JLU SPIDER-FRIENDS VOL. I:THE JOURNEY BEGINS
Chapter 10:Suicide Squad
Now the beginning of this chapter will be like the start of a TV episode, but bear in mind that although in the Justice League Unlimited episode 'Task Force X', the only part that the Suicide Squad played was infiltrating the Watchtower long enough just to steal the Annihilator armor. For now I'm doing my own version of the Squad's first mission; Infiltration of the Watchtower and Theft of the Annihilator. It's an extended edition and will be just as exciting, even though I've never seen all the episodes on Justice League/Justice League Unlimited.
It was a foggy morning at Belle Reve Correctional, all the prisoners were having breakfast in the prison's cafeteria, and the prison guards were busy escorting a prisoner to the execution chamber since today was no ordinary day. The man being lead to execution was none other than the hitman who once tried to kill Aquaman, his name was Floyd Lawton aka Deadshot and he was displaying defiance for his fate, even towards the priest who was there with them.
"I don't really care about what happens to me" he growled out "But never forget this, people always remember the name Deadshot, even long after I'm gone!"
"That's enough out of you Lawton!" the warden snapped "There's nothing more you can say that will change anything, but this is most certainly the last day of your life."
No sooner had he said that then upon entering the room, they saw another man sitting down on a chair. "Now who are you suppose to be?" demanded the warden "Who I am is not important" the man answered "But I'm here with some pardon papers for Mr. Lawton." He handed the papers to the warden who read them and looked at the newcomer, then back at the guards. "Alright gentlemen let him go" the guards were reluctant at first, but they did as they were told and released Lawton who seemed to be pretty relieved that he wasn't going to be executed after all.
Before long Lawton and his mysterious savior loaded up into a car that was parked outside and drove away from the prison. "Thanks for getting me out" said Floyd as he drank a cup of coffee that was offered to him "But I still didn't get your name"
"My name is Lt. Colonel Rick Flagg, U.S. Army" the man answered "And I want you to assist in a top-secret mission." Lawton frowned at the subject, feeling skeptical "I've never been offered a job in the army before" he told him "But what if I say no?"
"Then you can go back to prison for execution" Flagg answered "Another thing, that coffee you just drank was filled with miniature devices called nanites that will explode and kill you if you won't cooperate." Lawton flinched when he heard that, but he had a sense that he wouldn't live to see the light of another day if he ended up back in prison "So what's the catch?" he asked.
"The mission you're to go on" Flagg continued "Is a simple break-in and theft from the Justice League's Watchtower HQ." Lawton raised an eyebrow when he heard that, he had encountered five of the founding members in the past when he was hired by Lord Orm in an attempt to assassinate Aquaman.
About two and a half hours later, they arrived at an old warehouse that was once owned by Lexcorp. As soon as they were inside, Flagg stood to the side and presented four people who were waiting there; a red haired woman wearing a red outfit with a red skirt and white boots, a flat-nosed bald man with white skin and wearing a grey business suit, a red haired man dressed in a blue jacket, blue jeans, and a white shirt, and finally an older man who was wearing glasses and a brown business suit.
"Floyd Lawton aka Deadshot" Flagg announced "Meet Task Force X" then the colonel began introducing the members "explosives expert Bette Sans-Souci aka Plastique, international covert spy Dmytri Smerdyakov aka the Chameleon, inventor George Harkness aka Captain Boomerang, and planning expert Temple Fugate aka the Clock King. Like you, they're criminals who have been offered amnesty in exchange for their services."
Lawton looked at his new teammates including Plastique, and so he decided to give it a shot. "Well I think I'm going to enjoy working here" he remarked, referring to the fact that he was staring at Plastique, much to Chameleon's chagrin.
"Then let's get started shall we?" Flagg told all of them.
