SIX:
FUBAR !
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JUNE Moone had accompanied Amanda Waller, Rick Flag, and Chandler Kemp to the penitentiary site only to be locked up inside a hotel room, stating she was afraid the villains would somehow sway her emotions to allow the Enchantress her escape. The devil inside her was waiting for the right time to rip through her breathing corpse and, at some point, take over forever.
She walked down the streets after agreeing to meet the others at Aliena. She glanced around nervously as people walked close to her. June hadn't been like this before, she used to be fun yet professional. She enjoyed watching people and discovering the unknown about the world. But, with this beast inside her, she had completely shut down.
Waller was the woman that had the devil under lock and key. The older woman was cold and terrifying and knew what she wanted. She never showed affection and tended to get annoyed quickly.
Flag was, well, something June couldn't really place. He was everything she despised in a person: crude, clumsy and had no reason to be vulnerable. A man she would never allow to be put into the arms of, but when Waller shoved them together, the workplace seemed to burst into suspicion.
A man that was calm, grounded, and didn't seem to go off kilter at any time was her type of guy. One that snapped his opinions and glared like there was no tomorrow was not.
And then, there was Chandler, a young woman who was far too ignorant to be by Waller's side. She saw the light of the world rather than the darkness. She was calm and timid and derived from the same place that Flag did. She was another option of what came out of the military. June was never able to make conversation with her, she either skirted away or completely ignored her. If she was having a good day, June would be lucky to get so much as a tense smile.
The restaurant finally appeared in her point of vision and June wasn't quite ready to enter. She paused a moment, sticking a cigarette into her lips, taking a long, deep drag. She stared up at the night sky, a few more puffs and then stomped the butt out with her foot.
"Hello," she hoarsely whispered, pulling out a chair and sitting down.
Chandler looked up from cutting her pasta, before returning to her food. She looked like a rebellious teenager, with headphones plugged in and barely taking notice of anyone else. She wouldn't be paying attention to their informative meal, Waller had already briefed her on the need to know.
Rick looked across the table at the young woman who kept her head down and hoodie up as she nodded along with the faint classic rock.
"Is she alright?" Rick asked no one in particular. June looked his way, believing he was the densest man on the planet.
"With Chandler?" she asked rhetorically, picking up her fork to eat the salad Waller had already ordered for her. "It's fairly obvious she doesn't like me."
Rick turned her way with a raised eyebrow and disbelieving look. "I doubt that. She's the nicest person I've ever met."
"Just because you're nice doesn't mean you like everyone, Flag. Half the time she ignores me and the other she hightails it out of the room," June stated in annoyance, her words becoming clipped.
Waller listened to them with a small smirk on her face, she assumed this conversation would go the way she wanted. Waller noticed Chandler's music cut off, but she continued to eat her food and nod along to the nonexistent music.
"It's because she's shy," Rick stated with a small nod, turning back to his dinner. Chandler stood to her feet and moved to the bathroom.
Flag was about to stand and follow her. "Sit down, Flag," Waller commanded.
"Shouldn't she be here for this?" he grunted.
"She's already been briefed, don't worry about it too much, Flag," she sighed in annoyance. "We have business to discuss now since we were unable to make time to see Mister Santana today, we'll have to go by tomorrow, which puts us a day behind. We'll begin with Quinn, Croc and Deadshot, putting in their implants. Chandler and I, after we meet with Mr. Santana and Mr. Harkness, will move to the spot we've discussed while you and Ms. Moone will move into the town together," Waller explained.
The three sat together for another twenty minutes before they were dismissed. Flag left the two women behind and made his way back to the hotel where he knocked on Chandler's door.
A loud crash sounded inside before another knock and then it became silent inside.
"Chandler!" he shouted loudly. "I'm going to bang on your door all night until you let me in," he stated, banging another three times until the door opened.
Flag looked down to see Chandler's dark hair curling around her face. She wore pajama shorts and a large t-shirt. Her face was red, just like the day he had first really talked to her.
"Are you alright? We haven't talked in ages."
"Hmm? Yeah, I'm fine..." she replied, wiping underneath her arms. "I think I'm allergic to the soap here," she muttered.
