Gotc: Blech it's hot here…. Hit 99o plus the humidity. Therefore, I've made the decision to lie about in front of the fan for the rest of the summer. Whether or not I'll be allowed is another matter entirely….. Sigh….

Anyway, apologies for my delays (again…), heat waves kinda suck the life/creative process away. And yes, I am cataloguing these marvelous excuses for why I haven't written to be enjoyed at your leisure whenever I get around to finishing it! (Anyone else see a pattern here?) I have the general plot of this whole thing mapped loosely in my head, but was having a real hard time putting chapters together, so thanks to a suggestion/pointing out of coincidences by FelineFriendly (Your crate of waffles is in the mail) I now have the path of my next few chappies! So enough reading of this confounded thing! The story's down there, no there, below the disclaimer. Now you got it. Go read.

Disclaimer: Gotc does not own JL or "The Hot Zone". All quotes from the aforementioned book do not belong to me and will be in bold italicized font.

Warnings: Ebola is a disease not for the faint of heart. Out of respect for Richard Preston's work, and of the nature of the virus itself, I will be describing its effects, both in my own words and Mr. Preston's. While I will attempt to keep this tasteful, I have no intention of downplaying the effects of this disease. Due to this, there is a strong possibility this fic will be moved to the "M" rating. I will make my decision based on the reviews I get from this chapter.


Quarantine

CHAPTER 6: Anger

Amanda Waller hated calm days. It gave her the time to see all the things that needed tending to. Cracks in the walls, lapses in security, misfiled reports, missing funds… The list seemed to stretch on. CADMUS seemed only capable of functioning when a crisis was on their hands. Without the chaos of the world outside, the whole division seemed to turn in on itself to create its own catastrophe. And when their own slice of the world started to implode on itself, who else did everyone come to but her?

"I don't care what time it is on the East Coast!" Waller practically snarled into the phone at the unfortunate soul on the other end, "You get Eiling on his feet and in my office by tomorrow afternoon so he can explain why I found our vanishing funds in a military R&D communications project!"

The sound of the phone slamming against the desk echoed harshly against the walls of her office. A desk, two chairs and heaps of files, complaints and requests stacked on all three were the only decoration present in the windowless room. A red one poked out from underneath one stack, which contained the President's demand of a reason for why a genetically engineered metahuman escaped from what should have been an impervious compound. Her superiors in Washington were getting evermore persistent in their "requests for an internal investigation of CADMUS operations". It was the politically correct way of saying they were getting tired of waiting for their sacrificial lamb. Apparently, it wasn't enough to say that a scientist had obviously lost his mind and let that monster Doomsday out.

A headache started to build in her temples, and nestled in to the recesses of her brain to keep her company for the day. She needed an aspirin, a coffee, and fresh air, in that order, or she might be inclined to murder the next person to walk through her door. Feeling no remorse for leaving the mess in her office behind, Waller quickly threw together a semi-palatable coffee and swallowed two aspirin before making her way toward the building's roof.

Almost as soon as she had taken her first breath, Waller felt her headache begin to subside. The evening air felt beautiful in contrast to the stale air of the converted compound below. Still dressed like a company CEO, she was glad there was no one around who could possibly see her stealing a few moments for herself. The abandoned slums of downtown should have hardly been the setting for a government facility, but CADMUS wasn't exactly common knowledge to the general public, so the location suited their needs well enough. She took another slow sip of her coffee, letting some of the tension float off on the next breeze.

She had no real plan of going back inside anytime soon, when her cell began to ring in her pocket. Eiling. Reluctantly, Waller tipped the lukewarm contents of the cup over the side of the building and started to head inside. Any call from a United States General wasn't one to be had outside, no matter how vacant the area seemed to be. She was almost to the door, when out of nowhere a pair of strong hands gripped her shoulders and the ground quickly began to fall away from her feet.


"I'm here."

Batman's fingers flew across the keyboard, all the while wishing for the computer in his Cave, or even the terminal just down the hall. The laptop in front of him seemed to crawl along in comparison to the hyper-powered machines he was used to working with, which was never a good thing when he needed real-time feeds to monitor the suspected CADMUS facility.

"Are you sure this is the place, Batman?" Diana's voice came in over his com-link, "I've seen ruins in better shape than this."

"The whole neighborhood has been drawing power from the main grid for almost nine months," Batman replied, pulling up another view of the building. The glare of the screen was doing no favors to his aching eyes and head, but it couldn't be helped.

"So? That's something you'd expect from a residential neighborhood."

"Not one that hasn't had a single resident in close to three years." Batman pointed out, "Also, around the same time it started pulling power, subway lines that ran underneath the area were retired either retired or rerouted, citing safety concerns when no previous issues had been found with either the tunnels or the trains. That whole neighborhood had also been slated for demolition, but the date keeps getting pushed back by an anonymous donor who wishes to see the area preserved."

