Chapter 2: Secrets & Lies

THE PRESENT

I smiled as I remembered that week and the months that followed, then extended the wings on my suit as I hit the correct altitude and started my long glide down to where my target was being kept. I followed the coordinates on my Goggles' GPS and projected glide path. My thickweave spidersilk combat suit would provide a lot of protection from the guns I would be facing, and my own weapons and skills would see me through, or so I hoped.

I landed just outside the cave and retracted the wings along the arms and down my back. They retracted back to nearly nothing, and it was impossible to tell that I had even sprouted them. This suit was state-of-the-art, and I was loving my new job. It paid well, and I was still only a Pawn.

I saw the two guards outside the cave entrance. I aimed my right hand wrist launcher and fired two darts. The darts hit the Intergang guards and knocked them cold with the powerful tranquilizer. I vaulted down the side of the hill and ran past their sleeping bodies at a dead sprint.

The reason I went in alone was because a strike team would have been too easily spotted, and they would never expect a lone Operative. That was the main reason Waller wouldn't authorize it. I had the sonar depiction of the cave translated into visual on my Goggles display. Checkmate sometimes did questionable things, but this was straight up, and I would complete the operation or die trying.

I crept silently through the tunnel, listening for enemy movement. I caught sight of one at the first bend, but waited to see if he was alone. My dark gray and black armored suit would shield me from thermal sensors, so that I would appear as a small lizard, if at all. I spotted a second guard further in, and waited until they were close to each other. I once again aimed my compressed magnetic dart gun and fired twice.

Both guards dropped, and then I saw the third guard stand up and move into the light. He looked at his buddies for a moment too long, which gave me a clean shot that rendered him temporarily comatose too.

I slipped further into the cave, and clocked two more guarding a cell. That was my objective. I saw something glittering on the table across from the cell, and noted it for later. First order of business was to secure and extract the prisoner. Then I saw him. Lawton. Floyd fuckin' Lawton! Deadshot. One of the deadliest marksmen who ever lived, hence the name. He was kicked back smoking one of his ever-present cigarettes behind the bars of the second cell. His mask was pulled up enough for him to smoke, while still holding the targeting reticule over his right eye in place. They had removed his wrist guns.

Squad business. That's how Director Waller had put it. That was all she would tell me when I had ... asked politely. I'd had to ask a bit more ... insistently for some more detailed information. It made sense that Deadshot would be here too.

I once again took aim at the two guards outside the cell. Then I felt it. Something made a snik-shing sound and I felt a very thin pressure against my neck.

"Who are you?" The female voice asked me in a whisper.

I thought quickly. Who else would be here? Who would have motivation to be here? I thought back to Deadshot's known associates and it clicked.

"You can call me Caliburn, Ms. Savage. I'm guessing you're here for Lawton?" I asked in a whisper.

"You're good. Yes, I am. Why are you here?" She asked. We were keeping our voices low so as not to attract the guards' attention.

"The prisoner in the other cell. You can have Lawton, but the other prisoner and the pendant on the table come with me. Deal?"

"Deal." She retracted her blades, and I fired two darts at the guards outside the cells. They both fell temporarily comatose.

We sprinted towards the cells, and I grabbed the pendant as I passed the table. Scandal checked the guards and found the keys. She unlocked Deadshot's cell and tossed the keys to me with a nod. I nodded back and unlocked the cell with my objective in it.

I stepped inside and immediately noticed how bad it was. She was curled in a corner, shivering. She had been beaten repeatedly. I noticed Lawton limping as he'd stood up when Scandal unlocked his cell. They'd both been tortured. I knelt beside her.

"Mari?" I asked quietly. "Can you hear me, sweetheart?"

Her eyes fluttered open and she looked at me through bleary, swollen eyes. "Oh my God, Adam?" She asked weakly.

"Yeah, it's me. Here." I placed the pendant around her neck and clasped the catch behind her. "It's going to be ok, sweetheart." I gently lifted her in my arms and her head lolled against my chest as her arms went around my neck. She was crying softly as I carried her out of the cell.

Scandal had her arm around Deadshot's waist and his was around her shoulders to help support his weight. He'd removed his mask the rest of the way and was looking at us with a concerned expression.

"Will she make it?" Deadshot asked.

"She'd better." I replied.

