Once again, I love the zero total reviews I've gotten. Thanks. It really helps me know what you guys want to see. Anyway, this is the third of the Squadron related stories which are not in particular sequence; as I suspect people want to know about his motives, if they're interested in him at all.
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"You say you would make an addition to the team, Squadron?" The Red Tornado peered across the table in the conference room. It was empty but for them, bereft of all other Justice League members. A tall African American in a black suit with a red-orange helmet and matching sheathed sword stared right back, showing no expression.
"I have heard of recruitment opportunities available, Red Tornado. I trust that they have been filled, which would explain the hesitance to explore my proposal."
"Rather the contrary; we could always use more team members, but this is a very selective process."
"But of course."
"I'm afraid I do not yet have a firm grasp on your unique abilities. Perhaps you would like to shed a little light on the subject?"
"My arsenal includes an enchanted sword and helmet, which aid me in tactical planning and decreasing vulnerability of my soldiers."
"Skins of stone, you said, just like your predecessor."
"It's only natural to assume as much, but I want nothing to do with Legion. I may be his sidekick in all technical terms, but I have heard of defections in the past."
"So with these abilities, you could make the team immortal by leading it?
"I can assure they won't be killed by bullets, but they won't be as invulnerable as Superman."
"Ordinarily, we have new members prove themselves, in a sense, but the only way to demonstrate your strength would be to go on a provisionary mission with them."
"Perhaps that is best."
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"This is the Endurance of Shu, right?"
"Yeah, I'm in no hurry to get out of here. Unless I fall in battle, which is hard enough as it is, I'm immortal. And even then I can be brought back to life." From what the guard could tell, a young man in a black suit and red helmet was talking nonsense with an inmate in an obvious costume under his uniform. Of course it was black, and had a lightning bolt or something. How typical.
"Are you interested, then? I'm sure I could aid in your exit, along with… everyone else."
"I can wait it out. Free everyone else; I can just serve all 194 life sentences to piss them off."
"Maybe their grandchildren, but some of us would really miss you on the battlefield."
"Why are you coming to me, then, why not go to Joker, or Ivy. They would be about ten times as eager, as they're in Arkham." Black Adam seemed to refuse to stand, as if it was all too trivial for him. The kind of thing happened when one was immortal, Squadron supposed. He had to close the deal.
"There's no middle ground, Black Adam. I need to know if I can join the Injustice league."
"And do so by leading it? That's a hell of a way to work your way up. The rest of the team will not be down for this."
"The rest of the team can take or leave my offer. You know as well as I that my powers center on leadership. I only need to lead in battle to establish the connection, so someone else can be the official leader if they want; I'm willing to take orders."
"I'll communicate this to the rest of the team, as you ask. If it were my decision, you'd be hired on a provisionary basis."
"I suppose that is the fairest thing to do, oh one with the Wisdom of Zhetu." The youth with the helmet and the scabbard was given his sword back on the way out, but stopped close enough to hear Black Adam the moment he touched his sword. The man posted to guard the room just stared at the man chained to the wall with a collar on his neck. The prisoner rolled over and began talking, as if he had some small electronic device. He was probably just crazy, thought the guard.
"I don't know about him, but his proposal is too good to disregard entirely. He goes on about battles, as if it's some kind of coordinated assault we do whenever those- What? Okay. Keep an eye on him, Red Arrow, the league can't let this one go entirely. He does have a patron super villain, after all."
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Batman strode into the mountain without answering Red Arrow's query about what business he had with the team. Kaldur'ahm stood to greet him; Zatanna lacked the proper respect to bother. Batman wasted no time waiting for Connor to walk in with a 'busted' expression and a fresh bull's femur, presumably for Wolf. Luckily, Batman seemed to be in no hurry to question him, or at least not as much as he was to give them their newest mission.
"Robin's been kidnapped and the League cannot take action on this for the sole purpose of saving my sidekick, let alone commit political suicide, as he is being held by a bureaucrat in Star City. I believe he possesses valuable Intel, and we are responsible for each member of this team. The mission for you is to mobilize your available members to recover your team members."
"Well… none of us are doing anything. But are we to save more than one? I thought you said just Robin needed rescuing under the radar."Aqualad seemed to understand and drew attention away from Superboy for a second, who stepped out of the room and chucked the bone.
"Artemis and Red Arrow were with him on a mission, Red Arrow's radioed back; he should be back here soon. Where's the rest of the team?" The occupants heard a crash outside and all but Batman and Red Tornado flinched. The towering crimson robot volunteered for the question.
"The remainder of the team is otherwise occupied; however, I have an alternative suggestion. A new boy showed up and volunteered for the team." Zatanna smiled internally. From what she'd been told, it was nothing but girls joining for a while. Let's hope he's not taken.
"We should utilize all recourses at our disposal. Where is he? This could be a good chance for him to prove himself." As if on cue, a tall boy entered wearing a black pinstripe suit, red helmet, and sword. He pushed back his sleeve a little to reveal half a legitimate ivory watch. Zatanna looked up in disbelief. This party just got about 300% blacker. No objections here.
"You said to show up around now, Red Tornado? I've met a rather interesting character who seems to genuinely dislike me. I trust this is the team?" Speedy stepped in behind him with an angry look. Perhaps he'd done something to annoy Red Arrow. Zatanna hoped as much; Red Arrow was good at being unpopular, a skill he'd acquired by insinuating every single member of the team to be a spy.
