15380/Meanwhile, Back at the Base

Meanwhile, Back at the Base
Date of Scene:	14 July 2023
Location:	Suicide Squad HQ/Formerly West Jersey Middle School (Go Bulldogs!)
Synopsis:	The One Where The Team Goes to Tahiti
Cast of Characters:	Melissa Gold, Harley Quinn, Wade Wilson

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Melissa Gold has posed:
Things had not gone so well on the last assignment. Though, truly that could be said about all their assignments since Melissa had joined up. In truth, it likely was valid for before her signing on the dotted line as well but she didn't have that information to perhaps feel a little better about things.

They had gotten the equipment and turned it over to Waller and her crew. Then immediately Melissa was going to start planning for a rescue mission to get back the missing Wade. Harley had gone voluntarily so there likely wasn't a jail break needed there. And not any jail break! No, Wade had to get captured by the Princess of the Themyscirans herself! So a jail break. Against Amazons. Possible though probably some fatalities. If it was just against Diana herself? They were toast.

Yet, one didn't leave a teammate behind. It was one of her little hangups. It's what led to her getting captured so long ago when she blew out her vocal cords entirely. Not leaving someone who couldn't even be saved. Yet, here she was. Again. Dammit.

Then the call had come in that everything was fine and they would be back soon. All would be explained. Without the need for a jail break.

Melissa was sitting in one of those old classrooms that had been setup as a break room of sorts. She had a cup of coffee in hand, black, that she was sipping from as she stared out the window at the old playground which hadn't been torn down when the school was closed.

Harley Quinn has posed:
Start with a maniacal personality. Dash it with a guilt complex along with a sprinkle of unhappy clownette seasoning and what you get is a rather stressed out Harley Quinn that's been walking up and down, up and down, for what FELT LIKE HOURS while she waited to talk with the rest of the crew. At least to perhaps those with more impatient bend.

It might have been at most ten minutes, if so.

What's true is that they are now sitting down at the meeting room with Melissa, Harley with her hands on her head as they need to figure out what happened and what their next move will be.

"We could run." She finally states all of a sudden, looking up. "To Tahiti. I hear it's a magical place." or so the rumors said.

Wade Wilson has posed:
    "I have a plan, Arthur!" Wade says as he had walked in with Harley and taken a seat beside her in one of those overly squeaky small desks that had been put into storage by the score, that _someone_ had gotten their hands on and peppered throughout the rooms in their makeshift HQ. He leans forward on it, causing its back legs to rise up into the air as he totters there precariously.
    "But yeah, Tahiti isn't bad. That's an option. You and Mel in a swim suit. Me with a Mai Tai." Then there's a pause as Wade tilts his head, red mask tightening up as he looks sidelong at Mel then points at her. "Wait, didn't we go to the beach yesterday? Volleyball game?"
    There's a pause as the room remains silent, then he shakes his head, "Nah nevermind, probably my imagination."
    Then it's back to the here and now, "But I figure in any case, pretty soon WallBall will be having a talk with Wondergal and we'll be screwed. But we won't know how screwed until after, so hey, no need to worry really until we find out the magnitude of said screwing."

Melissa Gold has posed:
"What?"

Why was that word uttered so often from her lips when Wade is in the conversation? It's like he purposefully just says things to try to confuse her. Mel turned her attention from the exterior to look at Wade, her brow furrowed a bit. "No, I was not at the beach yesterday nor did I play volleyball. With or without you."

Then she glanced over at Harley as she sipped her coffee again. It was very good coffee. Brewed fresh just a few minutes before they had all arrived. Though right now, she was wishing she'd put som Bailey's in it. Or hell, some whiskey. In fact, fuck it all. Just whiskey without the coffee. Yet, here she was being the responsible adult. And likely the most sane of the three people in the room. Clinically speaking.

"Well, Harley will have to cut some sort of other deal. You too maybe? I have no idea," she admitted. "I'll just be fired and have to look for another job." She pursed her lips. "If we took the jet over to Tahiti, you think they would force us to come back before firing me?"

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Who's Mai..?" Harley asks all of a sudden, baby blue eyes boring into Wade, "... and why are you betrayin' me with her!" because that's the right questions to make. Wait, was there even a question there? She just waves her hands with a frown, "ANYWAY. That's a good idea. I know some beaches..." or is it bitches? Regardless she gets distracted when Melissa speaks her name and so she gets the stare instead.