I felt Mari getting warmer in my arms as she activated her powers through the Pendant. I could see the bruises mending themselves under her skin as she accelerated her healing. She moaned softly against my chest.

"Come on, Caliburn. Let's get out of here." Scandal led the way, carrying the hobbling Deadshot with me bringing up the rear with Mari still in my arms.

I saw Catman guarding the entrance as we approached, and the banshee, Jeanette, fling herself into Lawton's arms. Interesting. I filed that away for later, just in case. Then I saw him. Bane. Even without the Venom pumps, he was a monster of a man. Hugely muscled, but now with a look of sanity about him that he'd never had before. While most everyone feared his size and prodigious strength, I knew that it was his intelligence that was the most dangerous part of him. He was on par with Bruce Wayne or Ra's al-Ghul.

He just nodded to all of us and approached Scandal. "The Chopper's waiting." He announced.

"Good." She turned to me as I set Mari on her feet. "You two need a lift?"

"Nah, thanks, though. We have our own transport inbound." I nodded in thanks to her. Then I felt Mari tugging my mask off.

As soon as my mask was free of my head, she kissed me passionately as if we'd been apart for years. Well, it had been months, since she had gotten roped back into the Suicide Squad by Waller. I'd been working for Checkmate most of the time.

I returned her kiss just as passionately and deeply. "I missed you, sweetheart." I said it as I broke the kiss. "But we kind of have an audience." We turned and looked at the Secret Six.

Deadshot grinned and opened his mouth to say something.

"Shut it, Lawton." Mari beat him to the punch.

"But he's a kid, Vix!" Lawton said.

"No, Floyd. He's a man who, four years ago, aided the Justice League in saving his High School Senior Prom from the Royal Flush Gang, and apprehended one of them singlehandedly." Mari said with a smile.

"How would you know that, Vix?" Lawton asked with a smirk.

"Because I was his date that night." She answered with a suggestive smile at the memories of that night.

They laughed as Deadshot sputtered. He had no comeback for that, so he pulled his mask back over his head and hobbled away towards where their chopper was waiting. The rest of his team were laughing at his expense.

I took Mari in my arms again, kissing her lovingly. "It took me quite a while to find you, sweetheart. Did you and Lawton get captured together?"

"Yeah. Three weeks ago. Floyd had to cut down to one cigarette a day, since he only had a pack left." She grimaced. I couldn't blame her.

"He's going to die of lung cancer before someone has the chance to kill him." I shook my head.

"I had to put up with his second-hand smoke AND the Intergang interrogators!" Mari shuddered.

"Well, I got the cure for that, Mari. What do you say to a little R&R with me?" I smiled.

"I have a feeling I'd like that, baby. Where?" Her eyes lit up. It had been far too long for both of us, it seemed.

"Santa Barbara. Don't worry, I got some transportation lined up." I hit a button on the arm computer on the inside of my left forearm and the Imp descended to land closeby.

"The X-98? But that's still..." She looked at me and giggled.

"Yeah, I kinda broke into Area 51 and borrowed it. I left a note." I smirked. It was true. I'd left a note on an unconscious guard's body in the Experimental Aircraft Hangar.

"Waller's going to kill you. You know that, right?" Mari was giggling uncontrollably.

"No way. She loves my winning smile and charming personality." I smiled smugly. "But seriously, she wouldn't dare. She'll probably just get Mr. Terrific to drum me out of Checkmate." I shrugged. "It was worth it to find you, though."

"I agree, baby. I missed you! Let's go." We walked to the Imp and hopped aboard. I jumped into the pilot's seat and Mari took the RIO seat behind mine.

Once the canopy closed, I lifted off and aimed west, punching the throttle full forward. "We'll be there in a couple hours, sweetheart."

"Jesus! How fast are we going?" She asked, surprised.

"Pushing MACH 6 right now. You wanna go faster? I could probably squeeze a little more out of her." I suggested.

She laughed. "No, that's ok. Let's just enjoy the ride."

So we talked a bit about what we'd been doing, and enjoyed the ride. When we got over Santa Barbara, I hit the optic camouflage and set down at my mom's house in the backyard. I love VTOL!

As we got out, Mom came outside just as I was closing the canopy so the optic camo would be complete.