"This is the portion of the team not assigned to any particular mission at the moment."Kaldur'ahm stood as he spoke. What sort of powers did this new arrival possess? There was no way Red Tornado would have not immediately congratulated any volunteer on his induction when he walked in the door without a curious past, questionable motives, or unusual powers. Batman seemed appreciative, but hastened to return to the subject at hand.
"The four of you can catch up later. You're all responsible for getting to Star city, however you choose, as M'gann is absent. You'll be able to use radios the entire time; the enemy has gone low-tech to avoid hacking and detection. Superboy, don't even think about it. You may need it later." Conner shoved something back into his jeans pocket and silently thanked God for the absence of Robin. Barking with a happy tone was heard outside. At the interrogative look on the team's faces as they collectively headed outside, he informed them that he'd planned on jumping all the way there but Batman had wisely suggested conserving his energy.
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Sphere was quicker than expected. Turning into a motorcycle onto which Squadron had to awkwardly board as well had been a relatively good plan. At least Zatanna was able to magic her way over without needing to hang onto Conner. That would be way too much alone time for anyone but M'gann. Squadron was not gregarious as Superboy had hoped. He'd managed to give him a description of his powers, explaining why he had to join them on a proving grounds, Squadron didn't want to talk about how he got the sword and helmet, but did seem to want to know about everyone else. Always a strategist, Superboy guessed. On the attempt at describing everyone's abilities, Aqualad and he were simple enough, but Zatanna had quite a few gray areas, which seemed to annoy Squadron.
"What's your real name? We all have alternate identities for when we're going undercover."
"I thought you didn't know Robin's true name."
"Well, Robin sounds enough like a name anyway and that was because Batman didn't want us to know because he's got old enemies or something. What, did your mentor not want you to tell us as well?
"No. I don't have a mentor, he died and was evil." Squadron was looking off at Kaldur who had commanded fish to carry him or something.
"Whose sidekick are you, then? Did Legion create those weapons for you?"
"No, he wanted a Roman, I believe. But yes, Legion is effectively my patron, whether or not he indirectly brought about the death of my- How did you learn about Legion anyway? He's an obscure enemy of Green Lantern."
"The reason I don't have a real name is because I was created to replace Superman by Cadmus in a lab somewhere."
"But you're not as strong, can't fly, and don't have heat vision."
"I'm only about 16, bro. We're here." The team assembled at a multistory stone building. Squadron took off his sword and helmet and began to climb an industrial building's personal water tower, ditched his only assets up there, and descended, talking the whole way.
"We're using Roy as bait. I sent him ahead inside to pretend to be a security guard or something. We're going to have to do this out-costume, whether anyone likes it or not. Zatanna and Superboy just shrugged while Aqualad ran off to find a suit warehouse.
"So is it Star City City Hall, just Star City Hall, or some kind of other play on words like that?"
"Shut up, Zatanna. Never mind, tell me what all spells you know, anyway."
"I can… freeze water, duplicate people, tie people up,-"
"Good. I think I can use this" Zatanna had a slightly relieved expression but was still somewhat worried. Squadron seemed to be filing away the last sentiment along with everyone else's powers. Dammit, it's so hard without the sword. My head is so full of irrelevant information .A drowning girl, a sword across the throat of a person who wasn't threatening him, a steel arrow nearly impaling his eye.
"You seem like you've got a lot on your mind, is there something-
"Do you know what that sword does other than separate cells?" Zatanna stopped talking and gave an interrogative expression. She was choosing her words carefully, and looked as much.
"About 3 months ago a girl your age died and it was completely my fault. I'll be haunted by this the rest of my life, but I don't need her drowning wishes to come up in battle and compromise my objectivity. It is because the girl I love died and traffickers had something to do with it that I live only to swing my sword at small time mortal criminals." Zatanna was looking at the ground and mumbled something along the lines of I had no idea and both stood until Aqualad came back in a gray pinstripe suit to hear further details of the plan. Superboy had not been listening, rather scouting out the building in an attempt to be useful to the strategy.
"There appears to be no back door. If we plan on escaping, this may me a problem."
"They might put you next to Kryptonite. Make one now, but break into an inconspicuous room." Superboy walked off in a vector. Squadron gathered them closely.
"First, the two of us, that's Kaldur and I…"
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Zatanna picked up the phone and answered the call. A man in Toronto wanted to know why the major's office had closed off communication until now; Zatana made something up about being under need-to-know orders from the higher ups and apparently did not need to know. It seemed all the calls going to the reception desk were about how outsiders were getting suspicious about City Hall's activities and crime elevating in Star City. Maybe this was what normal peoples' lives were like.
All of a sudden, two well-dressed black youths strode right through the front doors. The attendants and security guards swarmed and asked them what business they had in City Hall, for of course, the mayor's office was extremely busy and that was exactly why there were no phone calls going in or out. The taller and darker of them had one thing to say.
"My qualifications can be explained in a phone call you're about to receive, as well as for my colleague." All busybodies in the room looked at Zatanna and the phone next to her rang. She nodded her head, a feigned interrogative expression slowly changing to one of understanding. Zatanna stood after politely hanging up, and announced to all the room this:
"Kings of Somalia and Tunisia, Syrus Hamilcar and Kaldur Hasdrubal, Star City Hall welcomes your no questions asked proposal for the sale of privately owned nuclear weapons for the preservation of peace within the United States under the leadership of Star City. We also humbly accept your gift of the disarmament codes for the entire world's nuclear weapons." Cameras snapped, inaudible questions were asked, and the briefcase Squadron was carrying got a whole lot more interesting.
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