Digger Harkness/Captain Boomerang

Subject Facts

Full Name: George "Digger" Harkness
Codename: Captain Boomerang
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Archetype: Rogue
Aliases: Boomer
Marital Status: Single
Affiliation: The Rogues, Task Force X, Suicide Squad

Subject Attributes

Meta-Human Abilities:

 - N/A

Standard Abilities:

-  Boomerang Mastery: Digger is an expert marksman and can throw boomerangs with pinpoint accuracy and lethal force. This skill can transfer over to other throwing weapons like knives and shurikens but Digger insists on only using boomerangs. 

- Brawler: Digger is not a trained fighter but, instead, is a punch drunk brawler from years spent in bars, taverns, and prison. While his fighting style isn't pretty, it is effective. 

- Clever: From an outsider's perspective, Digger Harkness does not seem like an intelligent person with his crude language and ignorant views on life. However, Digger is a natural manipulator and can usually trick people into doing things for him or, unwittingly, walking into their own deaths. 

- Inventor: Digger's wide arrange of boomerangs are all his own designs and creations.

Paraphernalia:

- Explosive Boomerang: A boomerang that explodes on contact with his target. 

- Collapsible Boomerang: A small, discreet boomerang that folds in on itself; making it ideal for concealing and sneaking into places. 

- Lightning Boomerang: A lightning fast boomerang that can gain incredible speed once thrown; it has caught the Flash off guard and knocked him out before. 

- Rocket Boomerang: A large boomerang that can be launched into space. 

- Razor Boomerang: A razor-sharp boomerang that can cut through meat and bone. 

- Overcoat: Digger's thick trench coat that has many hidden compartments; perfect for carrying an assortment of boomerangs. 

Subject Weaknesses:

- Only Mortal: Despite Digger's cockroach-like ability to walk away from numerous suicide missions, Digger Harkness is only mortal and can be shot, stabbed, etc. 

- Ignorant: Digger is close-minded and isn't afraid to spout off at the mouth whenever he chooses to do so. It makes him incredibly unlikable even when he's amongst teammates. 

Subject History

-Youth-

George "Digger" Harkness is the illegitimate son of Betsy Harkness and American toy salesman W.W. Wiggins. Once his father ran out on his mother, Digger was born and raised in poverty in the Australian outback. Digger's mother remarried to a man named Ian Harkness who despised Digger and abused him due to be his wife's child from a previous relationship. The frequent and constant abuse at home led to Digger having a difficult childhood spent bullying and getting into trouble in school. 

While in school, Digger crafted a boomerang and learned that he had a natural gift with the weapon. Not one to turn down the idea of using what he had available in order to gain wealth, Digger and his classmates would make trouble in their community and evade the law with the aid of his boomerang skills. Eventually Digger robbed one general store too many and his stepfather kicked him out of their home. His mother, feeling bad for how damaged her son grew up to be, gave Digger a plane ticket to the last known location of his biological father - Central City. 
 
-America-

In a new country and a second chance to exploit a clean reputation, Digger sought out his father who was in need of a spokesman for his toy company. Posing as "George Green", Digger wowed his father with his boomerang skills and was giving the costumed identity of Captain Boomerang to help sell toys to children. Digger had other plans with this costumed identity and alias, however, and began robbing jewelry stores in his hometown. This, naturally, led to his first encounter with the Flash. 

Digger wasn't stupid, however, and new that in this new country he had the benefit of the doubt in people who didn't know who he was. Digger was able to trick the Flash into thinking that someone was framing him for the crimes. After playing to Flash's sympathies, Digger was able to knock Flash out on their next encounter and almost launched him into space on a Rocket Boomerang. Flash was able to get out, however, and Digger Harkness found himself in police custody. 

Over the years Digger Harkness would have more encounters with the Flash, become acquaintances with the other Central City rogues, and demonstrate his cleverness and survival instincts by hiding boomerangs in every prison near Central City to aid in his prison escapes. 