New York City
While the whole thing of recruiting Task Force X members was taking place, Rick Jones was enjoying one of the best days of his life because he was taking M'gann M'orzz on a tour of one of the biggest cities in the U.S.A., now this was the best time of M'gann's life since Rick was taking her to visit the Statue of Liberty. Of course she was in human form at the moment so she couldn't be recognized by anyone as a Martian. "Oh Rick this is amazing!" she exclaimed taking in her surroundings with the great fantastic view as soon as they were inside Lady Liberty's crown.
"I'm glad you like it M'gann" he told her "But I also hope that you get to see more than this." Next they went on to tour the Museum of Natural History where she was very excited seeing all the exhibits; from dinosaur skeletons and stuffed animals to statues and wax figures of famous people in the history of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres (I don't need to go through every detail of the Museum in New York City). Then Rick and M'gann visited Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Times Square where they went to the Empire State Building, took pictures in front of the Unisphere, and went for a walk in Central Park. "Rick what's wrong?" asked M'gann after they had walked for an hour, he looked very sad and was lost in thought about his current situation with the battle inside him.
"Oh I'm just thinking" he told her as both of them sat down on a bench "You see when Dr. Bruce Banner started having trouble suppressing his big green alter ego the Hulk, he was afraid that one day he might never be able to change back the next time he transformed." He paused then continued "That's why he got launched off into space and never seen or heard from again. Sometimes I feel like it might happen to me, and then I'll never be able to change back." He buried his face in his hands like he was about to break down and cry, M'gann felt so sorry for him and looked like she was about to cry herself. She took one of his hands in her own and consoled him "Ricky, you're not going to lose control of the A-Bomb" she told him seriously "I know you too well, and you're too nice a person to end up doing something like that."
She took his face in both her hands and made him look at her "You're a wonderful man Ricky, and that's why I asked my uncle to give you meditation sessions so that you might gain control and suppress the beast inside of yourself."
Rick was touched by she had just told him, now he was very glad to have someone like her in his life. M'gann could really show him that not was his life, but also the fact that he also had something worth fighting for. Then he felt like he needed to tell her something before he chickened out "M'gann there's something ….that I need to tell you."
"What is it?" she asked kindly wondering what he had to say to her "Ever since I arrived here, my life has been kind of nicer not only because every ordinary citizen likes the A-Bomb, but mostly because…" he paused unsure of how she would react to what he was about to say "But it's mostly because of you." M'gann was surprised when she heard that, but as a matter of fact she was delighted at the news. She had never felt so emotional in all her life "Well to tell the truth Rick I feel exactly the way, I've just been having these…"
"Feelings" he finished for her "As if you just realized that the other person means so much more than ever before." M'gann nodded in agreement, it was exactly what she felt. Now she didn't realize it, but they had just moved closer to each other and were so close that a little more and she might be able to kiss him. They leaned in and were just about to kiss when all at once, both their communicators went off.
M'gann was the first to answer "Hello?" she asked, a familiar voice on the other end answered "M'gann! Where are you? Come to the Watchtower at once, we need some assistance!"
"Uncle J'onn, what is it?" asked M'gann feeling greatly concerned "There's been a nasty incident, Green Lantern is evacuating the Watchtower's support staff, and Captain Atom just confirmed that someone purposely managed to cause the core reactor to explode." The teens were both shocked to hear that, who in their right mind would do such a thing?
"Beam us up Uncle J'onn, I've got Rick with me and we're going to need his muscle." M'gann said eagerly and in no time at all both of them disappeared in a flash of light.
