Waller watched the monitor as Task Force X encountered Green Lantern.
"Dammit."
Her finger was hovering over the detonator for the bombs, thinking of whether or not to press it.
The only reason she didn't was that if they failed to get the files, there would be little chance ever to get close again.
The League probably would increase security and be even more alert, so she decided to wait and see if the squad could somehow succeed.
Still, if they even tried to mention who they worked for, she wouldn't hesitate to blow their heads off.
Green Lantern landed and pointed his ring at the criminals.
Captain Boomerang reacted by throwing several explosive Boomerangs and King Shark rushed the lantern while he was distracted.
Deathshot gave orders.
"Harley, Giganta, take the flashdrive and get out of here."
Harley caught it and they nodded, running towards the exit.
A green wall of solid light stopped them in their tracks.
Giganta changed size and slammed into it. There was no point in being stealthy since they had already been discovered.
Hal flinched but kept the construct, while Deathshot fired bullets at his face and finger without missing once.
King Shark jumped and tried to bite him, just to have a muzzle slapped on his mouth.
Captain Boomerang was throwing everything he had at the hero.
"Can you just get out already? Holding him here ain't getting easier, love."
Giganta used her shoulder to try to break the wall.
"Shut up."
One more impact and cracks started to show.
Seeing this, Hal created a car and as Giganta stepped to slam the wall again, her foot landed on it and she slipped, falling on her ass, making the entire room shake.
Harly, who barely dodged, was laughing.
"Maybe you should use your behind to break it, probably that would be faster."
She side stepped the giant fist trying to crush her while still cackling.
Deathshot shouted.
"CAREFULLY SHE HAS THE INFO."
He was running and shooting as green ropes that moved like snakes trying to catch him.
Shark was rolling on the ground, still struggling to remove the muzzle and Boomerang was hanging upside down from the same type of ropes.
Giganta didn't get up; instead, she kicked the wall, finally breaking through and allowing Harley to make a run for it.
Green Lantern attempted to follow, but the giant stood on his way, forcing him to fight her before pursuing the clown.
"This is getting annoying."
He used a big boxing glove to hit the giant woman and shoot a few lasers at Deathshot, who responded with a high caliber rifle that may as well be a toy for all the damage it did to the protections surrounding the superhero.
They weren't fighting to win; it was a ploy to buy time and in that they succeeded.
As long as they blamed the Light and accomplished the goal, even if arrested, Waller would pull some strings and keep them around.
On the other hand, if they couldn't do it, well, the bombs aren't for decoration or moral support.
A green hammer collided with Giganta's head and she went down, returning to her regular size.
Now, only Deathshot was left and he was aware that the battle was over, but he still pretended to try, just for show and so Waller didn't see him half assing it at the end.
Now he was chained up in green restraints, with the lantern crossing his arms in front of him.
"Where did Harley run to Lawton?"
"Who knows? Why don't you go after her?"
Hal wanted to follow Harley, but leaving them alone was risky, as they could escape and taking them with him would slow him down.
He took a second and decided to go and bring them with him; he planned to continue interrogating the squad on the way.
In that moment, an unexpected voice came from the doorway.
"Hi guys, did you miss me?"
Harley was standing there, her usual smile looking a little awkward as she waved at the confused people in the room.
Deathshot screamed furiously.
"HARLEY, WHY THE HELL ARE YOU STILL HERE?"
The group had put everything on the line to allow her to escape and she came back like it wasn't a big deal.
Even Hal was racking his brain to understand this move; was she really that crazy?
"Well, sorry guys, but you won't believe who I found on the way out."
BOOOOM.💥
"So the android is here and is coming this way."
Every face inside the lab went white, if 18 found out what was inside this place and caught them inside, that was it, the end of the line.
Before any plan was made, a crashing sound came from the wall opposite to the hole that Giganta made. A blonde woman came flying, destroying the concrete and metal on her way.
