The Suicide Squad

The lights were dim, subdued and red. A lounge, leather couches against the walls, drinks on the table, music a subdued industrial pounding beat that Lois Lane could feel through the soles of her feet. She walked into the room, limned by the light of the doorway which slammed shut behind her, crystal meth dripping off her naked body like glitter.

Six people, men and women, sat around the tables. Tired, dirty, dressed in colorful costumes. Lois Lane's eyes widened as she recognized them.

Harley Quinn, the Clown Princess of Crime, skin unnaturally pale, blonde hair done up in pigtails. She had a baseball bat wrapped with barbed wire between her legs, cut-off shorts riding up as she rose the scarred phallic weapon, eyes painted blue and red like her namesake.

The hulking mass of Killer Croc, shoulders like a linebacker threatening to burst out of his oversize hoody, strangely reptilian eyes focusing on the reporter automatically as she entered, nostril-slits flaring as though he scented prey. His mouth drew back into a smile that exposed his fangs.

The Aussie in the trenchcoat, unshaven and haunted, sniffed too. He was hunched over the table, having folded a napkin into a little paper boomerang. Lois recognized an addict when she saw one, the twitchy way he moved, how he licked his lips as he took her naked body in and saw only the ****. Captain Boomerang.

Opposite him, a strange target-monocle over one eye, one of those tall, dark men that looked armed even when they weren't...and Lois could see the bulges of his guns in his clothes. Deadshot looked at her and then immediately dismissed her. No threat to him, his interest fading...except for the bulge in his pants.

A woman, Japanese. Mask off, but she kept one hand on her sword. Interest in those eyes, but the face itself was inscrutable. Her whole body was strangely relaxed, but Lois could tell a stone killer when she saw one. Her name was Katana.

Sitting apart from them all, a bright blue tropical drink in a margarita glass in one hand, was a somewhat overweight and short black woman with close-cropped hair, in a dark blue suit. Her face spoke of absolute control. Lois Lane recognized Amanda Waller...and she realized who she was staring at.

Task **** X. The Suicide Squad. The top secret deniable assets group, supervillains let out to do the government's dirty work. But why would they be here, in this club, waiting for a...

Lois Lane put the pieces together. Her heart dropped as she realized exactly how deep the shit she was in.

"You work hard," Amanda Waller said. "And you can play hard. She's all yours, boys and girls. Have at it."