3 hours earlier
While Rick had been busy taking M'gann on a tour of New York, Colonel Rick Flagg was going over a plan with the other members of Task Force X. "Here's the illustrations of the JL Watchtower's interiors" he told them as Fugate displayed the whole thing on a screen with a projector "The first phase is to get into the tower by posing as members of its support staff, during a time when three major obstacles are aboard." He nodded towards Fugate who continued explaining the obstacles when he displayed video recordings of three different heroes in the projection "The first obstacle is the Green Lantern, he has a power ring that allows him to fly, phase through anything solid, and conjure up any particular construct he can think of." He then switched to the next clip "The second is Captain Atom, his powers include superhuman strength, flight and absorption of radioactivity." The Clock King switched to the final clip "And here we have J'onn J'onzz the Martian Manhunter, his powers include superhuman strength, flight,…"
"And he's also a shapeshifter who can read minds." Deadshot interrupted "Yeah I've crossed paths with him before" the others stared at him for a minute before Flagg continued "The next phase is to create a diversion by setting off a bomb on the reactor in the generator room that will distract the occupants long enough to evacuate, while Boomerang and I will break into the vault and get the package for Project Cadmus."
"Well so far you haven't even mention where I'm suppose to be in all this." Chameleon reminded him, Flagg looked a little annoyed at first, but he got straight to the point. "Your assignment will be to keep most of the Tower's support staff and the current League members busy by impersonating whoever you can think of, now the final phase is to get out of the Tower and deliver the package to Cadmus."
"Now what exactly is the 'package' pray tell?" inquired Smerdyakov "It's a giant combat robot called the Annihilator" Flagg explained "Cadmus needs it to counter any threat that the Justice League poses, then in the meantime perhaps you could impersonate someone that the League already trusts?"
"I've got just the person in mind" said Smerdyakov "It's someone I've impersonated several times before which will be perfect for the job." He adjusted his belt buckle and pressed a certain button until he looked exactly like his old enemy, the amazing Spider-Man. "Wow that's very clever" Plastique remarked seemingly impressed by the Chameleon's uncanny abilities.
"Why thank you ma'am" the Chameleon answered mimicking Spider-Man's voice much to the whole squad's surprise, Lawton was practically annoyed that Plastique seemed to like Smerdyakov's talents. "I can also use this to close enough to one of our three obstacles, well I couldn't take out Captain Atom or the Martian but I could manage to take out the Green Lantern, steal his power ring and masquerade as him long enough to extend the evacuation of the Watchtower."
"But how long could you keep up the charade?" asked Boomerang "Have you ever impersonated a flyer before?"
"No" Chameleon answered "But I've got the exact gadgets and equipment to do it." He opened a trunk that contained all kinds of equipment including several different suits and jetpacks that used for different purposes.
"Should I assume the identity of anyone who's a flyer, these suits with the jetpacks will blend in and turn invisible" he explained "The radiation suit and jetpack should come in handy for posing as Captain Atom, the solid adamantium suit and jetpack will be useful for impersonating Superman. I'll be using my voice amplifier while I pretend to be Spider-Man until the Lantern and I are alone, he won't suspect anything's wrong until it's too late. So what you all think?"
"It sounds like a great plan" Clock King complimented "Otherwise you'll have three minutes to take him out and assume his guise."
"Last couple of things you need to know" Flagg resumed "Fugate will stay behind here at base and he will coordinate our progress. Last but least of all, there will be no unnecessary killing no matter how tempted it is." He turned to Plastique "Now what would you do if someone like Superman gets within ten feet of you?"
"Threaten to hurt someone?" she suggested, the other squad members stared at her for a moment making her feel uncomfortable "What? I was just thinking that if one of the powerhouses in the League tries to stop us from leaving, I could use a staff member or one of the minor members as leverage. Long enough for us to escape, so what do you guys think?"
The male members of the squad exchanged glances and grinned in agreement. "That sounds promising Plastique" Chameleon remarked "So long as there's no killing as Colonel Flagg just said."
An hour later, four Watchtower staff members were driving toward the middle of an open field where they would be transported up to the Tower. They were so busy talking that they failed to notice or even realize that someone was spying on them, then all at once several tranquilizer darts flew out of the brush and got embedded in their necks. The persons who fired the darts came on out of the shrubbery, they were none then the members of Task Force X: Colonel Rick Flagg, Floyd Lawton Aka Deadshot, Bette Sans-Souci Aka Plastique, Dmytri Smerdyakov Aka the Chameleon and George 'Digger' Harkness Aka Captain Boomerang.