-Suicide Squad-

It was in one of these many prison stints Digger Harkness became one of the first and reluctant members of Amanda Waller's secret government covert ops group - Task Force X. Alongside other villains, Digger Harkness was put into frequent suicide missions in service of the United States government and, in exchange, he was promised his freedom if he survived. There was also, of course, the added motivation of wearing an explosive device that would kill him if he chose to disobey orders. After surviving their first mission where the team took down the creature known as Brimstone, Digger found himself a regular member of the team. 

It was in Task Force X that Digger lived up to his namesake by always coming back from their missions even if others lost their lives. It was also in Task Force X where people learned that, of all the members of Task Force X, Captain Boomerang was the most well-adjusted psychologically. Digger Harkness was the most authentic member of the team: he also just so happened was fine with being a sociopath with no moral sense of right or wrong. Digger was not popular with the team. He regularly insulted and annoyed his teammates and Amanda Waller with his crass behavior, crude sense of humor, and sense of self-perseverance where he would routinely hide from danger, stab team members in the back, or trick them into walking into their own deaths. 

On more than one occasion, Digger Harkness would earn his freedom only to end up being taken back in by Waller after breaking the conditions of his parole by either robbing a jewelry store or trying to sell off government secrets. Despite hating the team, Waller, and the missions - it could be argued that Task Force X and Belle Reve prison were the closest thing to a stable home life Digger had. 

-Death-

The good times didn't always last for Digger however. As the years went by, no one seemed to have any use for an aging burglar, thug, hitman, and mercenary. The Rogues wanted nothing to do with him and Task Force X had been disbanded. Low on money and desperate to improve his reputation, Digger reached out to the Calculator to get work. While the Calculator was working on that, Digger reconnected with his illegitimate child Owen Mercer - his son from a fling with Meloni Thawne when Digger was trapped in the future for a period of time. Digger's reunion with his son didn't last long when he finally got his gig - killing then Robin's father Jack Drake. As Digger showed up to complete the hit, Jack Drake had been tipped off that he was going to be assassinated. As Digger threw the boomerang that struck and killed Drake, Jack was able to fatally shoot Digger in the chest. 

Like a boomerang, Digger was resurrected by a Black Lantern ring. He first turned his attention to Batman and Red Robin in Gotham, hoping to feed off the rage emotions Tim Drake would have towards him. Once that didn't work out, Boomerang returned to Central City where he preyed on his son's emotions to help feed him. Owen lured innocent people into a pit where Digger ripped their hearts out. Once the Rogues discovered that Owen had broken one of their strictest rules, Captain Cold shoved Owen into the pit where he was killed by the Black Lantern Boomerang. Captain Cold then froze the pair but Digger was able to escape and join in the final battle with Nekron. 

-Rebirth-

Once Nekron was defeated, Digger Harkness found himself as one of the twelve heroes and villains who were resurrected by the white light. Not only that, Digger was in a younger, healthier body - with a full head of hair even! His freedom was short-lived however as the Flash knocked him out and sent him to Iron Heights prison for crimes he committed when he was alive. 

While in prison, Digger contacted the Rogues to help break him out but they demanded he prove his worth before they would allow him into their ranks once more. As a side effect of the Black Lantern ring, Digger found he could construct black energy boomerangs that could explode once they make contact with their target. Once he escaped prison, Boomerang sought out the Flash to win favor with the Rogues but his newfound powers left him unstable. The white energy entity approached Digger multiple times to throw a boomerang at Dove in order to release Hawk from the grips of the Lords of Chaos. Once Digger completed this, he was released from the white entity but lost his powers as a side effect. 

Subject Interview

Tugging at his overcoat and adjusting his blue knit cap on the back of his head, Captain Boomerang gave himself a once over in the reflection of his cellphone. Hair was messy, his clothes were wrinkled, but at least all the gold around his wrists, fingers, and neck was still there. What was the point of being a burglar if you can’t indulge in your spoils? Slowly, he patted himself down, feeling for the boomerangs he had secured in the inside of his jacket. 