"Adam! Mari! Oh my God!" Mom was surprised to see us, since she hadn't seen Mari for over a year, and she hadn't seen me for the last four months. As I'd explained to Mari, all she knew was that I worked for the United Nations now in a Metahuman Liaison capacity.

So she was a bit perplexed by my combat suit.

"Great to see you, mom!" I gave her a hug, then Mari gave her one right after I did.

"Glad to see you doing so much better now, Mrs. Ryder." Mari said as she disengaged the hug.

"Thank you, dear. You're in luck, kids. Dinner's almost ready, and you can join us!" Mom grinned and ushered us inside.

"Us? Mom, we really need showers." I told her. "How long until dinner's ready?"

"About half an hour. I have a ... friend coming over for dinner, but you know I can't just make enough for two." Mom blushed.

I just grinned and grabbed Mari. We started upstairs as I said "Ok, mom. We won't take too long!"

Mom had a boyfriend! I just hoped he wasn't like my deceased father!

I showed her into my room. It was pretty much unchanged since the morning after prom, since I barely spent any time here. I had, however, planned for this eventuality.

We both grinned at the memory, and I opened my closet to get changed.

"Do you have anything I can wear, baby?" She asked.

I knew it would pay off! "Second drawer down in the dresser, sweetheart." I had found out her sizes and bought her some skinny jeans, shorts, tanktops and t-shirts, just in case she wanted to crash at my place. My place ... Hah! I spent most of my time on one assignment or another. I spent maybe three days a month at home, on average. Sometimes I was gone for months at a time.

I heard Mari laugh. "Since when did you start dressing in womens' clothing in my size?"

"I got those for you for just such an occasion, sweetheart." I moved up behind her and hugged her from behind. My cock was getting hard between her buttocks, and she wiggled back against me playfully.

She leaned back and kissed me. "Let's go shower, baby. We both kinda stink."

"I stink. You don't." I smacked her full bottom and ran for the bathroom with her hot on my heels.

I turned the shower on as she smacked my ass in return. When the water was hot enough, We stepped in and washed each other clean. She had two weeks' worth of cave grime on her, but that washed off after two or three scrubbings. I wasn't much better, since the spidersilk armor made me sweat like a racehorse.

When we'd finished washing each other, we just looked into each other's eyes and felt the need we had for each other. I took her in my arms and kissed her as she stroked me back and forth. She then put her arms around my neck and jumped up on me, wrapping her long sexy legs around my waist. I held her by her thighs and she reached back and down to guide me up into her as she slowly lowered herself onto my hardness. I moaned and set her back against the shower wall as I thrust up into her hard and deep. She moaned as I grunted in animal lust. It had been far too long since we'd had the chance to be together, and neither of us was going to pass up the opportunity. The water streamed over us as we moved hard and fast together, our mouths hungry for each other's taste. She tensed up as she screamed into my mouth and I could feel her squeezing me inside her. I had been close already, but feeling her orgasm brought mine shooting out of me and deep into her womb. I came hard inside my Vixen, moaning into her mouth in pleasure and relief. I set her back down on her feet as I softened and fell out of her with a squelch, and watched my seed pour out of her and down the insides of her legs.

Mari giggled and pulled me close, kissing me passionately again. "I love that feeling, baby. You coming inside me feels so good!"

"I love filling you up, sweetheart." I answered her. "You feel so good around me when you come too, you know."

Once we were clean to our satisfaction, we dried off and Mari shaved her legs and other essentials while I went and got dressed in jeans and my old Batman t-shirt.

I still couldn't believe he was dead. Dick had taken over for him for the past six months since Darkseid wasted him. On the plus side, he made his death count and ended up killing Darkseid, but still. Bruce Wayne was dead, and it was a hard pill to swallow.

Mari came in as I was staring down at his symbol on my chest, and she came in and hugged me tight with her towel wrapped around herself.

She kissed me. "He'll be back, baby. The best ones always come back."

"I hope you're right, Mari." I held her as I kissed her lovingly.

I sat on my bed and watched Mari get dressed. She opted for the skinny jeans and a gold colored tanktop and some running shoes. She looked amazing, and I told her so.

She got a grin on her face as she straddled my lap and put her arms around my neck. "Thanks, Mr. Checkmate Operative. I think I might rejoin Checkmate myself, or maybe go back to the JLA. Black Canary is still in charge, I think. I know Zee is still there."