"Excellent" said Flagg "Now we'll take their nametags and communicators so we can get into the Tower." So that's exactly what they did, they took what belonged to the staff members and used the communicators to beam their way upward. The Chameleon put on his holographic disguise of Spider-Man.
Pretty soon they were all in the telepod bay of the Watchtower, Plastique was completely amazed at the sight of the Tower's interior and the feeling of being out in space. Then Flagg used a device in a pair of glasses that he had brought along to disrupt a computer causing it to break down, which enabled them to proceed without any security check. The squad secretly made it to an elevator where they double-checked their equipment, Deadshot loaded his guns with extra bullets, the Chameleon made sure his jumpsuit was ready for action, Plastique prepared her bombs which she hide carefully under her shirt and Boomerang put his boomerangs in extended sheath packs that he hid underneath his sleeves.
"Now you're all set" Flagg told them "Harkness and I will head to the vault while you three put the other part of the plan into action."
Deadshot, Plastique and Chameleon went to an elevator that would take them down to the generator room. Just as the doors were about to close, a giant green hand intercepted and forced back open. The hand turned out to be one of Green Lantern's constructs that he had just used to pry the elevator doors back open again, then GL stepped inside the elevator unaware that the three individuals who were also inside the elevator with him were actually criminals.
"Hey GL, how are you today?" asked Chameleon disguised as Spider-Man, perfectly imitating the wallcrawler's voice. "Spider-Man?" asked GL "I thought you were off duty today?"
"Well I figured I'd come back up for a while in case there was a major catastrophe that's all." GL stared at him for a moment until before too long, the elevator reached their destination and opened up allowing the occupants inside to walk out. "Do you mind if I joined you for a stroll around the station?" asked the false Spider-Man "It would be a bit safer for Hawkgirl knowing that you were with someone she can trust" GL said that he didn't mind at all but he also reminded his 'comrade' to never say anything about Hawkgirl again.
As soon as Green Lantern and the false Spider-Man were out of sight, Deadshot and Plastique headed on down to the generator room where they opened up the wide door and went inside. "This should do the trick" Plastique remarked placing a bomb on the core reactor, meanwhile the false Spider-Man and Green Lantern hadn't gone far when as soon as they were alone, the 'wallcrawler' smacked the Lantern right upside the head knocking him out. Then the Chameleon changed back to his normal guise, took off the Lantern's ring, tied him up and put him inside the janitor's closet.
"Now I'll assume your guise" said Chameleon gleefully as he put on the Lantern's ring so that his whole body glowed along with his spacesuit, then he adjusted his belt until he looked exactly like John Stewart. "That fool Martian may read minds" he told himself "But no one else will notice the difference."
He went off to join Flagg and Harkness who were busy trying to break into the vault with a code breaker that Harkness had brought along. "Let me give you a hand with that" said Chameleon changing back into his true form and harnessing the ring's power to open up the vault's door. Right at that moment, the bomb that Plastique placed on the reactor exploded sounding off the alarm. Back at the bridge, J'onn J'onzz was shocked by the sound of the alarm which indicated that there was a leak of radiation, so he quickly pressed a button on the intercom. "Attention all Justice Leaguers and support staff members! There's been a sudden leak of radiation in the lower levels and everyone of you must get to the Hanger bay and Holodeck and evacuate immediately!" then he turned on his commlink to contact the only major members of the League who were still on board "Green Lantern help the other staff members who can't make it into the Javelins escape from the Watchtower, Captain Atom go down to the generator room and contain the radiation leak long enough for the evacuation to complete."
