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Post by Romans Empire on Sept 18, 2007 0:23:18 GMT -5
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Post by Romans Empire on Sept 18, 2007 0:24:16 GMT -5
The Suicide Squad Issue 15: "New Blood" Part Two Written by Jay McIntyre Cover by Roy Flinchum Edited by John Elbe
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Post by Romans Empire on Sept 18, 2007 0:25:22 GMT -5
There is an evil tendency underlying all our technology - the tendency to do what is reasonable even when it isn't any good. --Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Humanity is acquiring all the right technology for all the wrong reasons. --R. Buckminster Fuller (1895 - 1983)
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Post by Romans Empire on Sept 18, 2007 0:26:37 GMT -5
Terra had become much more at ease with Killer Frost, once the girl had realized she wasn't trying to kill her.
"...that's the thing that puzzles me about ya, Frosty," Terra went on, continuing their conversation as the others filed into the briefing room. Frost had pointed them out to her; Vixen, Manhunter, Catman, Electrocutioner, Knockout, Resurrection Man, and a mousy blonde that apparently turned into Enchantress when the time was right. They were still waiting for Waller to arrive.
"What does?" Frost said.
"Well ya just kill people, right? Freeze 'em solid."
"Obviously," Frost said, raising en eyebrow.
"Dont'cha ever have fun with some of the guys, instead?"
Frost shook her head. "It's been a long time. I came close with a fire based assassin during the Squad's first mission, but that was a long time ago." She smiled fondly at the memory. "Nothing since. I'd have to suppress my powers and need to absorb heat to really achieve it. It's a lot of work."
"Well, maybe you should try it."
Frost looked thoughtful. "Maybe I will."
They might have talked more 'shop', but Waller arrived at this moment.
"I'll keep this short," Waller said. "First of all, the new recruit is Terra. Don't let her age fool you; she's tough. She's an elementalist like Frost."
"Earth powers, one would assume," Manhunter said.
"Correct. Now, to business. I just got a call from the Pentagon. They've lost a classified weapon, apparently very hazardous. Even more interesting, it appears to have been an inside job."
"Nice," Frost commented. "So we're going after some sellout bureaucrats?"
"No, the Pentagon is taking care of that end, with a little help from our 'friends' at Checkmate." There was a collection of boos and catcalls at that. "Yes, I know, and I feel the same," Waller said. "But we've got our orders. We're going after whomever they were working with. The 'buyers' of the weapon, as it were."
"Terrorists?" Manhunter asked.
Waller shrugged. "We're not sure. If so, the Pentagon suspects they are homegrown rather than the international variety. Though they won't say why."
"There not telling us half of what they know," Vixen said. "What a surprise."
"What do we know?" Electrocutioner asked.
"That the handoff was to a group of combat robots that vanished from all detection about two minutes after the handover. But they showed no flight capabilities before that, and before they vanished they were moving in the direction of West Virginia with their prize."
"We don't know that they didn't suddenly start flying once they vanished, do we?" asked Catman.
"We kind of doubt it. But they did leave something behind, of personal interest to you."
"And that is?"
'Tracks."
Catman grinned slowly. "Which fade after a certain point, I'm sure."
"It's your ball, Catman," Waller said. "Run with it. The rest of us will be right behind you."
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Post by Romans Empire on Sept 18, 2007 0:27:31 GMT -5
As they boarded the jet, June Moone kept her head down.
She hadn't told Mitch what was troubling her; what Enchantress had said and done. She had just asked him to hold her, which he had done, puzzled but concerned.
Why hadn't she told him? She wasn't sure. He couldn't help, really. He was wary of Enchantress, and rightfully so; but what could he say? 'Don't use the power she gave you'? She had figured that much out for herself already. All she had to do was not use the power she didn't want, for a month. Then it would be gone.
Easy enough, right?
The Enchantress was conspicuously silent in her mind. As though she were waiting for something.
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Post by Romans Empire on Sept 18, 2007 0:28:05 GMT -5
"Something else I've been meaning to ask," Frost said, resuming her conversation with Terra.
"Yah?"
"You're a European supervillain, at least until now. So why do you sound like you're from New York?"
Terra smiled, showing buckteeth. "Part of my gig, Frosty. If I ever take my mask off in front of ya—not likely, no offense—then I might talk to you in my natural accent. Might. But really, I like talkin' this way anyhow. Specially if I'm gonna be in America for a while. I don't....I don't like bein’ who I was before I put the mask on. Long story."