We kissed passionately for a while until we heard the doorbell ring. I broke the kiss. "That must be mom's new boyfriend." I smirked. "Wanna go scare the civilian?"

"Now that sounds like fun!" She giggled.

We got up from the bed and casually walked downstairs to where mom was hugging a middle aged man with dark hair and light brown eyes. His hair was going gray in parts, but he was still built under his business suit. "You recognize him?" I asked Mari in a whisper.

"No." She whispered back. "He's not in the business that I know of." We then saw mom kiss him before we made a little noise.

"Ok, mom. We're ready for dinner." I said. They both turned towards us.

"Oh, there you two are!" Mom smiled. "I'd like you both to meet my friend Stanley. Stanley, this is my son Adam and his girlfriend ... Vix." Mom knew that calling her Mari could be bad, but Vix could just be a nickname. She's only Mari to those of us who know her. In front of strangers, she's Vix until otherwise.

We moved over to them and shook his hand. "Good to meet you, Stanley. So, what do you do?" I asked.

"I'm an accountant up in Sacramento. What do you do?" He asked.

"I work for the UN, and Vix is member of the JLA. She was on temporary assignment to SD-6." I responded, indicating both of us. It was technically true ... for the moment. The United Nations Security Council now runs Checkmate since the Darkseid incident, and Superpowers Division Six is the official term for the Suicide Squad.

I had to give Stanley credit for taking it all in stride. He didn't get VERY scared, but scared enough that he was going to be very respectful towards my mom, no matter what.

"Well, come on, everyone. Let me get the food out of the oven and we can eat." Lasagna. It HAD to be lasagna! I could smell it!

"I hope you like lasagna, Stanley. My mom makes the best lasagna in the world!" I looked for any strange reaction.

"I love it, actually." He smiled. No strange reaction. Hmmm.

"I hope you like it too, sweetheart." I told Mari in a whisper.

"I'm sure I will, baby." She replied and kissed my cheek.

We all sat and ate when mom served our plates up. God, I LOVE mom's lasagna! So did Mari when she ate her first bite. It was her first solidly good meal in over three weeks. Stanley got a look of pure enjoyment on his face, too. Ok, score another point for mom's new bf.

Mom mentioned our Prom four years back, and Mari and I laughed.

"Mom, it wasn't that big a deal." I said. "I mean, it was just the Royal Flush Gang. Those guys are D-listers at best." It amazed me that I now saw them as complete amateurs compared to some of the bad guys Checkmate has sent me after in the past few years.

"It was a big deal to me, young man. Not to mention a big deal to everyone you helped save that night." Mom scolded me, and I felt like I was 12 years old again.

"Your mom's right, baby. You did help a lot." Mari kissed my cheek again and made me blush.

"You're right, mom. Sorry. I've just been listening to Batman too much." Nobody but us in the Community knew that Bruce was dead. Dick had done a great job so far of filling his boots. When I reflected on all I knew, it was easy to see them as regular people doing what had to be done. Some have powers, while others don't.

"That's because Bats thinks EVERYONE but him is an amateur!" Mari stuck out her tongue at me.

"To hear you two talk about them in everyday terms is a bit strange to say the least." Stanley laughed.

"Took me a bit to get used to it too, man. I think having Vix and Zee as our dates helped Kev and me get over it a little faster than most." I could empathize with Stanley.

"And now you're both in the Community." Mari said, kissing my lips lightly. Batman had installed monitoring devices and boobytraps in mom's house for intruder detection and prevention. After what happened to Sue Dibny, nobody was taking any chances. Mom was religious about setting the alarms and defenses at night. The closest team was the Titans, who would be responding if anything were to happen. I also had a monitoring device handy just in case. The alarm would even sound if a microscopic signature was detected.

"Yeah. Neither one of us can believe it, sometimes." I laughed and kissed my girlfriend. We'd gotten a few dirty looks when we were out in public sometimes, mostly in the deep south. Louisiana was bad when we went after Killer Croc the year before. The locals had been less than friendly to us as a mixed-race couple. Oh, they'd been more than helpful when we were on the job, but when we decided to stay for Mardi Gras, things took an ugly turn, and five of the local Klan had ended up badly maimed.

"Kev's been adapting well to working with Oracle." Mari informed me. I knew he was working in IT for someone, but now I was impressed.