Back at the vault, as soon as the Chameleon heard what was being said over the intercom, he grinned evilly "That's my cue gentlemen" he told Flagg and Boomerang as he changed back into his Green Lantern disguise and used the power ring to fly back to the Hanger Bay in an instant. By that time Flagg had finally taken control of the 'package': a powerful combat robot called the Annihilator.
Deadshot and Plastique headed out of the generator room in time to slide under a wide closing door, but they were too late to get past another door that was already closed. "Now what do we do?" cried Plastique desperately, however Deadshot wasn't so sure until suddenly two big hands grabbed the underside of the door and pushed it back up. It was Captain Atom who pushed the door back up "What are you guys doing down here?" he demanded "Get back up to the Holodeck for the evacuation, I'm going down there to contain the radioactive leak long enough for all the other Leaguers and staff members to get situated and evacuated."
"Thanks buddy" Deadshot told him and as soon as the musclebound energy absorber was down in the generator room, the two squad members sprinted back up to the upper levels to rejoin Flagg. But just as Captain Atom managed to absorb the spilling energy, he realized something was wrong. "This leak couldn't have happened all by itself" he thought out loud, quickly he pressed his commlink and contacted the Bridge "J'onn! There's something wrong here!"
"What is wrong?" asked the Martian "Is the leak of energy too much for you?"
"No that's not it!" exclaimed the Captain "I just realized that this wasn't an accident, somebody did this on purpose."
J'onn narrowed his eyes and quickly contacted his niece and told her about the situation, he was also relieved to know she was with Rick Jones. "Beam us up Uncle J'onn" she told him over the commlink "I've got Rick with me and we're going to need his muscle."
Back to the Situation at hand
M'gann and Rick finally appeared on the Holodeck where the whole support staff was being evacuated while some others were evacuating from the Hanger Bay where 'Green Lantern' who was really Chameleon in disguise managed to move the last of the support staff out into space towards Earth.
M'gann flew up to the main console carrying Rick with her telekinesis, and landed near where her uncle was working. "Hey Uncle J'onn, what's the situation?"
"Captain Atom is still stabilizing the core reactor" he told her "Somehow I suspect that someone we don't of might be on board the station." The teens exchanged glances and wondered who could sneak on without the League's knowing about it, could it be possible that Cadmus had sent a spy to infiltrate the Tower?
"Uncle J'onn I think there might be a possibility that Cadmus may or might have sent a spy to infiltrate the Watchtower." M'gann suggested, J'onn thought about it for a moment if someone did blow the reactor on purpose then maybe it was possible that Cadmus had sent a spy or someone from inside the Watchtower had leaked information to Cadmus.
"Now that's another matter we'll have to disclose" he told them "In fact for some reason or other, Green Lantern was behaving strangely and he sounded different." M'gann and Rick looked at each other, then back at J'onn "Why don't we call him on his communicator and see how he reacts" suggested Rick, so J'onn pressed his commlink "Green Lantern return to the Watchtower, we may need assistance."
"Oh I don't think so" it sounded like GL's voice but they could immediately tell that it wasn't their John Stewart. "Well you sure sound like Stewart, I don't think you're him are you?" asked Rick suspiciously "I don't know who you are, but your voice is unfamiliar" answered the voice. That had done it, now they knew it wasn't their Stewart and whoever had answered didn't know Rick. "Look whoever you are, what have you with the real John Stewart?"
"Oh he's hidden somewhere in the lower levels but as for who I really am, my name is Dmytri Smerdyakov but I'm sure that Spider-Man has already told you about me."
"Dmytri Smerdyakov?" Rick asked then it came to him "Oh I get it, that's one of Spidey's old enemies who goes by as the Chameleon." Suddenly there was a loud bang and one of the doors to the Bridge burst wide open, they turned around just in time see a big tall figure wearing a blue mask and a red suit slide across the floor followed by four individuals who were dressed like staff members and a giant black robot with silver lining. "Atom Smasher?" asked M'gann "How did he end up getting so badly beaten?"
