Suicide Squad

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History (part 1)

So you’ve been reading everything in order. And so you’ve read the first part of the Amanda Waller character profile. And so you know what happened before.

Great !

Fallen angel

In 1985-86, Darkseid launched deceitful assaults against Earth and its heroes.

One major part was master manipulator Glorious Godfrey turning the population against super-heroes. Another was a giant, the self-proclaimed fallen angel Brimstone.

The Squad was tasked with destroying the rampaging titan near Mount Rushmore  .

At this point little was ready. Construction at Belle Reve was still ongoing. Nevertheless, Waller’s rushed preparations worked out.

Deadshot and the Enchantress agreed to join on a permanent basis, for personal reasons. And Captain Boomerang had to be forcibly kept on the team, being too much of a secrecy risk.

Operation Jotunheim

The nation of Qurac created a team of super-terrorists for hire, the Jihad.

Qurac’s President Marlo saw this as an income source. Parties with an axe to grind against the USA were the most likely customers.

The field leader of the Jihad was Rustam, and a core researcher was Koshchei the Deathless. The Jihad’s base was in Jotunheim, a fortress built by the Nazis in Qurac during World War Two.

Waller and Flag had already arranged for Nightshade to infiltrate the Jihad. And the first major customer was another undercover Squad member – Nemesis (Thomas Tresser).

Though there was one treason and one casualty, the well-prepared operation was a partial success. The Jihad was crippled, but not destroyed.

Dogs of war

The traitor had been Plastique, who attempted to join the Jihad.

Considering her too much of a risk, Waller had her memory of the Squad erased by Dr. Moon and Dr. Grace.

Furious over this breach of ethics, field leader Col. Flag intended to resign.

However, Belle Reve was then attacked by Apokolipsian forces. The Female Furies commandos, who could ignore most of Belle Reve’s weaponry, reclaimed the imprisoned Glorious Godfrey.

Howbeit, strife among the Furies resulted in one of their members, Lashina, being stranded on Earth. She’d eventually join the Squad as Duchess.

Waller also agreed to refrain from using Dr. Moon’s machine. Flag therefore stuck with the Squad.

Operation Firebreak

Superhero Firestorm had been demanding the destruction of the world’s nuclear weapons.

A Suicide Squad team, mostly made up of known Firestorm opponents for deniability, was sent against him. But the intervention of the Justice League derailed this operation.

The Squad’s NSC  liaison Derek Tolliver senselessly released the Parasite. Flag had to leave Firestorm alone so he and the League could take the Parasite down.

The mission was a nasty failure :

Operation Firebird

That one was a Cold War propaganda op. Which pleased no one, propaganda missions having a tendency to go sour for little tangible gain.

The Squad was to free a Soviet dissident from prison before Premier Gorbachev  would.

The Penguin was recruited to plan the mission. Flag insisted that he come into the field, to have skin in the game.

His cunning plan mostly worked, until :

The field team made it out of the USSR by the skin of their teeth.

Nemesis (Thomas Tresser) had to take huge risks to cover their egress. He was captured.

The dissident was gunned down by Soviet troops, which was a small propaganda victory for the US.

Millennium

During the Millennium crisis  , the Squad was not activated.

However, a major Manhunter base was detected in the bayou near Belle Reve. The cult seemed to have an interest in the Squad. Mrs. Waller and Warden Economos therefore decided to strike first.

A car bomb was put together. It was loaded with an explosive so potent that the odds of survival of those delivering it were slim. Col. Flag intended to sacrifice himself to deliver this payload.

In the end, it was Dr. Karin Grace who did the sacrifice run. An agent of the Manhunters planted within the Squad, she discovered during the mission that the cult had lied to her all along.

With support from several heroes struggling against the Manhunters (including Batman), the mission was a success.

The big bad bat

By this point, Batman suspected the Squad’s existence.

As “Matches” Malone and with Commissioner Gordon’s help, he was transferred to Belle Reve.

Soon, he had broken into Waller’s office and copied her data. However, an unusual computer routine caught that. The Belle Reve staff eventually surrounded Batman, in large parts thanks to Rick Flag’s pugilistic pugnacity.

Waller struck a deal with Batman. He renounced the data, and she wouldn’t use forensics evidence from “Malone”’s cell and prison transfer to hunt for his secret identity.

Operation Cujo

A beach fashion shoot in the Caribbean accidentally photographed a massive drug transfer. They were massacred.

However, surviving model Mari Macabe aka Vixen contacted the DEA. They brought in semi-freelance operator Speedy (Roy Harper). Enough intelligence was unearthed for a major covert raid in Colombia, and Waller took the job.

