Suicide Squad Drops Its Biggest Deadshot/Harley Quinn Secret
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Suicide Squad #6.
The Suicide Squad has a fairly cut and dry deal with its overseer Amanda Waller. The "reformed" criminals help take down threats throughout the DC universe and, in return, they get time taken off their respective sentences for good behavior. But perennial Task Force X mainstays Harley Quinn and Deadshot recently learned that the arrangement may not be all it's made out to be in Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo's Suicide Squad #6.
For the uninitiated, a tiny explosive device has been implanted in all of the Squad members' bodies, ensuring that they stay in line or suffer the consequences. But when the group visits Gotham to have a back alley doctor remove the bombs (a doctor who, incidentally, used to be an inmate at Arkham Asylum before escaping by murdering three guards with a spoon), the group is finally once again feeling some semblance of freedom. But the problem, however, is that Harley and Deadshot technically already were free.
When fellow Squad member Deadly Six hacks into Task Force X's internal files, he reveals that both Harley and Deadshot had already taken on enough missions to earn their freedom. Both had officially been pardoned and not informed of the fact. In Deadly Six's words, the two were being kept "as slaves." The pair don't have much time to process this shocking information before the entire team is besieged by assassins looking to collect a $24,000,000 bounty on their heads.
But Batman thwarts the assassins' efforts, saving the Suicide Squad the trouble, before he turns his focus on the Squad itself. An exacerbated Deadshot tells the rest of the team to leave, explaining to fellow member Osita that he's had enough of this life. He and Harley have a brief farewell before she takes off with the rest of the crew. A short battle ensues as Deadshot buys the rest of his team some time to escape. The fight only ends when Deadshot holds up a dog the team had rescued (knowing Batman wouldn't punch a dog) and calling for a truce.
With the chaos over, Deadshot proves to Batman how he'd been pardoned and is no longer technically a criminal. The following interaction between the two that is as awkward as it is hilarious. Batman tells Deadshot that his life choices have put his daughter at risk, only for Deadshot to counter with the fact that Batman has a long history of child endangerment with his various Robins. The sharpshooting antihero goes on to point out that he could have shot Batman in his wildly exposed mouth, had he wanted to.
Batman finds that the Batmobile is missing, despite the fact that it was locked and impenetrable. Deadshot tells him that was likely the work of the teleporting Squad member Wink. And after a few tense moments, Deadshot offers to order Batman an Uber, resulting in Batman offering to order him an ambulance. Ending the interaction with a simple, "Good talk," The Suicide Squad stalwart leaves to reunite with his daughter.