"Those four look very suspicious, they must be the ones who infiltrated the Watchtower." J'onn told his niece "Somehow they've managed to activate the Annihilator and now they're trying to escape." Turning to the two teenagers, he quickly gave instructions "M'gann fly down to the lower levels and find Green Lantern so he can be of assistance in case the Chameleon ever comes back here, Rick you stay up here and wait until the right moment to jump right in."
M'gann did as she was told, she turned invisible so the intruders couldn't see her and flew on down to the lower levels to find John Stewart. Rick hide up on the upper levels by the main console while J'onn floated down to confront the false staff members who were really the members of Task Force X, earlier they had also just managed to defeat Shining Knight and Vigilante.
"Ask yourselves" he told the intruders "Can you stand being in the same room with me?" his eyes glowed a bright orange indicating that he was reading their minds. "Get out of the way Martian!" snarled Flagg who was not going to stand down and let the mission get ruined by some green alien.
"Allow me" Deadshot said smugly as he aimed his handguns(technically those weren't his guns, Lawton's own guns were busted apart in a fight on the way to the Bridge, he ended up stealing Vigilante's guns) and fired shot after shot at the older Martian, but what he didn't know was J'onn could also turn intangible and the bullets flew right though without harming him. Then the Martian flew down and phased his left hand right through Deadshot's chest, the hitman cried out in pain and fell down having been disabled from walking. Flagg charged forward only to get knocked back, J'onn then transformed into a green serpent creature with long arms and wrapped himself around Plastique, crushing her in a vice-like grip.
Boomerang was about to attack when the Martian disappeared into the floor leaving the criminal shocked and wondering where the big green man went. Then all of a sudden, J'onn instantly reappeared behind him and just as Boomerang went in for an attack, J'onn gripped his left arm very hard causing the Australian to cry out in pain before he threw him right into Flagg who tried to attack again.
J'onn was about to take a breather when the Annihilator came right up behind him "J'onn look out!" Rick yelled out springing forward, jumping off the upper platform and landing on the Annihilator's giant face covering the robot's eyes. J'onn was horrified to see that Rick was just now risking his life distracting the Annihilator that was now very angry as it reached up and grabbed its assailant.
Meanwhile down in the lower levels, M'gann was searching very hard for John Stewart by phasing through walls and using her telepathy. 'Where could Mr. Stewart be around here?' she wondered as she kept going until she felt someone's presence just around the corner. Miss Martian flew on until she found the janitor's closet where Stewart was still tied up "Mr. Stewart!" she cried as she got him untied and helped him up.
"Miss M, what the hell is going on here?" he demanded as soon as he got his bearings together. "Intruders have infiltrated the Watchtower!" she exclaimed "They activated the Annihilator and are trying to escape, but Rick and Uncle J'onn are stalling them."
"Where's Parker?" growled John angrily "I want to get him good for hitting me on the head!" but the Martian girl quickly reprimanded him "No! that wasn't him, it was one of his old enemies the Chameleon" John's eyes widen at the mention of Spider-Man's oldest enemy and he felt very ashamed at he had acted just now. "Where's the Chameleon now?" he asked determinedly "He's escorting staff members off the Watchtower and still pretending to be you" M'gann told him.
Just then a mental voice was heard inside her head "M'gann, if you have found John Stewart then return to the Bridge at once. Rick had just prevented the Annihilator from getting me and now it's trying to harm him." M'gann was horrified to hear the last part her uncle had just telepathically said, she turned to GL and exclaimed "Come on hurry! We've got to help Rick and my uncle!"
Back at the Bridge, the Annihilator continued its oppression by squeezing poor Rick who was struggling to stay alive, Flagg and Boomerang got up and helped Deadshot to his feet while J'onn was psychically contacting his niece. "The big bloke is just crushin' that poor kid!" exclaimed Harkness, the other two were shocked to see what was happening "That's not what I planned for the mission!" cried Flagg horrified, he quickly ran over to the giant robot and tried to get its attention "Annihilator! Stop squeezing that kid and set him down gently."