"No kidding! He said he got offered an IT position, but wow!" I replied. I hadn't seen him in over a year. Now he was working for Barbara. I caught a slightly strange look on Stanley's face when Mari mentioned Oracle. I leaned in close to her and whispered in her ear. "We might want to wait until Dick can run a background on Stanley here before we give out anymore info."

"You're right, baby. Sorry." She whispered back. She smiled and kissed me as if we'd just whispered sweet nothings to each other.

"Mom, is it ok if we crash here tonight? We're taking some AWOL R&R together." I joked.

"Of course, dear! You're both always welcome, and you're also consenting adults, so I have no problem with you two..." She left it hanging.

Mari and I both blushed at that. "Thanks, mom." I couldn't think of anything else to say. "Come on, sweetheart. We need to check something upstairs." I rose and took Mari's hand. Once we'd deposited our dishes in the dishwasher, we both hurried up the steps to my room.

As soon as we got inside, I switched on my laptop and logged in to Checkmate's server. I checked the footage from our house and froze a good front on shot of Stanley's face. Mari looked on as I ran it through the Checkmate database of known criminals or metahumans. No hits, so I checked FBI and Interpol. FBI had him listed as Stanley Hawthorne of Sacramento. He'd been vetted to be an accountant for several government organizations.

"He looks clean." Mari nodded.

"So far. Homeland thinks he's clean, but we're gonna need Dick to run him, probably through Oracle. If there's any dirt on this guy whatsoever, Barbara can find it." I fished my cell out of my pocket and called him.

"Hey, Adam. What's shakin'?" Dick asked as he picked up.

"Hey, brother. I need a favor. Could you run a background on a Stanley Hawthorne? And maybe get Barbara to help out? I'm emailing you a pic of him now. He's my mom's new boyfriend."

"Sure, man. Homeland come up clean?"

"Yeah. I dunno. He seems like a good guy, but I don't want to take any chances. He seems almost..."

"Too perfect?"

"Yeah. Says he's divorced with a daughter my age. He's an accountant with IRS level reliability. Daughter's name is Samantha. Single, going to college at UCLA. We can check her out on our end, if you can run a dragnet on ol' Stanley's records."

"Will do, Adam."

"Thanks, Dick. I owe ya one."

"It's all good, man. Talk to ya when Oracle or I know something." He hung up.

I closed my phone and looked at Samantha Hawthorne's file. She'd been vetted by the FBI along with her father to make sure she wasn't a security risk. Her social checked out, same as her father's.

"We'll have a few days before Waller realizes I've been rescued. Want to take a trip to the UCLA campus tomorrow, baby?" Mari asked me. as she knelt beside my chair and put her arm around my shoulders from behind.

"Sounds good to me, sweetheart." I turned my face to hers and kissed her. "Undercover work is fun, sometimes."

"True. Just don't flirt with her THAT much. I don't want another incident like what happened with Cheshire." She gave me a warning eyebrow.

"Hey, I stuck to the script on that one! No way you can blame me for that!" I chuckled.

"You didn't have to let her kiss you!" Mari laughed along with me.

"It was either that or let her castrate me. Jade had her claws around my fun parts! Then you'd have had to get a new boyfriend!" I laughed even harder.

That had been a very tricky situation. She'd had her claws around my nuts when she'd told me to kiss her. I'd had no choice, even with Mari, Dinah, and Oliver about to bust in and take her down. When she'd seen them after breaking our kiss, she'd jumped off me and left my nuts alone.

"Hmmm. True. I'd have to train a new guy to please me the way that you do naturally." She straddled my lap and kissed me passionately.

"Mmmmmm, Mari. Let's see if mom and Stanley are done with dinner yet." I winked at her and swiveled the chair so we could both watch as I accessed the dining room camera.

Mom and Stanley sat at the table talking and holding hands. I activated the mic on the camera itself.

"I like him, Lynn. He seems like a good young man."

"He is, Stanley. He's my son. In spite of his father, he's grown up to be responsible and nice to girls."

"I'd like to introduce him to my daughter if he and Vix ever break up."

We listened intently now.

"Is Samantha still at UCLA?"

"Yes, she's a Senior now, and going for her Law degree starting next year. How about Adam?"

