Chapter 51 Amanda Waller
[This is "Night Watch" News welcoming all our viewers joining us tonight. And on our report this evening, the main focus lays on the recent Gotham Battle taking place between two sides...]
[... Keen to discover that National crime rates have soared to an all time high.....]
[... Central City News, Linda Park live at the center of the Justice League's battle site with the unknown Extraterrestrial aliens who invaded Central City last month.....]
[Central City takes the lead in experiencing economic crisis. Land value drops to an unprecedented rate as citizens sell their properties and flee from the city at all costs.....]
[Virtual Gridlock on capital taxes...]
[Superman's recent absence has caused a crime wave to hit Metropolis....]
[... Today we find ourselves at what is, or was, one of the world's largest private research facilities. As you can see from the site behind me, the Venim Corporation building that was once filled with numerous state of the art facilities with an annual turnover of hundreds of millions of dollars has been reduced to rubble...]
[Tidal wave of Arson attacks. Many innocent civilians dead and countless more injured....]
[Exco group razed to the ground by unknown Intergang Members carrying high tech weapons]
[... Where is the Justice League during times of crisis?]
[Filing for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11]
[Stock market of major US companies plummet...]
[There is a rapid inflation, numbers reaching the double digits.....]
[Real estate for the first time in years experiences a sharp decline....]
[All Of America, turning to the new Gotham?]
[America suffering from series of attacks. Are all these orchestrated.....]
[... Sounds like a conspiracy theory to me folks....]
[..... Justice League still refusing to give statement of the recent battle in Gotham City to the mysterious Deviant. At least, that's the name the masses are sticking with....]
[Justice League members missing? Where have they gone?]
[.... Our sources tell us that the League may have been mind controlled.....]
[... In my humble opinion, the whole world should keep an eye out. As since the previous Central City incident, the anti-hero campaign has intensified their efforts. Growing larger and larger with each passing week, the defamatory remarks all point to the fact that since the era of Superheroes arrived in our world, the escalating conflicts have broken into the areas of the general populace putting more and more innocent lives in harm's way.....]
[.... Although no apparent action has been taken to address issues concerning the Justice League and all Superheroes in general, it does leave people to worry. Are Superheroes truly the solution..... Or are they the problem?]
.....
United States
Location: Undisclosed...
Maple bridge Avenue, ..... Cafe....
Looking at the news report on the tablet, a teenage female with exquisite features and long flowing hair had a rather puzzled expression on her face.
"This..... This is...".
".... Surprising, isn't it?" A male sitting opposite her asked inquisitively.
"..... Is this what the inhabitants of this planet experience?" She replied with a question after a moment of silence. The news reports had been taken off the screen.
"Pretty much". The male said leisurely.
"Earth is a rather, peculiar place in the universe. It always is, same in almost every universe". The male wore a tight fitting T-shirt with long pants, star like eyes with purple irises which would give off a small shimmer every now and then.
He raised an eyebrow at the female who stayed silent, seemingly in deep thought.
"What do you make of it?" His soft voice reached her ears. For some reason, it made her feel a slight tingle causing her body to twist a little. Barely noticeable.
Tucking her luscious hair behind ears, the blonde responded.
"...Chaotic". This was the only word she could use to describe what she was seeing. Compared to her home planet where there was order, where there was peace, where there were rules and everyone followed them, the earth sounded and looked a lot like those lawless civilizations she had heard about in the kryptonian archives.
Planets housing outlaws, criminals, bounty Hunters, people wanted all over the universe.
With so many dangerous people coming together in a singular place, many being people who live on the other end of a laser blaster and no government ruling over the planet with absolute authority, it was understandable that such places were in existence.
It confused her even more how somewhere like earth could be likened to such a place At least those planets had no ruling authority. They couldn't even be classified as civilizations.
"Right". He nodded nonchalantly. "That's their way of life".
"... The people of this planet are destroying themselves". She uttered in a low voice.
"Meh! It hasn't gotten to that point yet but if nothing goes wrong, they'll get there soon enough".
The earth in every DC universe was a magnet for all things wrong, troublesome and dangerous. The amount of disasters it attracted was nothing to scoff at.
Even if earthlings didn't destroy themselves, someone or something else would "kindly" help them out.
The female raised an eyebrow.
"You don't seem awfully concerned".
"Give me one good reason why I should be". He replied, lowering his head to take a look at the menu.
Come to think of it, he hadn't eaten anything for the past month. Although he didn't need it, now that he had been pestered into coming out here, might as well take a bite.
"You do know these news reports are talking about you right?" She said, waving the tablet in her hand.
"Someone's getting awfully chatty ever since they learned English". His indifferent face carried no fluctuations whatsoever as he retorted without raising his head.
The female was left a bit speechless. Her face had a bit of shyness and smugness as she responded.
"Je n'ai pas seulement appris l'anglais".
Now it was his turn to be speechless.
"Yeah yeah! Adapting to an entire new culture and learning seven languages in a week. You Kryptonians are awesome". He said, humoring her.
"Just hurry up and order already".
The female didn't say anything more and picked up the menu. As she was reading, she noticed a shadow appear over her.
"Ok, I'll have....."
"..... The sausage and peas, french fries, apple pie, a cappuccino, chilli labneh eggs and... pancakes".
The voice of the waitress responded causing Kara to look over.
....
