Belle Reve penitentiary was still recovering from the chaos.
After the android and Superman landed in the prison during their fight, a riot exploded and it was only able to keep order thanks to the Justice League working together with the guards and the fact that only a few prisoners managed to remove their restraints.
The situation was now under control, but the tension in the air was suffocating, the guards were being extra careful and the prisoners looked ready to explode.
Right now, it was a powder keg and a single spark threatened to blow it up.
Only one person seemed unaffected by the atmosphere.
Amanda Waller walked at a slow pace through the hallways of the prison, getting to the sublevels that only those with the highest levels of clearance even knew existed.
The guards here were better armed and better trained than the regular prison security; they also had different uniforms, more military and more advanced.
She stepped to the door and a device scanned her eye, then the soldiers saluted as she passed through.
As she got closer to the meeting room, she heard the sound of loud arguments.
She frowned and opened the door, finding General Eiling and Rick Flag at each other's throats as always.
The old general had a red face and was letting so much spit as he talked that she was sure he made a puddle on the floor.
"The so-called superhumans have proven to be useless; we must have a full military response. We are ready to move the troops at any time. When she shows up, we'll blow her the hell up."
Flag was just as angry but more controlled, talking to the general like he was a particularly stubborn customer that he was about to either kick out or punch in the face.
"So we sent a bunch of soldiers to be slaughtered?"
"We send them to win, goddammit. Flag, we have to respond somehow."
"And we will, but we are not throwing away lives and we are not rushing without a plan."
"When? By the time you have a plan, the defense department would be the butt of every joke."
"And if we let you handle it, we are going to have a mass funeral, how good is that for your precious image?"
"ENOUGH."
Amanda was tired of listening to bickering; she had just come from the white house, where a bunch of politicians were already panicking about how this new threat was going to affect the elections.
So she was well past patience, and she wanted to get to the part where she was allowed to do her job.
"Eiling is right about the need to respond."
Before the general could add anything, she raised her hand, stopping him from talking.
"Flag is right about not wasting troops in pointless engagements, the Justice League has finally shared the data of the android and conventional weapons are useless."
"Then what do you suggest, Waller?"
"We require the data in the hands of the Justice League, the part they refused to share."
Rick Flag objected.
"Stealing the information from the League won't be easy, and besides, if they find out, we did it would cause friction and resentment."
"We have a solution for that."
She threw a binder full of documents on the table.
"We want the information the Justice League is not sharing."
Both men started at thick pile of papers, curiosity got the better of them and they forgot about the previous squabbling to pay attention to what Waller had in store.
The title of the binder was what intrigued them the most.
[Task force X]
Eiling was the first to react.
"What is this?"
"Your response is general."
Amanda sat and looked sharply at the other two people in the room.
"We need to do something, but it can't be traced back to us, so we have to send someone we can deny involvement with and we have the perfect pool of volunteers right here."
Rick's eyes went wide.
"You are not planning on using criminals?"
"The proposal was already on the table for a while; now that the president approved it, it seems the circumstances make him feel the pressure."
"That is insane. They have no reason to work with us."
"Reduced sentences are going to be offered and we will have another incentive to follow orders on the field."
Eiling got up from his seat, slamming the table as he did.
"How does that help us, Waller? We have to do something public, show the nation that the government is handling this."
"What we need, General, is to actually handle it."
Rick wasn't convinced.
"But criminals, Amanda, even if you somehow could control them, what are they going to do against the Android?"
"It's not about them fighting her head-on, it's about how we can use them to get to the point we can."
She took the binder and opened it to a page showing Star Labs.
"It isn't a secret that Star Labs works with the League and recently they have been working on some secret project."
The report of a spy planted in the lab spoke of increased security measures and secrecy; there were only a handful of researchers allowed to get close.
This, combined with the timing of 18's appearance, made it suspicious, so they investigated further and found out they were working on some kind of countermeasures against 18.
The general crossed his arms.