Rick gave her a look that made her walk back inside. "Come on, what's wrong?" he asked, making his way inside. "I heard something break."
She sighed loudly, both in annoyance and tiredness, running a hand through her hair. "I'm alright, Flag. I'm just going to sleep," she told him, still unable to keep eye contact.
Rick sat on the stiff couch, patting the seat next to him. "At least let me stay awhile," he muttered, taking her hand and pulling her to him. She sat stick straight beside him, flipping the TV on so she could drown out the sound of her heart beating. When he started to move his thumb across the top of her hand, she jumped away.
"I think it's time for you to get going, protecting June and all that," she stated awkwardly, trying to push him off the couch but he wouldn't budge.
He laughed lightly, looking down at her. "Is this what everything is about?" he asked her softly, she could feel his hand moving up her arm but she had become too dazed to realize.
"Um, no...?" Chandler tried to say but she was too afraid of Flag to not admit the truth.
"It is! Isn't it?" Flag laughed. "Come on, Chandler. You're not being replaced."
"I know," she sighed. "I know, but I can't get it out of my head that she's here and moving in on the relationships I've tried so hard to maintain, I'm just... I-" she looked up at him to see the pity in his eyes and became disgusted with herself. "I'm sorry," she whispered, moving out of his grip and holding the door open for him.
Flag sighed as he took his cue and left the room.
♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥
June was left alone in the city, making her way through Midway City with an overwhelming amount of thoughts.
"Hey," she heard a voice call from a few feet away as she moved around the shops to see Rick Flag heading away from their hotel. "Looks like we both needed to get away."
"This seemed to be a time-out. I figured I'd grab a few minutes while I could," he explained, turning in the direction of the violence and gunshots. "Everything's gone to Hell and back out there," he muttered with a small laugh, thinking back to the conversation he had with Chandler. "I expect I'll get a ping any second now, telling me to haul ass."
June stayed silent while he spoke, he was nothing she would ever want in a man, she continued to think. Why would those idiot men think as such? She had the slightest urge to fall into that temptation, but she never would allow herself. She saw the way Chandler watched after him with those innocent yet lustful eyes.
Rick continued talking and she only tuned back in. "I want to make sure you stay behind," he told her. "We can't risk anything happening to you. If you get killed, the Enchantress might be freed. I don't think anyone knows."
June didn't know how to respond to his unsympathetic words, stating she believed her walk turned out better than she first thought. Rick continued with his questions, mainly about the Enchantress, dragging June's good mood down.
"I'm sorry," he said, his questions to her turning sour as she had no true answer for most of them. "I should have waited for later."
He stared down at his reflection in the water fountain, and then he felt her hand wrap around his in comfort and reassurance.
"Please understand," she whispered, his hand stayed under hers. They stood in the silence of the night until she continued. "When I become her, I never know if I'll be here forever. I don't know what she's going to have me do. I don't know who I am, and it scares the Hell out of me and I don't know what that makes me," she admitted softly.
"It doesn't change you, I know at least that much," he responded. "You're not her. She's just using you, and I'm going to be with you until we find some way, anyway, to stop her," Rick promised, caught up int he moment that was June Moone.
"Is something wrong?" she asked nervously when he turned his hand in hers.
"Nothing's wrong," he muttered, leaning into her kiss and she kissed back. Three seconds in, June jumped, a hand across her lips as her eyes widened in shock.
"Oh God, I'm so sorry," she exclaimed, trembling all over.
"You're sorry? I'm sorry if me kissing you caused you so much grief," he chuckled passive-aggressively, scratching the back of his neck.
"Oh, you really don't see it," she muttered, slightly surprised.
"See what?"
"Chandler. She has the sweetest little thing for you. That's why she stopped talking to me. I bet when word got around that we were 'dating' she freaked out and didn't want to jeopardize your relationship."
Rick stared at her wide-eyed, unsure of what to say as his mouth flopped open. "What? What?! Are you crazy? Chandler having a thing for me?" he stopped talking, looking over to June as he realized it too.
"There you are, Lover Boy, finally seeing it. I'll head out now, won't talk about this again and I'll let you collect your thoughts," she explained, turning back to the hotel and leaving him behind.