey on insecurities, cast doubt, sow discord, squash hopes. First nature to them both.

"I did invite you to the wedding," Blaze said.

"Not my scene. You got my gift, of course."

Blaze had hidden the Krugerrands and blood diamonds under the mattress. She had to figure out a way to turn them into a college fund for the twins. "Yes. Thank you."

"The spell you're under...I can undo it," he said. "But there is a cost."

Her jaw set as she faced where her brother should be. "I'm not going back. I'm happy."

"You might die here, without even seeing your beloved Lois again. Is that really what you want?"

"If I accept," Blaze said. "You'll want me to go back down. Reclaim my throne. Start being a demon again."

"You are a demon, sister. We both are. That's the game. You can still maintain your...side interests. I have no objection to that. But I have to admit, I miss my old partner." He paused. "If you do not accept, you'll die here. You know Teth-Adam of old. He has no love for us. Your friends have abandoned you. Without your powers, you are very...****."

She said nothing. There was nothing to say. The darkness sighed.

"You always were stubborn. Very well, sister. Play this game out, as you wish. When you are ready...call my name. But do not wait too long."

The presence was gone. Blaze was alone again.

Lois, the former demon thought. She pictured her smile, the smell of her hair. This morning Lois had complained about how swollen her breasts had gotten, and Blaze had kissed both of the darkened nipples...and then kissed her way down that swollen stomach. To bury her face between her wife's legs, the swell of the belly pressed against her horns. Lois had laughed...and then moaned. Then gasped and shook. Somehow, Blaze never got tired of her. Every gesture, every smile, the way she was so smart, so funny, so...

The darkness stirred again. There was the clack of something hard against the stone floor.

"Mrs. Waller sends her regards," a man's voice. British, cultivated. "She wishes to let you know that the rest of your team is safe. The mission was a success."

"And?" Blaze said.

"A choice. Come with me, and you owe her. Or stay here, and your association together ends. That is the message I was asked to convey."

Blaze thought of Lois. The choice was simple.