"Don't be ashamed of yourself, hon. Revel in it," Frost advised.
"I revel in who I wanna be, not who I was," Terra said a trifle defensively. "Why are you bein’ so chummy with me, anyhow?"
"I told you, you remind me of me at your age." Frost smiled, a trifle unpleasantly.
"Oooooookay," Terra said, slightly creped out.
"You're right not to trust her," said Vixen from across the aisle. "Killer Frost has no friends, and she's called Killer for a reason."
"Gee, thanks for your concern," Terra said, but she eyed Frost nervously all the same.
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Post by Romans Empire on Sept 18, 2007 0:28:29 GMT -5
"The new kid is feisty, but I think she'll work out," Vixen said to Manhunter.
He shrugged. "For as long as she lasts, however long that is. Personally, I miss Firehawk. We need her now more than ever, especially with Killer Frost here again."
"The whole thing with the Justice League left a sour taste in her mouth," Vixen said. "And she was hardly the only one."
Manhunter nodded, but his eyes were distant. "I just wonder what we'll do now."
"The best we can, lover," Vixen said, putting her hand on his. "The best we can."
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Post by Romans Empire on Sept 18, 2007 0:29:29 GMT -5
Arriving in DC, they found it clear and bright, unlike the rain back in Colorado. This enabled Catman to track more easily than otherwise. But there was still a problem.
"The tracks simply stop," he said disgustedly.
They could easily see that. The tracks led out of the city, away into Virginia, then turned sharply west. The robots had made good time...but then the tracks seemed to simply disappear.
"Maybe they did take off," Manhunter suggested.
Catman shook his head. "There'd been burn marks here if they had. Maybe a brushfire. And if they'd got on a plane, there'd be a landing strip. Something."
They were in the suburbs, between developments, surrounded by trees. Directly ahead was an old pile of rocks. Not even a foothill. Certainly not the beginning of the Appalachian mountain range.
"Just a pile of rocks," Manhunter said thoughtfully. "I doubt they're under there, but let's get rid of it anyway. Okay, kid; here's a chance to earn your keep."
Terra stuck a tongue out at him, but then shrugged. "No sweat." She put out a hand that glowed with power.
The innocuous pile of rocks didn't move.
"What the?!" Terra frowned.
"I thought you had power," Knockout said dismissively.
"I do! I shoulda torn up half the damn field by now!"
"Stop playing around kid," Catman said.
Terra turned and glared at him, and there was such hot fury in those blue eyes that he recoiled.
"Perhaps the rocks are magnetized?" Manhunter suggested diplomatically.
Terra's rage faded and she sulked instead. 'They should at least tremble, and a little more push should take them off the ground anyways."
"Then come in from the side," Vixen suggested.
Terra frowned thoughtfully, and nodded. She made a sweeping gesture, and a loop of earth cracked and rose up, coming in from a side as though the earth itself were being carved...and when it reached the pile of rocks, it simply stopped.
Stopped cold.
"What the hell is this?!" Terra exploded.
"Maybe I should freeze it?" Killer Frost suggested.
"I think you'd have no better luck," Vixen said.
"Wait," said Catman. "Wait just a damn minute. I think I get it now. Reason girlie's powers ain't workin'....is because it's not what it looks like."
"What do you mean?" asked Manhunter.
"Let me try something," Catman said.
"You're on point," Manhunter allowed.
It wasn't until he said the words that everyone—Manhunter included—realized he was team leader now. Vixen approved, but Manhunter himself didn't know what to make of it, really.
Catman paid no real attention; he simply walked forward, right up to the pile of rocks. He reached it, stuck a foot out as though to climb on it....and vanished.
"An illusion," Knockout hissed.
Catman stuck his head back out. It was disconcerting to see his disembodied head. "Yeah, a hologram. Thought so. Looks like a passage to an underground bunker. Terra already tore the top off of the entrance."
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Post by Romans Empire on Sept 18, 2007 0:30:14 GMT -5
Deep braying alarms roared through the base.
"They found us already?!?" Wilkerson yelped.
Malthus scowled. "They must have followed the robots. I take it the subject is not yet ready."
"You know it isn't! It would take days just to get the most basic programming in! All I've managed to do is make it understand that it shouldn't kill us!"
"Can you command it not to harm the robots, either?"
"I would need time for that!"
"Then I must buy you that time. Let's see who we're dealing with, first, shall we?"