"Me? I think I burned my bridges with Wallie by now. Specially aftah this last fiasco. I don't even wanna go back, who knows what she would do? Maybe even crack an explosive into my head foh real now!" she shakes her head multiple times.

"Nothing good will come out from that talk because ...." and she leans in as if they were around a campfire telling ghost stories. " ... no one ever gets fired from the suicide squad..." followed by a sagely, ominous nod.

Wade Wilson has posed:
    "Mmm, sweet sweet Mai." Wade offers as he weathers Harley's condemnation.
    A finger comes up as if he has a point, "We could ask Spiral to take us there. She seems like a reasonable and kind sort." To get to Tahiti, since that still doesn't seem like a half bad idea. Yet he then leans his small middle school desk back, letting its rear legs thump back down as he rests his hands on the half desk, gloved fingers interlaced.
    "But anyways, to sum up. Wonder Woman knows all the things. Lasso of truth made me spill the beans, not my inherent lack of trustworthiness nor my fickle nature. Harley actually feels bad. And I think Diana loves me. I may ask her to prom."
    He looks sideways at Harleen, "Wait, this isn't a high school, so that doesn't fit my idiom. What did they have in middle school? Other than, like, gut-wrenching despair and horrible peer pressure. Not that I let those things affect me."
    He barks a loud laugh, as if making a joke. Only to sniffle softly at the end of it.
    He falls silent as Harley speaks toward the fact that nobody ever gets fired from the Suicide Squad which has him rolling his eyes to the side as he says, "Please, I could totally get fired. It would just take some effort. Or... you know, giving away all our secrets to some public agency that has a sterling track record for truth and honesty. Oh wait."

Melissa Gold has posed:
The words from Harley have Mel feeling those little hairs at the nape of her neck lifting. Because she is not going to get killed by some government agency for the hell of it. Especially when she didn't snitch.

Speaking of snitches, he was talking. And admitting he told the exact type of people he shouldn't. Though, to his credit, there was a Lasso of Truth involved so really, she couldn't consider him a snitch.

Otherwise, she'd be kicking his ass all over the room.

"Middle school had a homecoming dance I think. Maybe." Not like she made it to high school to actually know about prom but she did know one thing. "And even if she does like you, neither of you will be going to prom. Or a homecoming dance."

Then she pursed her lips as she pulled up a knee, foot resting on her seat. She propped her chin on her knee as she considered. "Did you tell Diana about all the members of our Squad? Names, powers, all that stuff? And right now, I'm hoping that answer is yes. The more people that know about us, the more likely Waller can't just kill us off without repurcussions. So if Diana doesn't know, someone needs to be sure she does. And whoever else we can tell that are heroes. Justice League, Avengers, those types. Then if one of us disappears or dies, Waller has to deal with that too. If the Squad even exists after that talk with Diana."

Harley Quinn has posed:
"I mean, I gotta say..." And Harley gets serious for maybe a couple of seconds, "... Wade did his best to try and cover the rest of the team. I was so proud of him." and she reaches to give him a little pinch on the cheek over the mask, "Also I don't think the look on Diana's face was love ya know..?" not that she says what it was!

"And Didi knows about us.." Now she's talking with Melissa, "Well, some at least. So in a way we might be sorta protected? But dunno, we talkin' about the government, deep throats and all that. People disappear all the time! And it's not like those heroes are the most savvy wheah it comes to the subtle parts." except maybe Batman. Because he's BATMAN.

And then she gets distracted again. Because stressed! "Oh, I have totally been to Tahiti with Spiral already. It's a good idea that she brings us there again! Oh, I could tell you some stories about our time theah..." waggling her brows suggestively.

Wade Wilson has posed:
    "Aww shucks," Wade accepts that cheek pinch, then crinkles his nose sidelong toward Harley. Yet when she impugns his and Diana's love he doesn't answer back and instead just flips her off. But in a friendly way.
    "I gave... names, or close proximity to names, since like really. Is it Pistolo or Pistolero? Or what?" Wade shakes his head and scowls, exhaling softly as if that was such a terrible thing, that guy's name.
    "Also, if we have Deadshot, do we _really_ need /another/ guy with a gun? C'mon. That's like having Harley and then recruiting... I dunno, Mad Cap, or Bugs Bunny, or the Great Gazoo, or... what's that little guy that hassles Superman and he has to say his name backwards? Anyways, one of them." The annoyance is very clear in the lines of Wade's mask, so annoyed.