A dual strike was conducted to assassinate drug lord Xavier Cujo in Medellin, while simultaneously blowing up his facilities in the jungle. The mission was a success, and led to the recruitment of Vixen.

(This era was one of the heights of the “War On Drugs”. It saw significant destruction by the US military in Colombia, because Americans were buying cocaine).

Operation Hawk

Waller avoided further involvement in Reagan  ’s wars in Latin America. Until American vigilante Hawk (Hank Hall) was captured by Sandinista troops in Nicaragua.

Col. Flag was sent to rescue him with two expendables (Mister 104 and the Weasel) and two promising agents (Psi and the Thinker).

Everything went bad :

After briefly passing out, Flag lucked out. He stumbled upon Hawk, whom he brought back stateside.

Operation Nemesis

Col. Flag and Nightshade remained determined to rescue Nemesis. But Mrs. Waller forbade it.

The Soviets then announced that Nemesis would soon be executed. Which clearly was a trap.

Eden and Flag nevertheless grabbed Squad prisoners and operatives, and launched an unauthorised foray. Both Flag and Eden knew that it likely would end their career, but were loyal toward Tresser.

Given the security risk, Waller talked the President into having Maxwell Lord send in the Justice League International to stop the rogue Squad team.

In the end, an agreement was reached between the two teams – and Nemesis exfiltrated.

Operation Nightshade

Liaison Tolliver and his ally, the notoriously corrupt Senator Cray, launched a blackmail scheme.

They told President Reagan that they would expose the Suicide Squad’s methods if he didn’t order Waller to conduct a mission for them.

Dejected, Waller skipped taking disciplinary action about the Nemesis mission.

Instead, she authorised a new mission. Nightshade had joined the Squad against a promise they’d help rescue her brother. So Waller launched that while there still was a Squad.

The team entered the magical Nightshade Dimension. But Eve’s brother had been possessed by the demonic Incubus. Since there was no apparent way to retrieve him, he was shot dead by Deadshot during the battle.

Operation Meta

As the Nightshade Dimension fell apart, the Squad team ended up in the Zero Zone dimensionOther realms of existence that are not our universe.. They allied with Shade the Changing Man (Rac Shade) to return to Earth.

Shade was determined to conduct a mission against criminals from his dimension operating on Earth. Waller convinced him to collaborate with the Squad, correctly guessing that Shade’s enemy was indeed a significant menace for Earth.

Rogue Metan leader Doctor Z.Z. was slain by Rick Flag. Most of Z.Z.’s agents were killed or taken down by Squad operatives.

While hastily put together on the basis of unverifiable intel, this mission was a clear success.

Jihad operation in Manhattan

While the Operation Meta team was about to leave New York City and fly home, a new Jihad team attacked Manhattan.

Both Col. Flag and Mr. Turner disobeyed orders and had their team engage. They considered that handling the Jihad was the Squad’s responsibility.

The counterstrike was a success. Most Jihad operatives were slain ASAP, and the Bronze Tiger saved Mayor Koch  from Ravan.

Having been conducted rapidly, at night and amidst chaos, the op was secretive enough.

Murph and Father Craemer.

Side missions

Shortly after that, Deadshot and Black Orchid eliminated another drug lord, unimaginatively nicknamed El Jefe, in the US.

Wade Eiling’s superhuman operative Captain Atom (Nathaniel Adam) then went rogue in South America. He was trying to put an end to a Cold War proxy civil war.

Gleeful at the chance of making Eiling look bad, Waller sent in Nightshade, who shared a history with Captain Atom. Nightshade brought Atom back without violence.

Operation Argent

In late 1988, the exceptionally secretive intelligence agency Argent decided that the Squad was too much of a loose cannon.

Argent had gone rogue when the original Task Force X broke down, during the late 1950s.

They reeled the Squad into a trap. It was meant to start a war between the Squad and the Kobra cult, while creating an opening to assassinate Amanda Waller.

However, Argent underestimated Waller.

The Squad therefore took down what little was left of Argent.

Flo Crawley and John Economos.

Operation Neiko

Waller then sent the Bronze Tiger on a solo mission in Miami.

He was to stop master assassin/martial artist Neiko after he had killed a crime lord, but before he’d kill a politician.

Mr. Turner was successful. To avoid having to kill, he claimed that Neiko now had a blood debt toward him, and would leave without killing the politician.

The assassin had to honour this deal to uphold his personal ethics.

Tolliver

A bitter feud had been developing between Waller and NSC liaison Derek Tolliver for control of the Squad.