At first they saw nothing; the surface security cameras had been taken out by whatever force had destroyed the entranceway. But there were further security cameras down the long access hallway to the surface, and one by one they kicked in.
They saw Catman step in, nod to himself, and then stick his head back out to talk to his fellows. Malthus narrowed his eyes in suspicion; a suspicion that turned to certainty when Catman was joined by Vixen and Manhunter Mark Shaw.
"The Suicide Squad," Malthus commented dryly. "How nice to see them again."
"Your robots--" Wilkerson began.
"Yes, I know. I will try to buy you the time you need. Let me see....four squads....no, five." Malthus tapped at his remote controls, in some ways like a computer and in some ways not. There was no screen; just a series of colored buttons and a small digital readout. To Malthus, his robot soldiers were almost an extension of his own being. He was their Mastermind; they were his servants.
Sending five squads left three here with him, Wilkerson, and their test subject. He nodded thoughtfully to himself.
"But," he said aloud, "The Squad is quite capable of defeating them before you have readied our subject....unless we give my robots an additional advantage."
"Which is?"
"My robots do not need to see."
Malthus moved from his remote controls long enough to turn all the lights in the base—except those of the room they were in—out.
He turned his mouth to tell Wilkerson to get back to his mental conditioning of their subject, but saw that he had already returned to his work. Malthus nodded in satisfaction; they made a good team.
He just hoped it was good enough, and in this particular case, quick enough.
The future of the world, he believed, depended on them.
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Post by Romans Empire on Sept 18, 2007 0:31:15 GMT -5
Darkness.
No one member of the Squad was afraid of the dark; such simple psychological techniques were beneath them.
To Manhunter, Vixen, and Resurrection Man, the darkness simply was.
To Terra, it was something she was familiar with, that could be useful at times.
To Catman, Electrocutioner and Killer Frost, it was home, and they positively preferred it.
To Knockout, it was a minor tactical annoyance in the current situation.
To June.....it was not frightening in and of itself, but it reminded her of the darkness within. Yet she needed to call upon that darkness to do her part in this battle. She had held off the transformation as long as she could, but now she almost whispered...
"Enchantress."
The witch murmured a short incantation, and one hand glowed with emerald flame. The other team members were illuminated in a sickly green pallor. Then Resurrection Man clenched his fist, and an orange, atomic brightness joined the green light.
The corridor was long and wide, but not so wide that the entire team could form a line. Which was just as well. They would present too many targets that way. Knockout and Catman took point, Manhunter and Vixen just behind them.
"I'll have to call rocks from outside," Terra whispered. "Or I'll bring the roof down on us."
"Why are you whispering?" Killer Frost asked in a normal tone of voice. She sounded amused.
"Because we're trying to listen," Catman hissed back at her. Frost glared at him but held her tongue.
Then they heard it. Soft but growing louder. Numerous clanking sounds. Like a forest full of branches breaking, all at once.
"These must be the lovely robots we've heard so much about," Vixen murmured. "Charming."
"Darkness and limited mobility," Knockout noted sourly. "Our enemies are not fools. Leave the robots to me."
"We'll certainly let you be the focus of their attention," Manhunter agreed, "But we'll all be busy."
The look Knockout gave him over her shoulder was thin and contemptuous. "As you wish."
Then the robots arrived and there was no more time for discussion.
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Post by Romans Empire on Sept 18, 2007 0:31:54 GMT -5
Fighting in the dark.
The robots Malthus had constructed had titanium claws, two different kinds of energy weapons (laser beams and electric arcs). Theirs had both infrared and ultraviolet scanners, enabling them to see in almost any wavelength.
Malthus had come up with the basic prototype eight years ago, and been improving on it since. Once they had secured their new base, it had been easy to set up a manufacturing line. And with the chaos of the Starro invasion, everyone's attention had been diverted until he had plenty of troops to go around.
Catman found himself at a disadvantage; his blades simply didn't do enough damage to the body structure of the fearsome killing machines. He could duel them, yes; but his blades did precious little damage to them unless he hid a hydraulic pump or a sensor. And they could most assuredly rip him apart.
So he settled for dueling one or two at a time, dodging and weaving, his blades clashing against their claws, parrying, over and over again. Reducing the number of enemies the others had to fight. Buying them time to win the battle.
Was this what it was like for heroes, working at a team to protect your buddies? He wondered distantly.
He didn't wonder about it long. Up, up, over, down, block, parry, slash.