It’s always helpful to know a guy named Mike. Why? Well everyone knows a guy named Mike. “What am I doing here? Oh, Mike said it was cool if I came by.” “I’m not the regular repair guy? Well Mike called in sick and the temp agency sent me.” Easy peasy. Everyone knows a Mike. The Mike that Digger Harkness knew was a good friend of the security guard who asked him why he was heading up to the roof of this building. Once he got the ol’ man in blue to start jabbering about Mike, Digger was able to appeal to his good sense and let Digger go about his business. There was also all that business about being wanted by the police and the feds due to his slipping out of Waller’s Task Force X a few months back. Ol’ Wall would have his nuts on an open fire if she ever got a hold of him again. It was best to lay low in a city that no one would think a wanted criminal like him would hide - Gotham City… home of ol’ pointy ears himself.

Putting a crew together was a lot harder than they made it seem in the American movies. You need to find a wheelman, a safecracker, a fence, someone who could scout the place and not be noticed, and, to top it all off, the ungrateful pricks wanted to be paid for it; the nerve. He’d seen Ocean’s 11 probably fifteen times and Digger didn’t recall seeing that bloke George Clooney having to put all his trust in a sixteen year old kid to not mess up casing a building but here he was. It was broad daylight in Gotham City and Digger winced at the sunlight reflecting off all of the Wayne owned buildings. Ol’ Digger wasn’t necessarily a morning person, but this was the safest way to do anything slightly not legal in Gotham. He’d done his reading. The Batman protects Gotham at night, but the bloke has to sleep some time, right? The criminal element in Gotham really must be crazy if that thought never occurred to them. In his mind, he could knock a bank or two off and slip out of the city before the pointy-eared bastard was none the wiser.

The kid was doing a decent enough job. His name was LaMarr or something like that. Digger hadn’t bothered to learn it, but the kid was sitting quietly on a bench across the street from the Gotham National Bank. Digger sat on a nearby rooftop and watched him with a pair of binoculars as an armored truck pulled up to the front of the bank with three armed guards. His phone vibrated with a text from LaMarr with the bank’s details. Digger opened the text and scrolled through, learning all sorts of fun stuff. Now he knew when the bank’s first employee clocked in for the day, what their opening security procedures were, how many guards they had on staff, if they were armed, and, most importantly, when the armored truck showed up. Ol’ LaMarr didn’t do too bad. The fun part would be finding that sweet spot in the following morning before the bank’s staff arrived so he could get in, get their armored truck shipment, and piss off before so much as a bank teller had known he was there. All in the wee hours of the morning when the Batman was home drinking cocoa and tucking himself into his upside down bed or whatever.

All that he needed to do now was tie up a loose end and he’d be good to go. The razor sharp boomerang slid out of it’s holster from the inside of his coat and made that little “grinding” sound that got Digger a little turned on. Digger peered over the edge of the roof and did the math in his head, accounting for wind speed and how many other people were near LaMarr on the sidewalk and their likely trajectory of movement. "Sorry, boyo, but it looks like you didn’t make the cut."

Digger cocked back his arm and lobbed the boomerang from the top of the building. A scream rang out from the crowded sidewalk as it hit it’s mark and LaMarr slumped forward dead. The edge caught him right in the throat, slitting the lad from ear to ear before curving and returning to Digger’s armored glove. With a laugh and a smile, Digger slumped down out of view before wiping the blood off of his boomerang. He’d give the bank about a week for the heat to die down and in case anyone had seen the lad watching. Poor boy. Hate to see something like that to a fella like LaMarr who was in the prime of his life. That’s the life of a criminal after all? It’s rather cut throat at times.

Author's Notes

Player Alias: Six

Other Characters: Dick Grayson

How did you find ARFD?: Currently here