Tolliver nearly obtained that the Squad do political hit jobs for one Senator Cray. But Waller managed to blackmail him back in time, using Checkmate intelligence.

However, Colonel Flag overheard Tolliver’s plot. As he had been looking for a dutiful death, he decided to go out after eliminating Tolliver and the Senator he had allied with.

Tragically, he embarked on this mission :

Flag’s last mission

The Colonel executed Tolliver in his Washington, D.C. office.

But one of the responding police detectives needed money. He soon purloinedStole. Tolliver’s blackmail material to sell it to the Daily Planet.

Meanwhile, Waller rushed Squad operatives to Washington, to stop Flag and hopefully take him alive. But Deadshot, experiencing a psychotic fugue, prevented Flag from killing Senator Cray… by killing Cray himself.

The Colonel exfiltrated. He would eventually finish his suicide run by infiltrating the Jotunheim fortress in Qurac. There he detonated nuclear explosives in order to eliminate the Jihad once and for all.

History (part 2)

Meanwhile, the Squad was exposed by the Daily Planet.

However, a major alien invasion then struck Earth. This pushed the Suicide Squad scandal off the headlines.

Australia was overrun and became the aliens’ beachhead. It was therefore agreed to have US forces coordinate global defence. The task force’s four leaders were :

President Reagan ordered the Squad to stand down, but Mrs. Waller ignored him. He was a lame duck President, and as long as she was an international task force commander she wasn’t answering to him.

Fight for Earth

Waller therefore convinced her three colleagues to enlist superhuman criminals to reinforce Earth’s forces. That proved a good move.

A much-extended Squad team led by Nemesis and Captain Boomerang helped retake Australia.

A far smaller unit commanded by the Bronze Tiger joined up with Soviet forces defending Moscow. They were reinforced by the New Guardians.

Both units were successful. Waller intended to use that as ammunition to defend the Squad when it would be officially investigated.

The metavirus

The Dominators leading the invasion force retaliated by infecting all of Earth’s metahumans with a terminal, fatal disease.

Waller and Eiling assembled a small force of still-valid heroes. These narrowly saved everybody and finished off the invasion.

Mrs. Waller then defended the Squad in front of a special Senate subcommittee investigation led by Senator Eden – Nightshade’s father. She was assisted by Antoine Hearns, a famous Cajun lawyer.

Odds and ends

During that time, a hacker named “Oracle” broke into Belle Reve’s system… and offered their help. Waller was of course suspicious, especially since Black Orchid had just vanished.

Meanwhile, the Squad wasn’t doing well.

Ogaden

Waller then launched a propaganda mission in Ogaden.

The Squad was to rescue and exfiltrate Sister Agnès Martinon, a famous humanitarian worker. She had been kidnapped during the civil war there.

(Ogaden is a fictional country, whose location corresponds to North-Eastern Kenya).

However :

The mission was nevertheless a success, though Shrike was killed in action.

Smoke-filled room

Good press after the Ogaden op was only a small part of Waller’s strategy. She offered Senator Eden, who had Presidential ambitions, a deal.

The key part was that Waller would officially step down and be replaced by intelligence insider J. Danfield Kale.

Mr. Kale didn’t actually exist. He was Jack Kovacs, an actor paid to provide cover. Waller would still command the Squad behind the scenes.

In exchange, Mrs. Waller revealed to Sen. Eden that his own daughter was Nightshade, and working for her. Blackmailed, Mr. Eden agreed to help her set up the “Kale” charade lest she reveal his daughter’s activities to the world.

History (part 3)

Kobra (Naja-Naja / Jeffrey Burr) then launched an intricate plan, the Janus Directive.

He sought to exploit the bitter rivalries and internecine wars among US special intelligence agencies, to have them destroy each other.

Doppelgänger

A key part was replacing Amanda Waller with an impersonator.

Task Force X would then eliminate the Force of July and Project Atom, after the impersonator fed them fake intel about these being about to attack Task Force X.

However, the real Waller defeated her impersonator. She then impersonated her doppelgängerEerily exact double of a person. Often supernatural and evil. and launched Kobra’s plan. It was the most efficient way to expose the puppet masters behind the Janus Directive.

This cold-blooded gambit killed several Force of July members, and nearly killed General Eiling.

Intelligence war

However :

They also launched independent investigations. These established that Mrs. Waller’s “intel” seemed made up.

However, a Checkmate stealth mission in Belle Reve failed to capture Waller.