Unknown Location, outside Los Angeles, Date: .....
"Flag, status report". Amanda Waller's voice sounded through the intercom.
"Reporting, Asset A is on route and everything is going according to schedule. As far as we can tell, the area is secured".
Rick said inside the fully armored transport van.
"What about the decoys?" Waller asked again.
"There has been no reports on the other convoys receiving attacks".
"Understood. Be on guard Flag. Remember, no delays, no detours. The asset is too important to lose hold of. Straight to the airport within the next twenty minutes. Nothing else matters except the robot parts in those cases". The solemn tone was all that was needed to enlighten him on the seriousness of the matter.
"... What about the League?" Rick asked with doubt.
"Are we expecting any form of support?"
Three escort vehicles, filled with almost two dozen special ops agents, each one armed to the teeth, transporting within fully armored vehicles
The Wolf Unit. Flag's personally squadron composed of the best elites the country had to offer. Before the Superhero era, they could be considered the best of the best.
The peak of humanity, with strength and skill surpassing the average human. When the government needed something done, they were the ones to call.
No other reason, they were just that good.
Flag, despite being thirty five had been in more wars and experienced more battles than retired veteran soldiers. He had seen the most gruesome of what the world had to throw at him.
Yet even with all that, he would happily exchange this escort mission with the task to assassinate a president.
At least that task was still possible. But this.... As long as one crazy superpowered freak set his eyes on what they were transporting, they could be six feet under by this time next year.
Ultimately, no matter how good they were, he and his squad were still humans in the literal sense. They didn't have overwhelming strength or Metahuman abilities.
Their jobs involved sneaking in behind enemy lines, recovering stolen government intelligence from rival countries. Destroying an enemy facility, diffusing bombs, recovering stolen warheads, plutonium... All those things in that category.
You name it.
They were this universes version of James Bond and Ethan Hunt's Mission Impossible team.
Transporting this.... thing was the Leagues job. Or at least, that was what he believed.
However, the government had used all means to have it taken away from League custody. Coupled with the public opinion on league actions which was gradually diving into a shit storm and their natural dislike for them, how could they leave it to them for transportation?
....
Transport command center.
Secret Monitoring Facility, Washington DC.
"Everything seems to be in order mam. Nothing suspicious to worry about for the meantime".
A man tapping on his computer incessantly said without looking back.
"Good". Waller said without a hint of emotion on her face. Compared to the numerous people on the room, Amanda stood out the most for several reasons.
The first reason to come to mind for anyone was her body stature. Standing at a height of 5' 1" and weighing 200lbs (91kg), the politician and government agent was particularly conspicuous wherever she stood.
But anyone who tried to deal with her based on their first impression would soon realise that they were chewing down on an iron block.
This woman was a ruthless character with a sufficiently tragic backstory to show for it. Her stubbornness and aggressive character, refusing to compromise with anyone was the second reason.
"No". Holding true to her stubborn and aggressive nature, hearing Rick's inquiry, she flatly denied.
"This is a standard government operation. The league don't know and it's my job to keep it that way".
Flag was silent for a few seconds. Reason told him to be quiet, to keep his mouth shut, to put aside all questions and assumptions and just carry on with the mission like he had always done.
Like a dead soldier. No if's, And's or But's.
Just silently and quietly do as you're told.
Reason kept telling him so, but his heart said otherwise. These were his men. Some of them had accompanied since his early years. Some had died along the way and that only made him cherish those he had left even more.
They were more than friends.
They were brothers.
And if he still decided not to question even after acknowledging all this, then what kind of man was he?
".... But what if the operation is compromised?"
Amanda's eyes narrowed on the other side when hearing his words through the intercom.
Her fat face squeezed, distorting her facial features a bit as she replied in a stern voice.
"Listen Flag, I have spent a significant amount of time informing the president about how these vigilantes with abilities are a threat to our national security. The Congress expended a lot of effort to regain control of this asset from their hands. It's bad enough that we let them parade around our country as "heroes" taking the law into their own hands. Having to ask them to escot said asset to where we want it is simply losing the dignity of the American government. This is something I will not tolerate. Neither will I tolerate the possibility of this mission going haywire".
"So you do your job Flag and don't tell me how to do mine. If all goes well, you and your group will be rewarded. I don't think I have to let you know what happens otherwise".
Silence.
Flag on the other side had his expression turn cold momentarily.
He knew Waller's character and knew that this walking and talking, human shaped bowl of Jell-O would do as she said.
However, being threatened never say well with anyone but the timid.
Hearing the silence on the other end, waller frowned
Neither side spoke as the seconds passed till Waller broke the ice.
"Rest assured, as stated in our agreement, I will not hold you responsible if you encounter a situation beyond your capabilities. All you have to do is carry on with the mission".
Rick listened for a while before nodding.
"Understood mam. We won't let you down". The voice on the other side disappeared.
Rick put away the radio receiver and took in a deep breath.
Meanwhile, Waller narrowed her eyes with a bit of intensity as numerous thoughts flew through her mind.
Thinking of the old Task X files she discovered while searching through old bills, a preliminary plan for a disposable team to undertake similar types of work for the government regarding the Superhero community if the need ever arise took root in her mind.
As soon as it did, it couldn't be stopped. In this case, she had many similarities to the old General
......
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New week everyone. Let the Powerstones start rolling in.