Captain Comet's Rehab Squad: Suicide Mission

• Credits: by Libbylawrence
• Published: March 3, 2000
• Link: Captain Comet's Rehab Squad: Suicide Mission

December, 1985: Rick Flag, director of Meta-Human Rehabilitation Agency (MHRA) forms the Rehab Squad with Captain Comet as field team leader. In its first mission, the team fails to prevent the theft of the Cardialink at STAR Labs. Meanwhile, Vivian d'Aramis (the Crimson Fox) is captured by her sister Constance, under control of the mysterious Achilles Dahmmon. Captain Comet and his team prevent the kidnapping of the Cardialink creator, then discover Metallo is behind its theft. The team saves Superman after the Cardialink causes the entire planet to emit kryptonite radiation, and Comet removes it. Meanwhile, a few female members are kidnapped by Doctor Psycho, also working for Dahmmon. Rehab Squad members: Cheetah II, Dolphin, Golden Glider, Killer Moth, Mayflower, Starman (Will Payton; joins the team). Villains: Doctor Psycho, Dynamic, Hector Hammond (alias Achilles Dahmmon), Metallo, Ultimate, the Vanquisher, Silver Swan. Guest appearances: Dr. Atley, Caroline Atley, Vivian d'Aramis, Constance d'Aramis (both use the Crimson Fox identity), Dr. Jenet Klyburn, Superman (as Clark Kent). [“Captain Comet's Rehab Squad: Suicide Mission, Prologue, Chapters 1-3]

• December, 1985: Rick Flag, appointed in August by the U.S. president as director of the U.S. government's Metahuman Rehabilitation Agency, recruits Captain Comet to become the field leader of a new team called the Rehab Squad, composed of both super-heroes and super-villains seeking to work off their jail time. [“Captain Comet's Rehab Squad: Suicide Mission, Prologue: The Metahuman Rehabilitation Agency”]
• The first recruits include Dolphin, Golden Glider, Killer Moth, Mayflower (member of the Force of July), and the Cheetah II. The Rehab Squad is given its first mission: to stop a break-in at STAR Labs. Captain Comet brings Dolphin, Golden Glider, and Cheetah II with him. At STAR Labs they battle a high-tech gang dressed in green raiding the laboratories. They stop the gang from kidnapping Dr. Jenet Klyburn and capture most of the gang, but a couple escape with a device called the Cardialink. At STAR Labs, Captain Comet receives the address of Dr. Atley, inventor of the Cardialink, and Dr. Klyburn introduces to him Will Payton, who has received powers from a ray from space. Dolphin stays behind at STAR Labs as the team leaves and gives Will her contact information. [“Captain Comet's Rehab Squad: Suicide Mission, Chapter 1: The Cardialink”]
• At a business convention in the U.S., Vivian d'Aramis, French CEO of Revson Corporation, sees a man called Achilles Dahmmon who possesses mind-controlling abilities. Her sister Constance d'Aramis arrives in their shared costumed role of the Crimson Fox, who captures Vivian while under Dahmmon's mental control. At headquarters, Cameron Van Cleef (Killer Moth) charms the nurses while undergoing a medical check-up. Captain Comet, Golden Glider, and the Cheetah II meet Dr. Atley and his daughter Caroline at their apartment. While there, the super-villains Dynamic, the Vanquisher, and the Silver Swan arrive to kidnap the Atleys, and the team fights them. During the battle, the Silver Swan defeats Golden Glider and kidnaps her and the Atleys, while the Vanquisher kidnaps Cheetah II. Dynamic also escapes. Picking up a telepathic clue, Captain Comet quickly recruits Will Payton to help him and Dolphin track down the kidnappers to an old house. [“Captain Comet's Rehab Squad: Suicide Mission, Chapter 2: Kidnapped”]
• Elsewhere, Clark Kent (Superman) experiences sudden pain from kryptonite radiation. At the old house, Captain Comet, Dolphin, and Will Payton (who takes the name Starman) discover an advanced laboratory where the kidnappers and the Atleys are. They also discover Metallo, who is trying to use the Cardialink, now at the center of the earth, to kill Superman by permeating the atmosphere with kryptonite radiation. The team battles the villains, including a strong woman named Ultimate. Captain Comet and Starman combine their power to burrow to the center of the earth to retrieve the Cardialink, then hurl it toward the sun. Captain Comet saves Caroline Atley from a heart attack by using another Cardialink device and burying it in the center of the earth with Starman's help. Dolphin asks Starman to join the team. Elsewhere, Clark Kent's recovers from the kryptonite radiation. Elsewhere, the kidnapped Cheetah II, Golden Glider, and Vivian d'Aramis awake in a strange cell guarded by Doctor Psycho. [“Captain Comet's Rehab Squad: Suicide Mission, Chapter 3: Saving Superman”]