Meanwhile, the Captain Atom project sent Major Force against Checkmate to recover Dr. Megala. The uncontrollable Peacemaker (Christopher Smith) engaged him in the open, blowing the cover of the top-secret agency’s headquarters.

Though the situation spiralled down quickly, Stein forced a back-channel negotiation with Gen. Eiling.

Wheels within wheels within wheels

Meanwhile, Mrs. Waller located allies who hadn’t been caught in the Janus Directive plot.

Shaw was nearly killed. But he turned the situation around by infiltrating Kobra and gathering critical intel.

However, Kobra Blackadder ninja teams eliminated US intelligence special agents in the meanwhile.

Checkmate was hit particularly hard. Their headquarters were destroyed and 38 Knights — two-thirds of the roster — were murdered.

Drs. LaGrieve (bowtie) and Callendar.

Waller’s plan comes to fruition

After realising that “Dr. Megala” was a doppelgänger, Stein assumed that Waller was also a double.

He therefore brokered a truce with Gen. Eiling. They pooled everything they had to storm Belle Reve.

However by that point Mrs. Waller had gathered enough intelligence – mostly thanks to Shaw.

She also received unexpected backup from the powerful elemental Firestorm. He had been sent to Belle Reve by Dr. Simon LaGrieve who feared for the safety of his former colleagues.

Waller negotiated a cooperative effort. But there was too much bad blood between the agencies for it to run smoothly.

Sneaking satellite

Furious, President Bush Sr.  put Sarge Steel in charge. Though what was left to do at that point was mostly mission planning.

Everything that remained of the Suicide Squad, Checkmate, Project Peacemaker, the Captain Atom Project, the Force of July and off-the-record allies was thrown at Kobra’s immense and heavily-defended satellite.

Though there were significant casualties :

This last-ditch effort saved the world. The cannon would have wiped most of humanity out, so Kobra could repopulate the world in his image.

Briscoe vs. Mitch Sekofsky.

History (part 4)

Mrs. Waller’s gambit had likely saved humanity. But she was singled out by President Bush, Sr. during the post-Janus Directive reorganisation of special intelligence services.

Task Force X was essentially shut down, and Sarge Steel became special intelligence czar. He now supervised most uses of superhuman intelligence and military agents in the US, with Eiling being his liaison with the Armed Forces.

What was left of Checkmate was also transferred under Steel.

Furthermore, Bush assigned Major Victory (Bill Vickers), the Force of July’s sole survivor, to the Squad.

Operation Ghavam

The Squad was sent to Iran to rescue a former Savak  butcher from being executed.

This man, Raza Ghavam, had received a US diplomatic passport after the fall of the Shah’s regime  .

The mission was a complete success, with the key part being broadcast on live TV.

The team then exfiltrated over the Turkish border to meet up with the SS-1.

Operation Flag

General Eiling then informed Mrs. Waller that Rick Flag was not only still alive after the Jotunheim detonation, but held in the Soviet Union.

This was clearly a trap. But Turner and Waller felt that they owed Flag. And so did Ms. Eden after they contacted her.

However, all they could do was escape from a Red Shadows ambush. Rick Flag had never been at the site which Zastrow had fed to Eiling. Which Eiling knew all along – he just wanted to make Waller look bad.

(This incident is seen in a 2007 flashback. It is easy to place in the chronology, yet it does the Scooby Doo transition effect  when it comes to the year, because sliding time  . For instance there’s no mention of the Soviet Union and Belle Reve’s guards have oddly modern riot gear… but video is still stored on VHS tapes).

History (part 5)

Waller and her entire team were fairly sure that their “amnesiac” agent “Duchess” was Lashina of the Female Furies. She had been stranded on Earth after the raid to recover Glorious Godfrey.

However :

Lashina had been plotting for months. She needed warriors for her return to ApokolipsA Fascistic alien world dominated by major DC Comics baddie Darkseid.. To keep the opposition occupied whilst she fought to reclaim her position as the leader of the Female Furies.

Apokolips now

She ambushed and kidnapped Big Barda. Using Barda’s mega-rod she then kidnapped or tricked the most suitable warriors at Belle Reve — including Amanda Waller.

She also picked Poison Ivy (Pamela Isley) as an on-the-spot replacement for Deadshot, who was still stuck in a psychotic episode.

Lashina and her captives were immediately beset by hordes of para-demons, then by the Female Furies.

During the fracas the Squad took casualties. But thanks to the intervention of the Forever People and to Darkseid’s schemes, the survivors got out.

Post-Apokolips

Lashina’s scheme had resulted in the deaths of :

On the other hand Poison Ivy asked to join the Squad. She felt partially responsible for the damage done by Lashina.