Terra found the situation against her powers. She could bring in rocks from the outside, yes, but aiming them correctly was a fool’s game in the dark. She could, of course, just hit everything including her teammates. But that wouldn't help her pardon prospects any.
So she did the best thing she could; she kept a series of rocks floating around her as a shield against robot strikes, and threw the occasional one at a robot who got close to her, smashing them back.
Killer Frost skipped daintily down the corridor, humming to herself, dancing between robots, reaching out and touching them, freezing them solid. As they were not living beings, she could not draw heat from them, but their metal framework frozen over with so much less effort.
Her gleeful musings were interrupted when a robot slashed her shoulder. Turning, her eyes were even more furious than Terra's had been earlier. She gripped the robot with both hand s and froze it so cold it shattered into fragments.
Resurrection Man had, since his last death, gained powers not unlike those of Captain Atom, though not nearly so powerful, and he could not fly. That being so, he was able to blast the robots relatively easily, though his powers weren't as effective against them as they were against living beings.
He did his best to keep himself between the enemy and Enchantress. Not that he had much regard for the witch; but June was trapped somewhere inside the sorceress, and he would not lose her.
Enchantress, for her part, delighted herself in turning robots into frogs, or causing them to turn to rust prematurely. She, too, wished for living opponents; she had a mind to charm one or two and turn them to their side. Robot programming was not nearly so flexible in that regard.
Vixen used her totem to call upon the power of a rhino and simply bulled her way through the robots in front of her. She switched to elephant and wreaked some more havoc, then giant ape and threw a few of them into their fellows.
To a degree, Manhunter found himself in the same boat as Catman; but his power staff, at least, could do some damage to the enemy. It pained him to hang back and occasionally blast while Vixen did most of the work; but he knew she could take care of herself.
Electrocutioner was having a ball. He was in his element. His electric powers were perfectly suited to frying the robots circuitry and positronic brains. This problem was not letting them get close to him. He had no special protection against their claws.
So they started shooting at him instead. He ducked laser blasts and countered their electricity blasts with his own.
The brunt of the enemy force was, of course, handled by Knockout. They were almost unable to hurt her, with her nigh-invulnerability. Merely annoy her. With her physical strength she ripped robots apart, or occasionally threw them into her fellows. She nodded with respect at Vixen's own attacks; clearly she was reappraising her abilities as a team member.
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Post by Romans Empire on Sept 18, 2007 0:32:22 GMT -5
Several minutes later…
Catman was still madly parrying. Three of them were closing in on him now; he was running out of luck. A robotic claw slashed his right elbow....
....and the robots froze solid.
"You're welcome, honey," Killer Frost winked at him, then danced off.
Terra slammed one down. It started to get up, and Resurrection Man blasted it.
Enchantress and Manhunter found themselves side by side, blasting the enemy with power staff and magic.
Electrocutioner backed up Vixen and Knockout with his electricity blasts as they tore through the enemy.
A robot tried to burn through Knockout with a laser; she cried in rage and broke it in half. Vixen smashed two more together, and Electrocutioner fried another.
All told, Killer Frost, Catman and Manhunter all had minor cuts but they were all more or less intact, as they reached the end of the tunnel.
There was light beyond.
"Guess this is it," Resurrection Man said grimly.
Killer Frost grinned. "Then let's party."
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Post by Romans Empire on Sept 18, 2007 0:32:44 GMT -5
Malthus and Wilkerson knew they were there, of course. And if they hadn't, Knockout's fist smashing through the emergency lockdown doors would have been a clue.
"Unleash the subject!" Malthus shouted. "We've run out of time!"
"I'm not even half finished yet," Wilkerson shouted back.
"Release it now, or we're finished for good!"
As Malthus commanded his remaining robots to attack, Wilkerson frantically pulled back the bars and undid the locks.
As Knockout came smashing through the doorway, Vixen right behind her, the 'test subject' was unleashed from its containment cage and came flying out to meet them.
Flying out on metal wings. Green armor, brass-colored wings, a long handled-axe in its hand, red goggled eyes.
Knockout recognized it. How could she not? It was part of the past that would always haunt her; part of the bitter legacy of Apocalypse she always knew she would have to face, as she had reflected before this mission began.
It was a Parademon.
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Post by Romans Empire on Sept 18, 2007 0:33:07 GMT -5
TO BE CONCLUDED…
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Post by mockingbird on Aug 8, 2011 13:46:08 GMT -5
To let us know what you think of this issue, please visit the letters page here!
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