"So, that is it."
She looked straight at the green lantern, seeing the ring and detecting the same energy that brought her here.
She scanned the room and tried to understand what was happening.
The squad and Green Lantern stood frozen in place as if waiting for the blonde to lose interest and leave.
Noticing the reaction from the criminals, Hal was sure the Light didn't tell 18 of this operation, which meant they were planning to betray her and use the information to control her.
"So you insects are fighting over something in this lab, I wonder what is so important."
She took a cellphone from her pocket and spoke to it.
"16, can you check it out?"
Hearing that they all were confused and even more panic settled as they realized that her name being 18 and her talking to someone named 16 meant there may be another Android somewhere in this world and that was bad news for everyone.
Green Lantern decided to distract her and try to make her leave.
"18, we meet again."
"Do I know you?"
Captain Boomerang let out a snort, earning a gag on his mouth.
"We fought once."
She looked genuinely confused.
"I'm pretty sure I only faced Superman and Batman, and you don't look like either of them."
"In the desert, remember that time you attacked a city in Egypt?"
"There were a lot of you at the time; you can't expect me to remember a specific mosquito in a swarm."
She was focused on the phone, not even glancing at the Green Lantern.
Hal was annoyed at her attitude and was about to complain when 18's eyes went wide and she turned to face him so fast that he barely saw her move.
"You..."
It happened gradually, a small crack on the floor, next the windows shattered and suddenly the entire building was trembling like an earthquake, concentrating entirely on the place where 18 was standing.
"You think you are smart?"
Her eyes were filled with pure rage, like she hadn't felt in all her time in this world.
"This is the most idiotic move you could have made."
Pieces of the floor started floating in the air and becoming dust.
Hal took a step back while Task Force X was desperately attempting to get free from the restraints.
"I didn't remember you before, but I will remember killing you."
She exploded forward, Hal reacted by creating a shield that was instantly shattered by a punch, he flew back, shooting lasers that 18 absorbed with her hand.
Hal went up and shot down at her. She raised her hand to take the energy, but the attack passed next to her, thinking it missed, she was about to follow him, when a giant green bear trap closed on her, trapping her for a second.
Long enough for a train to hit her, slamming her into a wall.
"Bet you'll remember that one."
From the rubble, a yellow Ki blast was fired and Hal almost got hit by it.
18 appeared next to him, with her leg high and with an axe kick, she sent him like a rocket to the ground.
His defense broke and he almost fainted from pain, but he recovered enough to create a trampoline above himself, stopping 18 from crushing him and sending her flying back.
His concentration broken, the squad managed to escape and run towards the exit.
Hal didn't have time to care as the psycho android rushed him again; he shot another green attack.
18 used her hand to stop it, yet this time the attack changed direction as she was about to touch it and hit her right on the face.
Her head went backwards from the force of the attack, but she just stopped for a moment and lowered it again to glare at the Lantern.
No damage, Hal Jordan was buying time, trying to call his friends, his communicator already transmitting the distress signal the League assigned to the android.
18 let out a breath and closed her eyes. She got too angry and fell into her old habits, fighting recklessly and letting her guard down; now she waited and concentrated.
Green Lantern used his ring to create a missile that flew around as he fired another laser at her.
18 absorbed the laser and the missile came from behind, aiming for a surprise attack, but she raised her other hand and the energy disappeared in the same manner as before.
18 didn't open her eyes and didn't turn her head; she just knew where the attack was coming from and stopped it.
Hal created many rifles that fired hundreds of green bullets, trying to overwhelm her.
She calmly used her hands to catch the ones that would hit and ignored the rest, while walking slowly towards him.
Hal used his ring to make several cannons and loaded them with broken pieces of the wall. He fired and high speed concrete balls flew at 18.
She didn't panic, dodging and blocking the attack, still with her eyes closed.
18 jumped to the side evading a spike that came from under the floor, while also grabbing a green chainsaw that tried to cut her.
