Absolute Power: Task Force VII #2 (2024)

The Doom Patrol wake up on the beach in Maine. They remember that they were testing out their new vehicle and received Amanda Waller's transmission declaring that she had stopped all superheroes. They found Aquaman and Tempest fighting an Amazo and ran in to help, but the Amazo, known as Depth Charge, stole their powers and beat them up. They all confirm that their powers are gone. Robotman remembers seeing Depth Charge take Aquaman away and Tempest, who was combing the beach and just found them, asks where it took him. Robotman says that Depth Charge took Aquaman back into the water, and Tempest realizes that Aquaman must be key to the Bureau of Sovereignty's plans in some way if Depth Charge took him and left the rest of them. He says that saving Aquaman is top priority and they dive down after them in the Doom Patrol's "Ambo". Depth Charge, who has grown to a giant size, swims to Atlantis and says that he is on a mission of peace. He orders Atlantis to surrender, threatening to release an army of sharks on the city if they do not. Jackson Hyde and the Atlantean Royal Guard mobilise against him, but Depth Charge steals Jackson's powers and drops a force cage containing Aquaman, who can no longer breathe underwater, into the midst of the soldiers. Depth Charge says that his quarrel is with metahumans, not Atlantis itself, and orders them to disperse. The soldiers initially refuse, but Arthur tells them to stand down for the sake of their lives. The soldiers obey but Depth Charge is enraged, saying that he is in charge now, not Aquaman. He throws the cage into a building, declaring that Aquaman and Atlantis will acknowledge his dominance or else. The Royal Guard charge Depth Charge and he fights them off, laying waste to the city as he does so. Meanwhile Aquaman's force cage was cracked when it was thrown and is slowly filling up with water. Tempest finds Arthur and tells him he needs to escape. Arthur refuses to abandon his people, but Tempest tells him that without his powers he would be killed, and the only hope is for him to escape to the surface and help stop Waller. Arthur reluctantly agrees and the Doom Patrol take him away in the Ambo, while Tempest and Robotman stay behind to fight Depth Charge. Later, Depth Charge calls Waller to report that Atlantis is pacified. In an uncharacteristic display of naivety, Waller assumes he has convinced the Atlanteans to be the Bureau's allies, but he replies that he obviously wasn't able to do that and just beat up the entire Atlantean army. Waller bemoans that Task Force VII are proving to be more trouble that she thought, but at least Atlantis and Aquaman are out of play. Depth Charge tells her that in fact Aquaman got away. In the Arctic Circle, Arthur and the Doom Patrol hike to the Fortress of Solitude. Meanwhile on Gamorra, Sarge Steel leads Steve Trevor to his new "office", a small storage closet in a sub-basement. Trevor is exasperated at Sarge's pettiness and quickly finds a bug in his office phone. He realizes that Sarge is planning to frame him for passing information to Wonder Woman. Sarge knocks Trevor unconscious and calls security to arrest him.