But the robot was too occupied with its helpless victim who tried his best to break loose, just as Flagg was trying to get it to set the teenager down, and all at once Rick Jones started writhing and twisting. Then the Annihilator threw him hard against one of the monitors much to J'onn's horror, and Flagg's dismay.
"Come on up here!" the colonel commanded the Annihilator, and the metallic giant finally did as it was told. But just as it was marching up to the transporter platform, Rick began thrashing and writhing around from the Annihilator's squeezing him so much right when M'gann phased through the floor with John Stewart. "Rick!" she cried flying over to him "Are you alright?"
"GET BACK!" he yelled out loud as his eyes changed from green to red, his skin turned scaly, and he began to grow in size. Back on the teleporter, the squad members turned to stare at the strange scene before them "Blimey! what the hell is wrong with that kid?!" Boomerang exclaimed.
"I don't know" Flagg answered "One minute the Annihilator was nearly squeezing him to death, and now he's writhing in pain." No sooner had he said that when Rick suddenly turned blue and continued growing in size much to the others' shock and surprise. He grew until he was 9 1/2half feet tall and his hair had changed into a blue scaly mohawk, his ears had grown a tad longer, spikes grew out of his back, his hands both had three fingers on them and now his feet had the big toes of a velociraptor.
"Holy shit!" cried Deadshot as the Annihilator turned to face this new threat, the A-Bomb looked at the metallic titan and let out a loud feral roar that terrified the squad members. RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
The Annihilator advanced on its new target in an attempt to tear him limb from limb, but the A-Bomb rolled himself up into a ball, rolled forward and kicked the robot back into a different monitor. Then J'onn flew towards the teleporter to stop the intruders from escaping "Cool it Martian!" a loud voice suddenly called out, J'onn turned around and saw Plastique holding a bomb over the mouth of an unconscious Atom Smasher. "Don't even think about it" she warned him "So back off freak show or the big guy really gets it." Not wanting to put the life of a team member at risk, J'onn backed down and allowed the other squad members to reach the transporter platform.
Meanwhile A-Bomb pounced on the Annihilator and pounded it relentlessly "A-BOMB SMASH PUNY ROBOT MAN!" he punched a big dent in its chest and looked like he was about to rip its head clean off its shoulders.
"Chameleon return to the Tower!" Flagg ordered "We need your help right away! We can't lose the package!"
The A-Bomb continued his assault on the robot until a bright green light phased right through the wall. It looked just like John Stewart but it was really the Chameleon in disguise, he used the power ring to conjure up the construct of a chain leash that he wrapped around A-Bomb's neck and pulled the Gamma beast off of the Annihilator. Then he trapped the A-Bomb in the construct of a cage and slowly made his way around to the other squad members at the platform while Plastique was setting a bomb to fifteen minutes.
"Lady that's not very nice!" said a stern voice, she turned around just in time to see a tall figure with a red star on his chest. "Captain Atom?" she knew who it was and immediately recognized him, she was just about to set off the bomb she was still holding when Captain Atom tackled her and held her wrists tight.
"Plastique!" cried Flagg, he had no intention of leaving anyone behind but this was a delirious situation. Chameleon looked back at the red-headed explosives expert struggling with the musclebound powerhouse, he considered going to help her but he knew that the A-Bomb would break loose and ruin everything. So then he came up with an idea, he used the power ring to form the construct of a heavy jack hammer and after the cage construct disappeared, the jack hammer was brought down hard on A-Bomb's head. Miss Martian saw what happened and cried out in horror "A-Bomb!" then she turned towards the Chameleon and delivered a psychic attack at his mind, the master of disguise cried out and clutched his head in immense pain before falling down towards the floor.