If she wanted it, the battle would already be over. The android decided to use the hero to practice and it had worked; she was now aware of the energy around her, finally gaining proficiency in ki sense.
Now she just needed to refine it, so she stopped playing around and flew towards Hal.
He created 3 shields to stop her. 18 arrived in front of him and passed through the shields and even his body while doing no damage; it was like she was an illusion.
Hal was confused for half a second by the afterimage and then he got hit.
A powerful hook to his stomach that made him bend in pain.
18 grabbed the hand wearing the ring and started absorbing the energy.
Green Lantern recovered enough to fight back, but any constructs he tried to create were absorbed by the android.
It took her 2 minutes to force the ring into a dormant state, leaving the now normal human in front of her.
She twisted his arm, breaking it as she took the ring.
"Quite the interesting little trinket."
Holding the so called strongest weapon in the universe, the blonde looked unimpressed.
Hal was holding his arm, thinking about how to buy more time.
"Don't bother waiting, your friends aren't coming."
"What are...?"
"16 is already blocking any signal coming in or out of the lab; he is using the equipment already here to stop anyone from knowing what is happening."
She smiled sadistically.
"So it's just you and me."
She said as her fist clutched the ring and she crushed it into grey dust.
When the next day arrived, Amanda Waller was standing in front of a giant crater that used to be a branch of Star Labs.
It was a complete disaster; the mission was supposed to be surgical and leave no victims or damage.
Instead, it ended with an explosion big enough to be seen from orbit; it was lucky that this specific facility wasn't in the middle of a city.
She didn't know that the League made sure that was the case, so if 18 found out about it and decided to destroy it, the civilians would be safe, a foresight that saved many lives.
By the time 18 and Green Lantern started fighting, the guards had woken up and started evacuating.
Amanda sighed, thinking of how she was going to explain this clusterfuck to the president.
Rick Flag came running with a complicated expression.
"Waller, come with me."
Noticing the urgency in his voice, Amanda walked next to him until they entered a nearby forest area.
There she saw a group she didn't expect to see alive.
Deathshot smiled bitterly.
"Hello, boss."
He threw something at her and she caught it, examining it for a second.
It was a flash drive she recognized.
Harley showed a thumbs up.
"Mission accomplished."
Waller was flabbergasted, last night she lost contact with the team and used the trigger to detonate the bombs, yet here they were alive and well.
"How?"
"We got lucky, the android and Green Lantern started fighting each other, we made a run for it and managed to hide here until you arrived."
Captain Boomerang spoke next and he was in a very bad mood.
"See, mate, I told you she lost her surveillance on us; we should have run."
Giganta frowned and responded to him.
"We still have the bombs, you idiot. As soon as she found out we survived, she would kill us anyway."
Waller didn't change expression or react, on the outside, but on the inside, she was beyond surprised.
Whatever stopped her communications and surveillance also turned off the bombs, but these guys didn't know about it and returned to her with the information she wanted.
Now she could spin it as a success and the program would grow and become better than ever, securing her position.
"What are you waiting for? Get back into the vehicles, you are returning to prison."
They were exhausted and wobbled like zombies to the transport; nobody saw them and so the involvement of the government in this incident was completely covered up.
At the same time, on the other side of the crater, the Justice League was examining the area.
Batman had just received news about Hal, who was in the hospital and had regained consciousness.
Dr. Adam had explained what happened. He said that when he woke up, he saw the lab about to crumble. He entered and found Hal Jordan on the floor in a pool of blood.
His arm was gone and the doctor decided to carry him out of the building, just in time, because as soon as he did, a massive light sphere hit the lab and it was erased from existence.
He saw it at a distance while driving away towards a hospital.
The Green Lantern lost a lot of blood, the improvise torniquet and first aid were barely enough for him to stay alive and get help.
Now the League was watching the result of 18 discovering their plans and worst of all, the progress was lost.
