One Year Later
Disclaimer: All familiar characters belong to DC or Marvel. I Own Farrah/Persiana, Leon/Crisis, and Bast.
Chapter 37: Patriotic Response Part 1
Farrah was lounging in the base's infirmary,
"Are you sure this is going to work, Leon?"
Leon shook his head, staring at the mirror,
"I don't know, to be honest. Hopefully, things go smoothly. But, I have this bad feeling something is going to happen. It's like when I blacked out before I got captured. I saw who was behind Daken, and, once this is over, we'll think of something."
He sighed and turned back to his pregnant girlfriend,
"Farrah, I know you're expecting, but is it really necessary to be in the infirmary right now?"
The white-haired cat-girl nodded,
"Leon, I could give birth in any day, and I want to be ready when I do. Besides, Bast and Donna are going to be here with me to help me through it."
The red-eyed commando smirked,
"But you wish I was here too, don't you?"
Farrah sat up, her enlarged belly touching the bed as she sat,
"Truthfully, I want you to be here so that, if they are your children, I can scream and swear all I want."
Leon said,
"And, if they're not mine."
"Then, you can hear me vent my frustrations out."
She smiled widely at that. Leon shook his head,
"I've known you for years, and I still have not figured you out."
Persiana leaned back, laughing,
"I'm memorable, aren't I? Both in and out of the bedroom."
The swordsman could not help but chuckle at that,
"I guess your sense of humor is rubbing off on me."
He then kissed Farrah on the forehead and left with Mirage and a duffel bag containing the canisters of nerve gas.
Meanwhile…
President Ross was looking over the information on Julienne Delgado,
"Where is she now?"
Waller said,
"We found her in an abandoned apartment in New York City and she's being shuttled in to a hospital as we speak."
Lane spoke up,
"Mr. President I strongly urge you not to even consider bargaining with Crisis. He is a wanted terrorist!"
Waller looked back,
"If I may, Mr. President. Crisis and his Howling Commandos are not, nor do they seem to be, jeopardizing American interests. Honestly, if he is willing to shoulder this responsibility and do our dirty work for us, then, who are we to interfere?"
Lane slammed his fist down,
"If this punk wanted to defend his country, he should join the army!"
Waller countered,
"Maybe he can't, and this is the only way he can think of that can help his country."
Lane spat,
"By being a cold-blooded killer, right? I thought that was what the Suicide Squad was for."
President Ross looked and noticed how quiet General Rock was about the whole thing. He asked,
"General Rock, you don't have anything to add to this discussion?"
Frank shook his head,
"To be honest, sir…I am still a little leary of trusting this man myself."
Lane smirked smugly,
"Thank you! At least someone here agrees with me!"
The phone came on and Crisis' voice could be heard on the other end,
"Knowing you, Lane, you'd be able to get a ham sandwich to agree with you."
Waller spoke up,
"Hello, Crisis."
Lane looked around and saw how calm everyone seemed to be. He, however, was livid,
"How dare you do this? What gives you the right to just call up whenever you want? You think we're a pizza place or something?"
Leon chuckled,
"Trust me, Lane. If your paranoia was anything like your cooking, you could open a full service restaurant. But, I digress."
Ross nodded,
"Of course, Crisis. You have the nerve gas canisters, I assume?"
The red-eyed commando nodded,
"I do. But, I want Julienne's location first. Otherwise, no deal."
Lane wanted to go on a tirade, but Ross said,
"That's fine."
He nodded to Waller and the head of Checkmate nodded back, giving the address to Julienne's location. Crisis wrote it down and said,
"Before we finalize any arrangements, I want my people to check out the address."
Lane glared at the phone receiver,
"You lowlife punk! You think we'd lie if there were weapons of mass destruction on the line."
Crisis said,
"It's been my experience that anyone is capable of anything. I just want to make sure that I'm getting my money's worth with what I paid for the product."
Leon then went to his ear piece, making sure that he was out of hearing distance,
"Is the girl there?"
Deadpool nodded,
"Yep! Safe and sound!"
The red-eyed commando said,
"Good. Bring her to Mirage, and get out of there fast."
The merc-with-a-mouth saluted,
"Okey-dokey!"
Crisis then went back to the phone,
"It's all set. If you want to know where the nerve gas is, all you have to do is trace the call."
Ross was a bit surprised,
"Excuse me?"
Leon spoke slower and more clearly,
"Trace the call. That's all you have to do. I'll wait."
Just then, one of the Secret Service agents burst into the room,
"Sir, you're not going to believe this."
President Ross asked,
"What is it?"
The agent said nervously,
"The call that you're taking…sir,…it's coming from inside the White House."
Everyone in the room was surprised, even Amanda Waller. Lane twitched uncomfortably before speaking,
"What? Crisis is here?"
The agent shook his head,
"He seems to be. We can't pinpoint in what room he's in, but he is definitely inside the building. Sir, we have to get you to safety as soon as possible."
Ross nodded,
"Fine. We'll head for the presidential bunker."
As the Secret Service began moving the president and the other three people in the meeting to the secure presidential bunker underneath the White House, Lane hissed at Waller,
"How did he get in here?"
The African-American woman shook her head,
"I don't know. He's good, I will give him that."
They entered the presidential bunker and the Secret Service secured it. Lane breathed a sigh of relief,
"The president's safe."
"You call being encased inside ten tons of reinforced concrete safe?"
Lane spun around and was in total shock as he was staring face to face with Crisis. The sun-glass wearing commando smirked,
"Hi, guys."
Every Secret Service agent drew their weapons and got in front of the president to protect him. Leon, still carrying the duffel bag, rolled his eyes,
"You know, pointing guns at a guy who is not only invulnerable, but also carrying probably enough nerve gas to wipe out everyone on Pennsylvania Avenue is not the smartest thing to do."
Rock asked,
"You brought the nerve gas here?"
Crisis shrugged,
"What? You think we were just going to meet in some abandoned warehouse. Seriously, it's cliché for me. Personally, I prefer to meet like this, so I can deliver the goods."
He placed the duffel bag on a table and raised his hands,
"Don't think of this as me surrendering. Think of this as trying to be honest as possible."
Ross ordered,
"Waller, check the bag."
As Amanda Waller peered inside, she saw the canisters of nerve gas and that infamous biohazard symbol. She nodded,
"It's sealed. No leaks."
Crisis smirked,
"Well, now that we've honored our agreement, I'll leave."
He took a step before all the guns followed, still pointing at him. Leon rubbed the bridge of his nose,
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me."
Lane shouted,
"You're under arrest!"
He was about to go for him when Crisis pulled out a gun and pointed it at the agents.
There was a chorus of guns clicking, but no bullets were being fired. The agents all checked their guns and tried to fire again. All of them did not seem to be working. Leon chuckled and, reached into his other pocket, pulling out all the firing pins to the hand guns.
Crisis checked his own weapon and shrugged,
"Huh, wasn't even loaded."
He tossed it to Waller and walked to the elevator. Punching in a code, the secure elevator car opened and Crisis stepped in. He waved,
"Bye, guys."
The doors closed and, by the time the elevator car opened for the agents to intercept, Crisis was already long gone…
Next Chapter:
General Lane takes matters into his own hands as he uses the nerve gas to make the Howling Commandos look bad. Stay tuned, fellow readers!