Furthermore :

Suicide Squad no more

The L.O.A. leaked to the press extensive information about the “J. Danfield Kale” deception, and how Waller was still in command.

With Mrs. Waller still weakened and the POTUS being hostile toward her, Sarge Steel seized the occasion. This umpteenth Suicide Squad political scandal meant that the agency was disbanded, effective immediately.

However, Amanda Waller wasn’t about to go home and catch up on her knitting. There was a more… pressing issue.

Continued !

At this point, the Squad ceases to exist for a year – then returns in a different form.

This series of articles therefore continues with the second part of our Amanda Waller (Ostrander/Yale take) profile. Since she’s the only player left at that point.

 

Equipment:

Going thru what was described in the previous half of the article…

Riot tank

Perhaps STR 05 BODY 12 Running: 04, with the important caveat it’s not enclosed.

The cannon might be best treated as a grenade launcher. Except that the rounds affect a much larger area than a 40mm grenade.

Tear gas is presumably the standard. The burning oil presumably had Flame Being: 03 and Friction control (lower friction only, ground only): 05 or so. It’s more about interdiction.

Experimental laser rifles

Perhaps BODY 01, Laser beam: 06, Sharpness (Laser beam): 02, Ammo: 05, R#05.

The Sharpness — to emphasise that it can hurt bulletproof metahumans — might not be necessary. But since we haven’t researched the durability of the Female Furies yet, let’s play it safe.

Dalekoid security robots

Perhaps DEX 02 STR 02 BODY 03, Weaponry (built-in gun): 03 and Projectile weapons: 07.

Stats might be low-balled. They were trivial for Lashina to thrash, but she has high AVs and EVs (though probably not as high as her First Edition Mayfair stats in the Apokolips Sourcebook).

Explosive shells riot gun

Something like EV 08 Combined With Bomb: 05, R#04 and prolly Ammo: 01 (Long Reload Drawback).

So it’s powerful but tactically awkward, and has to be used in a well-coordinated manner. It also seems likely that they require separate ammunition storage due to all the high-power explosives.

Explosive bracelet Mk1

BODY 05, EV 09, Ammo: 01, Security systems: 07

The explosion pits EV/EV against the target’s BODY/BODY. Fatal damage might be interpreted as the loss of the target’s hand and forearm, if they are rushed in time to a hospital. Or should be able to otherwise survive the loss of a limb.

Memories-destroying machine

BODY 03, Hypnosis: 08, Limitations: see below.

It uses the operator’s Medicine (Brainwashing) as its AV and the Hypnosis APs as its EV against MIN/MIN.

The RAPs are the amount of knowledge, selected by the operator, that is destroyed.

“Baby Huey”

About STR 07 BODY 08, Running: 05, Swimming (Surface only): 04, R#3 for the car itself. It was surprisingly good at ramming androids.

Bomb: 20 or so for the demo.

Belle Reve

The Security Systems APs seem to be about a 08, based on Mayfair’s stats for Black Thorn (though I’m wary since it’s a Linked score) and likely APs of Scientist (Computers) for Babs Gordon back then.

However, Murph pointed out that the security was designed to keep people in, not to stop people getting in. So there likely is another, higher Security Systems score to prevent escapes. Perhaps 09 ?

Major Force could destroy the Belle Reve walls with ease. But Mayfair has him listed as STR 23 so that’s not a terribly useful data point.
And he probably didn’t have STR 23 at that point, given his fight against Duchess… but I don’t know enough about him to say.

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And then, somehow, things get worse

The classic Suicide Squad stories took place in a different Genre than most of the then-contemporary DC Universe. One where things often go wrong and “named” characters die.

This was both :

In DC Heroes RPG terms Suicide Squad stories are generally Gritty, when most of the DC Universe was still using the Action Genre.

Friction accrues

The 1988 supplement Commando written by Dave “Zeb” Cook  for TSR’s game Top Secret/SI has rules for describing the way that special operations tend to go wrong.

Cook’s rules describe how an amount of points (called Friction) randomly builds up. This accrual is based on the basic parameters of the mission (how political it is, the quality of intelligence, how complex the plan is, how many persons know about it…) and the incidents during the operation.

Once Friction reaches 100, something bad happens. And in DCH the Genre could get worse.

Then the accrual of Friction resumes – but with a higher starting total than before. Once things go wrong, it tends to keep getting worse.

Such optional rules would work nicely for Suicide Squad mission. With an important factor being how unreliable the operatives are.

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