Once the imposter hit the floor, the real John Stewart ran forward, pinned him down and reclaimed his power ring. Plastique was still struggling with Captain Atom, and the bomb she was still holding went sailing through the air "Say goodbye!" sneered Deadshot aiming his pistol at the bomb, detonating it and in the confusion of the explosion, the Annihilator and the rest of Task Force X escaped through the teleporter. Plastique was left behind and she was badly hurt "Quickly get her to the medical ward!" ordered GL before Captain Atom picked up the villainess.
J'onn flew over to the transporter console to track their coordinates only for the console to blow up "They thought of everything!" said J'onn exasperated.
Elsewhere
Several hours after their successful escape, Colonel Flagg delivered the Annihilator to Project Cadmus, despite the robot having been damaged and nearly broken apart by the A-Bomb. "Your father would be very proud of you" Amanda Waller told him "In the meantime I'll have the tech boys examine how much damage has been done, and then I'll have Tala get it ready for battle."
Flagg nodded his head before stepping out into the hall where Deadshot, Clock King and Captain Boomerang were waiting. "Well it's been an honor working with all of you" said Deadshot "So I'll be on my way now." Flagg suddenly slugged him in the face and knocked him down "Don't be so sure of that" he snarled angrily "You're been required to on Task Force X for up to five years. If you try to walk away, then you'll get sent back to prison for execution, do I make myself clear?"
Deadshot glared at his superior as Fugate and Harkness helped him to his feet, he was slightly offended that he still wasn't allowed to leave "Tell me something Flagg, how is that lady blackmailing you into working for her?" Flagg gave him a sneer of contempt "I'm not being blackmailed into doing anything" he answered "I'm just a patriot who's serving his country loyally." He turned away from them and down the hall where he met Helmut Zemo at the end "So Colonel Flagg, now that the squad has carried out their first mission, I believe it would be a good time to prepare them for a showdown with the Prime Avengers."
Flagg nodded "Yes, and they're going to need new members in order to do so."
Watchtower
After the big fight with the squad and the attempt to prevent their escape, J'onn discovered that one of their staff members Vance was wearing an anti-telepathy device, and had leaked inside information to Cadmus. M'gann was sitting with Rick in the cafeteria having lunch and thinking about what they could do next to stop whatever plans Cadmus had "If only we'd stopped those other guys from stealing the Annihilator and escaping, then we could have stayed one step ahead of Cadmus." She told Rick unhappily "Don't feel so bad M'gann" he consoled her "I hope we can shut them down sooner than later, but until then we'll wait."
Oh the world owes me a livin'! ye da la da lo da la da le! Chapter 10 is finally done, please don't hate me dear readers, for taking too long but I had to make sure that it was done perfectly. Now that Plastique and the Chameleon are prisoners of the Justice League, who should be their replacements on the Suicide Squad(Task Force X)? I was originally going to have the Chameleon escape with the others but thought it would be better to have him get unexpectedly captured, maybe have him escape at a later time. Just let me know in the comments below about which squad members of Task Force X that I should include next, and what you think of Rick and M'gann getting closer together? Should I try to continue with only them for a while or just do them alongside Peter-X-Kara and Dick-X-Barbara? Anyway just let me know what all of you think.
Rick Flagg (Adam Baldwin)
Floyd Lawton/Deadshot (Michael Rosenbaum)
Captain Atom (Chris Cox)
Bette Sans Souci/Plastique (Juliet Landou)
Dmytri Smerdyakov/Chameleon (Steven Blum)
George 'Digger' Harkness/Captain Boomerang (Donal Gibson)
It seems strange that Steven Blum, the current voice of Wolverine in animated version, was also the voice of the Chameleon in 'Spectacular Spider-Man'. The belt that he used for copying the appearances of other people, I got it from 'Spider-Man TAS'(even though he didn't have any speaking lines whenever he was in his true form), and considering that sometime he may or might have an accident that causes him to become a metahuman with shape-changing abilities.
Until next time, sound off your thoughts in the comments below!