"If they have something that can stop her, they should have shared it with us right away."
Rick responded while thinking about it himself.
"Well, they don't exactly trust us and the Justice League tents to try to resolve everything themselves. When was the last time the government actually cooperated with the superheroes?"
"They should work for us; they are not some nation or independent power, they operate on American soil and they should obey American law."
"They operate all over the world and good luck forcing them to do what you want."
Waller cleared her throat and they both looked at her.
"That is besides the point. We need whatever they are working on and they refused to share it, so we are going to take it. We just have to be smart about it."
She took 5 documents and spread them on the table.
The files showed 5 criminals.
Deathshot= deadly accuracy, assassination experience and weapons expert.
King shark= beast strength and ferocity, able to move on the water at great speed.
Captain Boomerang= trick boomerangs and thieving experience.
Harley Quinn= psychology doctorate, martial arts proficiency.
Giganta= enhance strength and ability to change size.
The documents showed their crimes, sentences, skills, powers, relationships, history and more.
"This group will infiltrate Star Labs and bring us all the data the Justice League is hiding from us."
Rick looked at them and frowned.
"If they are found."
"They die and we wash our hands."
Amanda threw another page showing a small device and a scar on the back of the neck of a regular prisoner.
Then another showed an operation taking place.
Eiling was confused.
"What is that?"
Amanda turned on a tv on the room and a video started playing showing the same prisoner, now attacking another like a rabid animal.
Seconds later, he stopped and his neck expanded like a balloon and then an explosion shook the screen as his head flew through the air.
"Don't feel sorry, that man murdered 13 women, so he was a perfect test subject for these."
She put the same device on the table and both Rick and Eiling moved a little to distance themselves from what they now knew was a bomb.
"Shall we go meet our volunteers?"
In the big cell, there were 5 chairs, big and metallic, with heavy restraints and one person tied down on each.
They woke up and looked around, trying to figure out what was happening.
The recent atmosphere in Belle Reve has them all on edge. Now, the guards were harsher and the rules more strict, so waking up tied down to a chair was more than a little worrying.
Deathshot was the first to speak.
"Hey, what is the meaning of this? This better be a joke."
Harley smiled.
"Waking up tied to chairs, is it Saturday already?"
Captain Boomerang was irritated.
"Mate, this is getting too noisy."
King Shark just grunted and Giganta struggled with the restraints.
"You can't keep me here."
They heard the steps approaching as Amanda Waller, Rick Flag and General Eiling stepped in front of the cell.
"Listen up."
Now the group waited for her to talk.
"You scum are going to get a chance to do something meaningful with your pathetic lives, succeed and your time here will be shortened; fail, and well."
The video of the inmate being killed by the bomb played in front of the group.
Deathshot was becoming furious.
"You can't do that, Waller."
"I can and I will, I have a direct approval from the president himself."
Giganta kept struggling, trying to activate her powers, but the inhibitor collar stopped her from doing so.
"I don't care about your president. Release me, or I promise you I'll crush you."
Amanda pressed a button, and they were all jolted by an electric current.
Harley laughed as the current made their bodies go numb.
"Uff, kinky."
Boomerang also spoke.
"What was that for? I didn't even say anything."
They were shocked again.
"I'm reminding you of your circumstances."
Eiling looked at the criminals with contempt.
"Are you sure you want to use these, Waller? They don't look reliable."
Harley acted insulted.
"Hey, I can be reliable."
Boomerang smirked.
"I agree, mate, so why don't you just let us go and find a different option?"
One more shock and Amanda spoke again.
"We are doing a simple mission first, to put them to the test."
An image of Star Labs was shown on the screen.
"You will infiltrate this facility and steal all the information about Project 18."
Then she paused and stared at them.
"And if anyone sees you and asks why, you will respond that you are working for the light."
Hours later, 18 was sitting on the floor with her eyes closed. After a minute, she let out a breath, relaxing and speaking out loud.
"Is useless, 16, I can't do it."