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"Oh, he's busy as a bee with his Metahuman Liaison position with the UN. He makes very good money there."

"Well, he's a good responsible young man, and judging from my daughter's ex boyfriends, he might just be her type and won't break her heart."

"Ok, I've heard more than enough. How long would I get if I ripped his head off, baby?" Mari said, pissed off now.

"Sweetheart, let's just hear them out. We can check out daughter dearest in the morning." I replied.

"Adam and Vix have been together for four years now, Stanley. I don't think they're going to break up anytime soon." Mom laughed and smiled.

"Well, if they do break up or anything happens, let me know. I'll see if I can set him up with Samantha."

"Oh, ok. But I seriously doubt it will happen anytime soon, if at all. I think he's going to ask her to marry him."

I jumped a bit as Mari put her arm around the back of my neck and pulled me to her breasts. She was purring like a great cat upon hearing mom's words.

Stanley was laughing now too, but I thought I could detect a bit of ... disappointment? No. Anger around his eyes. His laughing smile didn't reach his eyes. Yeah, something was definitely going on with him. I reached over and shut the mic off.

"Yeah, he's up to something, sweetheart. Did you see his eyes? He's angry at our situation." I was staring intently at the screen as mom and Stanley stood up and embraced each other. He gave her a long lingering kiss before she walked him to the door and let him out. She locked it behind him.

"I see it, baby. He's up to something, alright. Now, about maybe getting married ... do you want to really?" Oh boy. Loaded question.

"If I say yes, what would you say? Also, if I said no, what would you say?" I was hedging my bets.

"I'm not sure. I would like to know how you feel, though." She was hedging too.

"Hear me out and please listen to what I have to say, ok?" I asked, looking into her eyes and smiling.

"Ok. Go ahead." She nodded.

"Mari, I don't know if that's what we are, you know? Marriage is ugly sometimes. I mean, look at my mom and Frank. That was a trainwreck. Look at Dinah and Ollie. Another trainwreck. I mean, I know I'm not like either of them, but even some who love each other in our line of work don't make it. No, no! Don't look at me that way. I'm not done yet! Ok? Ok. Now, if we were to get married, we would have to settle down a bit. All this running around we've done the last four years has been murder on our love life. We don't see each other for months at a time, sometimes. Waller has you doing God knows what in God knows where for God knows whatever reason. Director Holt has me doing pretty much the same stuff for Checkmate. I worry about you whenever some global or universal crisis happens. Would you want to resign and settle down with me?" I finally took a deep breath.

She thought about it and looked at me. She ran her hands down the sides of my face as she gazed into my eyes. "Not yet, baby. I love being with you. I love what we do, though. We make a difference in the world." She said it with a sad smile. "I'm content to just be with you for as long as we can."

I kept my face expressionless as I mentally breathed a huge sigh of relief. I was scared to death of getting married to anyone, not just Mari. If she'd asked me to, I would have, though.

"Then I'm content to be with you whenever possible too, sweetheart." I kissed her lovingly. She returned my kiss with equal tenderness as I stood up with her in my arms and carried her to the bed.

We undressed each other slowly, loving the intimacy we were feeling as we touched and caressed each other's bodies. I loved her breasts, licking and sucking them and the deep valley between them. She moaned and shuddered beneath me as I kissed my way down her flat toned stomach, licking down to her bellybutton and circling it with my tongue. She squealed in delight as she spread her thighs when I started downward from there and over her shaved pubic mound.

I spread her lower lips apart with my fingers and my tongue slipped inside her hot pussy. I swirled and twisted my tongue deep inside her as she moaned and cried out as I pleasured her innermost core.

"Yyyyyeeeessss, baby! Eat me out good! Oh God, your tongue is amazing!" She moaned and I could taste her getting wetter as I licked and ate her. My tongue flicked across her clit and she came hard, bucking her hips up against me and entwining her fingers in my hair and holding my mouth in place as she came. Her scream was loud and long as I kept licking her love button. I sucked her clit between my lips and she shuddered through another orgasm, drenching my face with her juices.

I moved my face back as she came down from her third orgasm in a row, and she breathed raggedly as she shook from minor aftershocks. "Oh GOD, Adam!" She exclaimed.

"I'll take that to mean you liked it?" I grinned as I licked as much of her sweet juices from my lips and face as possible.