Melissa Gold has posed:
There are moments that Mel really wants to scream to the heavens like Whoopi Goldberg in the movie Jumpin' Jack Flash, though she would replace the name Mick with Wade. Because she was sure he wasn't speaking English sometimes. Guy that hassled Superman backwards?

"What?" There was that fucking word again. "Nevermind." And Mel waved her free hand in the air, dismissing anything that didn't make sense. Though she did address one of his questions. "He changes it weekly. And if we could get Deadshot, I'd be glad to trade in Pistolo. He's too anti-social for my tastes." Which on a squad of villains? That was saying something. "But we make due with what we've got and look out for each other. I appreciate you tried to resist but I know you couldn't help it with that damned lasso."

Great, she was swearing now. She tried to keep that curbed in front of people that weren't the Grapplers cause she was trying to give that whole professional good guy sort of image now. They didn't swear. Look at Captain America! She'd seen him in media!

"I ..think I'll pass on hearing about your trip with Spiral to Tahiti." There were images she didn't need in her head. Ever. "I still say making sure that more people know about us, by name, the better our chances to keep our heads properly attached to our bodies. And maybe a trip to Tahiti too since, well, I've never been. Is it magical?"

Harley Quinn has posed:
"You know, I ain't even suwah it's Pistolo since I nevah heard him confirm it, just heard you ..." And Harley points at Wade, "... say it. So who knows? Maybe he has an actually cool name. Like Deadbolt. Or Six-Shooter." a shrug before she just laughs, "Ya know, I have actually talked to Mad Cap, he's not a bad chap, just don't drink his tea." or maybe it was Harley that was drinking some funny tea to think she was talking with the Mad Cap? Is he even real!? Harley seems pretty sure of what she's saying though.

"Uh, you sayin' you nevah heard of Mxyzptlk?" Harley tsks disapprovingly at Melissa, "He's so cool.." she sighs wistfully.

"But .., and now I am going into serious mode.. Don't think it's gonna help our case by spilling the beans on the team. We would lose major points with Wallie. And of course Tahiti is magical, everyone knows it!"

Wade Wilson has posed:
    "Well, I don't know how to help you there." He says in answer to Songbird's mentioning that they should get their names out there. "I am already pretty famous in... a few prestigious circles. Let's just say if you ever make the trip up to Arcola, Illinois I can get you tickets to the Broom Corn Festival." He says those last few words with a hint of arrogance in that tone, the corner of his mouth under the mask curling up a touch... then ending with an exaggerated wink.
    "But really, we're possibly worrying about nothing here. Waller's smart...ish right? She put me on the team, she likely knows what I'm capable of. She probably has plans within plans to deal with all this. I bet right now she's sitting back, enjoying her sixth package of Oreos while sucking down her third McFlurry as she watches her favorite daytime dramas. Telling herself, 'I got this.'"
    Then he turns his head to the side and seems to address... someone... that isn't there.
    "What?"
    A beat, then he shakes his head, "I don't do cutaways. That's Family Guy. Fuck off."
    And with that said he turns back. "Anyways, where were we? Oh right. Screw it, let's go to Tahiti."

Melissa Gold has posed:
It was right there. Tip of her tongue. Balanced on her lip ready to spill out. That single word response to Wade in all his many things. Yet she forces herself to not say it. Not ask. It's not like she gets clarity anytime she does ask what.

And is she really surprised he is talking to imaginary people? Or maybe it wasn't a person he was seeing and just the voices in his head. Not sure that's better, to be honest.

"You're probably right. Some people already know about us. A few of my friends know where I am, like the Grapplers. Not that they are what most people consider stand up citizens but they would look for me if I stopped texting. So maybe we have our net already? Just need to be sure all the team members do."

Then she considered and it happened. Because it was still in her head. "What's broom corn?" She knew what brooms were. And what corn was. But not the two things together. "And yes, we should pack and go to Tahiti. We'll claim it is for team building, get the guys out of Belle Reve, take a couple of weeks until all this shit blows over?"