Someone accessed the files and deleted everything, leaving only what the researchers remember, as all paper copies were inside the building when it blew up.
They weren't starting from cero, but it was very close.
The destruction of their plan and the crippling of a friend were pushing the League to its limits.
Zatara excused himself and left to go look after Hal.
The other Green Lantern was already contacting Oa and informing them about the ring being destroyed.
Tornado and Captain Marvel told the team what happened.
Wonder Woman, Superman, Martian Manhunter, and Batman were silent, taking it all in.
Green Arrow broke the silence.
"We need a way to stop her; she is starting to do to us what she did on her world."
Batman nodded in understanding.
"She is going to hunt us one by one. Lantern had his communicator; logically, he should have called us, so either he was confident about winning or..."
Wonder Woman finished.
"Someone stop him from doing so."
A few hours earlier.
Task force X was running away from the building, without looking back, as they heard the sounds of the battle and wanted to get as far away as possible.
They found the helicopter that was going to be used to escape completely wrecked, so with no other options, they moved on to look for another vehicle or a way to hide.
In the end the gathered in the forest.
Panting and exhausted, the criminals thought about how lucky they got, not only escaping a superhero and the psycho blonde, but also not exploding the second the plan went to shit.
Captain Boomerang laughed.
"I was sure we were dead. I must have used a year's worth of luck on that one."
King Shark nodded and growled and Giganta slapped the Captain.
"Shut up, she can still find us."
Deathshot turned to face Harley.
"Why did you come back?"
"She saw me, so I ran back inside the lab thinking we would have a better chance together, almost peed myself by the way."
"Waller is not going to be happy about this. I'm surprised she didn't kill us already."
"That is because 16 fried the receivers on the bombs they put on your necks and also used the lab to block all signals coming to your radios and cameras. If you destroy them, you should be ok."
"Well, thank you..."
They all went stiff, looking up and finding 18 floating above with an amused smirk.
"Now about that information you got from the lab."
Boomerang got up and sprinted as his life depended on it, which it kind of did, but he only managed a few steps when 18 got him into a headlock.
"Where are you going?"
"Nowhere sorry love I...Ugh."
"Don't call me love."
"Sorry."
"Now, little rats, I'm thinking whether or not to kill you. What do you think?"
All the members of the squad forgot their pride and basically begged to be spared, even Shark got on his knees.
"Ok, ok, shut up."
She took her cellphone out again.
"16, did you erase everything from the servers?"
She waited a second.
"Good."
She aimed her hand and a ki blast was fired, hitting the lab and causing an enormous Shockwave.
18 didn't stop and fired several more times, making sure nothing was left; she wasn't going to make the same mistake as with Bulma's base.
In the end, there was just a giant crater where Star Labs once stood.
"Now, about you, who are you?"
The squad revealed everything, not even thinking about lying; if Waller was aware they were still alive, she would have killed them already, so the current danger took priority.
"I see, the government of this place is trying to do something, what a bunch of idiots."
She pondered for a few minutes.
"Ok, I decided to spare you."
That was clearly unexpected, so Harley asked, hesitating.
"Really?"
"Yes and I'm going to give you some work to do."
Her eyes were cold.
"Welcome to the team and no is not optional."
She then spoke, looking at Captain Boomerang.
"By the way, I need some capital for my plans and I heard you criminal types have some money saved up."
She squeezed his neck.
"Hand it over."
A tear fell from his eye as he revealed where his secret stash was.
Back in the present, the group sat in silence inside a truck moving towards the prison; they were all silent and focused.
The information they gave Waller was modified, making sure she is never going to create the shutdown or the chamber.
18's pieces were put on the board.
While others were playing against each other, she was laying the foundation of her strategy and getting ready to enter the game at full force.
The android was barely holding her anticipation.
"You want to play secret games, I'll show you exactly how far behind you are meat puppets."
(chapter image)