Summary: Rick Flag introduces Captain Comet's Rehab Team at a press conference where a statement by Superman attests the team saved his life. Meanwhile, Rip Hunter claims he can go back in time to save everyone who died in the Crisis. After Simon Stagg is kidnapped by the Crimson Fox, the Outsiders investigate. After a brief misunderstanding, the two teams track down the kidnap victims to Achilles Dahmmon, who is revealed to be Hector Hammond when they defeat him. The kidnapped women defeat Doctor Psycho. Stagg forces the Crimson Fox to work for him. Rehab Squad members: Cheetah II, Dolphin, Golden Glider, Hooded Hangman (leaves the team), Killer Moth (supposedly dies), Mayflower, Silver Swan (joins the team), Starman. Villains: Hector Hammond (as Achilles Dahmmon). Guest appearances: Catwoman, Funky Flashman (as Rehab Squad publicist), Cat Grant, Rip Hunter, the Outsiders (Batman, Black Lightning, Geo-Force, Halo, Katana, Looker, Metamorpho), Sapphire Stagg Mason, Simon Stagg, Thorn. [“Captain Comet's Rehab Squad: Suicide Mission, Chapter 4-6”]

• The Meta-Human Rehabilitation Agency (MHRA) holds a press conference reported on by Cat Grant of WGBS, in which Rick Flag introduces Captain Comet's Rehab Team to the world and reads a statement by Superman that attests the team saved his life. An angry Captain Comet confronts Rick Flag about the press conference and, learning that Funky Flashman is the MHRA's public relations agent, has him fired. Rip Hunter arrives and claims he can use his time machine to save the lives of all those who died in the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Crimson Fox (Constance d'Aramis), still under Dahmmon's control, kidnaps Simon Stagg. His daughter Sapphire Stagg Mason calls in her husband Metamorpho, who brings the Outsiders in on the case. The kidnapped Cheetah II, Golden Glider, and Vivian d'Aramis learn that Doctor Psycho, employed by Achilles Dahmmon, has also captured the Thorn and Catwoman, his first victims. Psycho also empowered Dynamic and Ultimate. Captain Comet gathers a new team – Dolphin, Starman, Killer Moth, Mayflower, and the Hooded Hangman (a Batman villain) – to find the kidnap victims. Batman and the Outsiders investigate Simon Stagg's kidnapping. Doctor Psycho's kidnap victims learn that Silver Swan was mind-controlled by him. The six women work together to free themselves and capture Psycho. [“Captain Comet's Rehab Squad: Suicide Mission, Chapter 4: Arena”]
• Captain Comet and the Rehab Squad meet Batman and the Outsiders while tracking down the kidnap victims. The two teams battle until Captain Comet convinces Batman to put a stop to the fight. Achilles Dahmmon tries to force Simon Stagg to sign over his assets to him. The Rehab Squad and the Outsiders arrive and begin fighting Dahmmon's group. Meanwhile, the six kidnapped women battle Doctor Psycho, who uses his ectoplasmic extractor to materialize a few foes from their subconscious to battle them – Wonder Woman, the Top, Rose Forrest (Thorn's alter ego), Cat-Man, and a second Wonder Woman. The women destroy Psycho's machine, defeating him. Vivian and Constance d'Aramis, both dressed as their alter ego the Crimson Fox, battle until Dahmmon's mental hold on Constance breaks. [“Captain Comet's Rehab Squad: Suicide Mission, Chapter 5: Misunderstandings”]
• Achilles Dahmmon sends out dozens of mind-controlled CEOs as pawns against the Outsiders and the Rehab Squad, then takes control of a few team members to fight their teammates. Captain Comet discovers that Dahmmon is really Hector Hammond, who falls unconscious when he attempts to control Comet's mind. When he recovers, he actives a self-destruct device, and the teams evacuate everyone from the building before it implodes. Killer Moth seemingly dies while saving Doctor Psycho's life. Batman vows to offer Captain Comet any help he may need with his team. The Hooded Hangman goes back to jail for turning on the team. Silver Swan joins the team. Simon Stagg threatens to have the Crimson Fox arrested unless she agrees to work for him. [“Captain Comet's Rehab Squad: Suicide Mission, Chapter 6: Mental Domination”]