"Now that the influence of Gero is put out of your mind, you should be able to sense energy. You know the basics already, so it should be a matter of expanding your range."
"That is the problem, I can feel the energy if the person is close enough to see, but I can't picture them if they are far away. Nobody here has ki, so even if it works, I would need to have someone with another energy to test it, or all I will detect is myself."
"Perhaps the Light can provide you with a few individuals whom you can practice on."
"I told you, we can't keep depending on them, more so now that we know they are trying to play me."
"I can attempt to find information online about powerful individuals and their whereabouts."
"I've been meaning to ask, 16, how come you can hack and connect to the net from my body?"
"Your cybernetic enhancements weren't just physical. Dr. Gero added a few other types to make it easier to control you and make his androids more than fighters. He got you the ability to connect wirelessly to other machines; it's how the shutdown control can turn you off, your ki can block external signals, but the tools are still there."
"Typical of that old idiot, he creates something useful and then doesn't want us to actually use it."
"Now that his presence is no longer suppressing me, I can make use of your enhancements to connect and hack networks and assist you in your objectives."
"Great, maybe you can get me some good info and secrets I can use."
"My ability to access information is limited; if I try to get too deep, I risk detection. It almost happened when I tapped into the mobile device from the individual named Psimon."
"Well, it's better than nothing."
She closed her eyes again and started concentrating.
Like a spark, she felt it; it was close but far enough and it would take a few minutes flying casually.
"16, I need to go check this. If it worked, it would mean that I'm closer to my goal."
So she flew towards the place where she could feel a strong energy.
In another location, late at night, Star Labs was already closed. This particular branch was working on a top-priority project, so there were still a few people inside and there were a lot of security guards and several layers of defenses.
Adan Strange was still working; he had been tirelessly slaving away in an attempt to figure out a way to recreate the material necessary to shut down the killer cyborg. Everything they used had been a failure and now he was trying to create a composite material that could replace it.
So far, the results were slightly more promising; he had managed to actually create one that was able to handle the activation for a few seconds without overheating.
It still broke way too fast to be useful, but progress was progress.
He had managed to do it using a mixture of neodymium and believe it or not, kryptonite.
It was a surprise to learn that the android may coincidentally be weak to the same rock as Superman, even if it was in different way.
Adan had spent weeks working on different combinations and adding other materials to try to improve the result.
His entire research was stored in this facility and treated as top secret; he wasn't thrilled by the extra security at the entrance that added 20 minutes to his morning routine.
Still, he understood the necessity as if the world went out about his project, it would bring all kinds of people with less than honorable intentions.
He imputed the notes of the test he ran during the day and prepared to save them all; he also made sure to send another request for materials; he learned to request them in advance, remembering a time when he had to wait 2 days for them to arrive, while doing nothing.
Having done that, he prepared to leave. As he stepped out of the lab, he expected the usual greeting from the guard, but he didn't see him.
He walked a bit more, checking the long hallway, finding it empty.
Now that was weird. Even if the guard changed, there should still be someone close by, so he took his cellphone out to call someone.
"Really, it took you forever to get out."
BANG.
A heavy hit on the back of his head knocked him to the ground.
He fought through the pain to see a group of 5 people, looking down on him.
"Sorry, but the Light wants your research and we get what we want."
Adan fainted as the criminals used his ID to enter the lab.
Deathshot inserted a flash drive into the computer while the others were taking paperwork and files.
"3 minutes, we need to get out before someone finds out something is up."
Captain Boomerang was opening drawers and checking the contents of each one.
"Yeah, yeah, leader, we all saw the PowerPoint, get off our backs, will ya."
Giganta kicked a box away.
"This is so humiliating, this job is beneath me, they should have just sent some low-level minions."
"I think you are the low-level minions."
"Who dares to...?"
She snapped before seeing who had talked.
Green Lantern was floating above them, his ring glowing green as he smiled confidently.
"Now, why don't you start explaining what you are doing here?"
(chapter image)