FOURTEEN:
GROUNDHOG DAY !
━ • ♡ • ━
FLAG led his troops into the main room of the Enchantress and her brother's reckoning. The building was torn apart, piece by piece and thrown into the debris ring.
"Hey, everyone can see all this trippy magic stuff, right?" Harley asked, staring at the things thrown around.
"Yeah, why?" Flag asked.
"I'm off my med," she explained with a crooked smile.
Harley had, for once in her villainous life, become concerned for something. The Angel that stood at Flag's side. She asked him earlier if he thought it was safe to bring her along. Harley knew Chandler was smart and finally pulled herself together in the middle of battle but... she was special. She needed protection.
"If I didn't think I could pull this off, then she wouldn't be here."
Harley resumed listening when Deadshot told Flag what needed to be done. In his words. "Well, you need to handle this shit, all right? Get up there, smack on her ass and tell her: knock this shit off."
Flag looked uncomfortable by his idea. "I don't think that'd be wise."
"Plus, would a space goddess really let Rick smack her ass?" Chandler asked curiously.
"What? Are you a smart ass now that you kissed American Flag over here?" Deadshot retorted. She only gave him a glare, him returning it with a wicked smile.
"Okay, you two! I'm gonna draw out the big one. My boys will detonate the bomb underneath him."
A voice, deep and slightly terrifying interrupted their conversation. "I've been waiting for you all night. Step out of the shadows. I won't bite," the Enchantress assured.
Harley listened to the enchanting voice, one she believed to be inside her head and made her way to leave.
"What the hell?" Flag muttered watching Harley leave. "Grab her," he told Deadshot.
He and Chandler both moved to grab her. Chandler took her by the hand.
"Oh, hun! I'm flattered, but we're both taken," Harley smirked at Chandler who rolled her eyes and put a finger to her lips.
"Why are you here? Because the soldier led you? And all for Waller? Why do you serve those who cage you? I am your ally, and I know what you want. Exactly what you want."
━ • ♡ • ━
CHANDLER was back at the office, with Waller as her boss and Rick Flag as her office romance. Her nerves felt stilled and when she raised her hand it didn't shake so nervously. She picked up her coffee and spat it back out. She hadn't had coffee in years.
"Hey, sweetheart!" Rick called to her with a sweet smile as he approached. She smiled back as she stood to her feet, wobbling slightly in the heels she was wearing. "We still on for tonight?" he asked, his hands leaning on her desk, moving in for a quick kiss.
"Tonight?"
Rick laughed as he pulled back, "I know your memory fails you but c'mon this is why we have the calendar," he explained. She looked down to see they were still in June. "Babe, it's July. July 1st, our anniversary!"
"Oh!" Chandler said, peeking up at him. "Right," she agreed with a cheesy smile.
━ • ♡ • ━
"Baby. Baby. Baby, it's just a nightmare," she whispered. The light fluttering in brightly as Rick turned to her. Only, it wasn't her. It was June. "It's just a bad dream. I'm here."
"I can't change what I did and neither can you!" Diablo screamed, shattering their illusions and bringing them back into reality.
"He married me," Harley whispered in a daze.
"It's not real."
"I killed the Bat."
"No homie," Diablo disagreed, standing in front of Deadshot to get through to him. "You don't want that."
"What? I want that," Harley defended.
"I do too, I want that reality, but it's not Harley. That's a fantasy land and we can't... we can't have that," Chandler explained to her friend.
No matter what the woman had done, Harley Quinn would always be a batshit crazy woman who helped her through a lot.
"She's trying to play games with you man. It's not real!" Diablo shouted at the two.
Flag nodded his head, looking down at the floor in disgust that June was still something apart of him that he couldn't seem to let go. "He's right. It's not real."
They moved from behind the pillars to the Enchantress, her transformation was terrifying from the meek June Moone. She wore a brasserie and a skirt that only covered her legs. She moved fluidly, provocatively, staring at them.
"How long have you been able to see?" the Enchantress asked Diablo who was now at the head of the pack. Her startling gray eyes narrowed at the metahuman.
"My whole life," he stated. He turned to look at his newfound friends, his family and threw his arms out. "You can't have them. These are my people right here!"
"But it is our time. The sun is setting and the magic rises. The metahumans are a sign of change," she argued.
"Lady... you are evil!" Deadshot shouted from behind.
"Brother, make them bow to me," the Enchantress hissed to her brother in their native tongue, the others confused to what she commanded.
"Oh wow!"
"Uh oh!"
"Who's this?" Captain Boomerang asked, his voice rising in fear. "It's gonna be bad!"
The Enchantress' brother appeared, large and burning as he moved to take down the Suicide Squad.
"We should run," Deadshot commented.
The soldiers instantly went to fire, but their attacks went unnoticed by the enemy. The only thing it did was shoot fireballs back. Deadshot was quick to pull the two into safety, ready for the bomb to go.
"GQ, come in, we're in position."
"We gotta get him in that corner. That's where the bomb will be," Flag told the men beside him.
Diablo looked at the corner and then the soldier who had risked everything for them. Even if he didn' want to in the first place. "I'll do it! I'll get him there. I lost one family. I ain't gonna lose another," he stated, putting his foot down, ready for a fight.
"Look, think it through," Deadshot pleaded but Diablo's answer was set.
"I'm going. Let me show you who I really am," Diablo asked them, squaring his shoulders ready to leave but a small hand held him back. He turned to see Chandler smiling awkwardly.
"Good luck," she whispered, slipping something into his hand and kissing his cheek before letting him go.
"Over here!" he shouted, standing on the main stage, ready for a fight. When Incubus turned to Diablo, he instantly threw his hands up, the fire spewing out of his hands before he was tossed back into another room.
Harley, Boomerang, and Deadshot, in their rage, ran out to the monster, trying their best to push him back but nothing worked until finally, El Diablo rose again.
A terrifying sight from Mexico, a body large like the Incubus and fire holding the skeleton together.
"It's on, bitch," Diablo shouted in Spanish. He produced white-hot flames straight at the Incubus. The Incubus' screams were the only thing that could be heard as he was knocked around.
"Diablo, drive him into the corner!" Rick ordered as the SEALs were in position to blow them up.
The group cheered for Diablo, but the Incubus was pulling the upper hand faster than they wanted. The Incubus pushed Diablo down, his hands strangling his neck.
"Diablo, get clear. Get out of there!" Flag called to Diablo, his emotions getting mixed up in the fight.
"Blow it!" Diablo shouted in response, the glow in his eyes fading.
Harley looked distraught. Rick turned to Deadshot who nodded his head.
"Blow it," he agreed.
Chandler noticed Diablo looking her way and she motioned to her hand, opening it. Diablo followed, smiling at what he found inside, how it stayed after the relentless fire was beyond him. Now, he was happy to have it there with him on his deathbed.
"Now GW, now!"
"No!" Harley screamed.
"Everybody, get down! Now!" Flag ordered, everyone but Harley moving down. Chandler threw herself on top of Harley to get her out of the line of fire.
The two blew up and then everyone stood, staring at the place Diablo once was. The sweethearted man that had all met. The man who wanted nothing to do with this. A man who just wanted a peaceful life after he so royally screwed up. A man who protected all of them. He was family and now, he was gone.
They had no time to mourn as the Enchantress stood from the blast. "My spell is complete. Once you and armies are gone, my darkness will spread across this world and it will be mine to rule!" she exclaimed, turning her back on them and throwing her hands up to the sky. Her magic becoming stronger, the winds hardening as they all tried to stay up.