AMANDA WALLER'S POV
The world changed when Superman flew across the sky. And then it changed again when he didn't.
And that is why I'm here.
"We lose a national hero, but you sit there looking like the cat that is the canary." The man to my left says.
"I've eaten a lot of canaries," I smirk.
"It's taken some work, but I finally have them. The worst of the worst." I slam a thick binder into the table between me and the two men I sit next to who work in the Pentagon higher than I do.
"There are rumors, Amanda, that some of them have abilities." The man to my left says.
"Well, the rumors are right," I smirk again, chewing on the almost rare steak in front of me.
"You know what the problem with a metahuman is? The human part. We got lucky with Superman. He shared our values. The next Superman might not."
"Your playing with fire, Amanda," Leftie says.
"I'm fighting fire with fire," I tell him.
"You're not going to pitch that Task Force X project of yours again, are you?" Leftie says.
"Yes, but this time, you're going to listen." I open the binder and turn to the first page.
Deadshot.
"Floyd Lawton, aka Deadshot. He's the most wanted hitman in the world. They say he has an elite clientele." I pause for a moment.
"But everyone has a weakness. And weakness can be leveraged. His is an 11-year-old girl honor student in Gotham City. His daughter. So we watched her and waited." I pause again.
"Are you caught him?" Admiral Olsen asks, speaking for the first time.
"Not me. I just gave an anonymous tip to the right guy in Gotham City." I smirk.
"So now we have the man who never misses." The man on my left looks at me curiously.
"Where'd you put him?" He asks.
"Let's just say. I put him in a hole and threw away the hole." I flip the pages that contain information on Deadshot, continuing to Harley Quinn.
"Harley Quinn. Before she ran off and joined the circus, she was known as Dr. Harleen Quinzel. A psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum. She was assigned to The Clown himself." I pause.
"She thought she was curing him, but she was falling in love. Talk about a workplace romance gone wrong. They became the King and Queen of Gotham City. And God helps anyone who disrespected the Queen." I take another bite of my steak, chewing quickly.
"And that was just the beginning. She's crazier than him and more fearless. But the Bat got her too. She's in the same hole as Deadshot. And then there's the Aussie. Digger Harkness. Or as the tabloids call him, Captain Boomerang. " I pause.
"He robbed every bank in Australia at least once, then he came to America for a fresh target set. Doesn't work well with others. But he tangled with a metahuman and lived to tell about it." I smirk.
"And have you heard of the pyrokinetic homeboy?"
"How'd you catch him?" Admiral Olsen asks.
"We didn't. He surrendered. Chato Santana. In the streets, they call him El Diablo. This LA gangbanger thought he was the King of the world, till he lost his queen. Gets jumped in a prison riot and incinerates half the yard. The security video is incredible." I flip the pages again.
"Oh, Jesus. What the hell is that?" The one on my left asks.
"His name is Waylon Jones. Evolution took a step backward with this one. They call him Killer Croc. He looked like a monster, so they treated him like a monster. Then he became a monster. He was chased out of Gotham by the Bat. Went searching for sanctuary elsewhere, he never found it." I see their eyes on his picture. I flip the pages, continuing into the witch.
"The witch." I smile.
"A witch?" the one on my left asks incredulously.
"I'm talking a flying, spell-casting, making shot disappear witch. A sorceress from another dimension. Another world. Archeologist Dr. June Moone wandered into the wrong cave. She opened something she shouldn't have, releasing a metahuman more powerful than any we've encountered. The Enchantress. She inhabits Dr. Moone's body now." Lefty interrupts me.
"Where is this witch? " he asks.
"In my pocket," I smirk.
"Now tell him why she won't turn you into a frog?" Admiral Olsen says.
"Some say the witch has a secret buried heart, and whoever finds it can control the witch. So we searched the cave where she turned up and we found her heart. " I open and unlock the silver case by my side, showing them the heart.
"That thing's her heart?" Lefty asks.
I nod. "Hmm. She's vulnerable without it."
"You want to put our national security in the hands of witches, gangbangers, and crocodiles?" He asks.
"I have one more. The Shadow Queen. She's been in the hole for the last 30 years. She has 20 years left.
I flip the pages to show the Woman.
"It's unknown to us who her family is, but we have guesses. She is Death in female form. She can mark your soul to tell Death where you are supposed to go when you die, and many of the men that originally took her to the hole have long since died of violent causes after killing at least ten people. This immortal can shapeshift and bring the dead back to life, along with seeing the dead and speaking to them." I see their shocked faces.
"She was caught by Superman in the middle of a killing craze. Before she was caught, she was believed to have killed at most a thousand people in Gotham and Midway City combined. She has since killed twenty of the guards in the hole." They look interested in her.
I close the binder and put it back in the bag.
"You want to put our national security in the hands of witches, gangbangers, crocodiles, and the Shadow Queen ?" Lefty asks.
"Don't forget about The Joker's girlfriend. These are villains, Amanda." Admiral Olsen adds.
"What makes you think you can control them?" Lefty asks.
"Because getting people to act against their self-interest for the national security of the United States is what I do for a living. You take the finest special forces officer this nation has ever produced, Colonel Rick Flagg. I assigned him to watch Dr. Moone, and just as I hoped, it got personal. I have the witch's heart, and Dr. Moone has his. Now he'll follow my orders as Holy Writ." The man glance at each other.
"In a world full of flying men and monsters, this is the only way to protect our country." They with and sign the papers, ending my night perfectly.