"Alright, so someone obviously wants to make sure that no one is poking their nose around here. Sounds like a CADMUS ploy at any rate." Diana agreed, "So what now?"

Batman glanced at another part of the screen to find Diana a route inside the main building, when he caught a glimpse of himself in the screen's reflection. The speckled rash that had begun nearly a day ago had transformed his face into a collage of bruises. Almost in disbelief of what he saw, he pushed back the cowl, in the hopes that the lenses were faulty and what he saw was a product of a malfunctioning device. It only made it worse.

Red eyes stared back at him, and the bruises had mottled together in a cruel mockery of his cowl. It should have been nothing surprising; he was used to sleepless nights that left his eyes red and bleary, nor was he a stranger to a good black eye that forced Wayne away from the company for a few days. But this….this was no black eye, this was no lack of sleep. Features that had been gaunt the day before now seemed almost skeletal. His skin looked and felt like it was drooping away from his very skull.

Ebola attacks connective tissue with particular ferocity; it multiplies in collagen, the chief constituent protein of the tissue that holds the organs together. The connective tissue in his face is dissolving, and his face appears to hang from underlying bone, as if the face is detaching itself from the skull.

"Batman?"

"Say again. I didn't get your last transmission." Batman shook his head to re-center his focus.

"I asked how am I going to get inside without being noticed?" Diana repeated, then added in a lower tone, "Bruce, are you should be doing this? You should be resting, or at least-"

"I'm fine." He snapped with a little more venom in his voice than he meant to.

Diana didn't respond back and Batman swore silently to himself. He had no reason to be angry at her. Time was short and she was doing her job. He focused back on the display, forcing himself to avoid looking at the reflection staring back at him. The building itself at one time probably had more than a dozen different entrances, though according to the more recent scans most were simply for appearance's sake. The front door still worked, and back and rooftop entrances were still avenues inside, but he had no doubt in his mind that they would be well guarded. Which left an old fire escape on the sixth floor. It looked like it had been walled off too, but not with concrete like the others. This one had only a thin wall separating it from the interior of either a supply closet or a small office. It wasn't the ideal scenario, but it looked like their only way inside.

"South-east side, sixth floor," Batman instructed, "You'll have to break through some drywall to get in, but it shouldn't be-"

The sound of rushing air through the com-link cut him off mid sentence, followed by a sudden shout of surprise. As fast as she was, there was still no way she could have made it inside so quickly.

"Wonder Woman! Come in!" Batman barked into his communicator.

Silence was the only thing to answer him before the link died all together.

"Diana!"


"Say again. I didn't get you last transmission."

Diana frowned after the pause on the other end. Batman never missed a single word when someone was speaking to him, even when it seemed he wasn't listening. There had even been an occasion where she could have sworn he was asleep, and yet he managed to recite back almost all of a conversation she'd been having with Superman. Not to mention, used parts of it against her during one particularly frustrating venture down to the Cave. It was a quality that helped to make Batman the respected, and feared, hero he'd become.

Still, being so close to a top-secret government facility could be interfering with the signal to the Watchtower. After all, it wasn't like no one had ever discovered a way to jam the signal when it suited the occasion, so it wasn't beyond the realm of imagination to think that accidentally interfering with it was so impossible.

"Who are you kidding Diana?" She scolded herself, "Blaming bad equipment when the reason is why you're here in the first place?"

"I asked how am I going to get inside without being noticed?" Diana repeated, hesitated and added, "Bruce, are you should be doing this? You should be resting, or at least-"

"I'm fine." His reply growled harshly in her ear.

An ache settled in Diana's chest. She had long since gotten used to Bruce's callousness, but there was more to it in his voice now. She looked out to the dilapidated building, searching for a way in, as Bruce did, to distract herself from the situation. If anything, it only made her more aware of just how wrong the whole world had become. Batman should have been next to her, explaining away the flimsy reasons they couldn't be together as they waited for an opportunity inside. Now, she became painfully aware that she may never again hear those reasons, or ever get the chance to show him just how wrong he could be. A crunch next to her set her heart pounding, before she realized the frame of the air conditioner had bent under her hand like a wad of old gum. A sigh that held her on the verge of tears escaped her.

"It's not right."

Movement on the top of the roof caught her attention, as someone emerged from inside. At first she thought it was simply a worker stepping out for a quick break, until the familiar face of Amanda Waller stepped into focus.

As an Amazon, Diana had always been taught to use her emotions as powerful allies against those who would do her harm. In her time with the League and Batman, that virtue had been contested more than once. She'd discovered that there was always more to a situation than the initial reaction, and that patience would eventually reveal opportunities that would have been missed otherwise. But as the CADMUS Head leaned casually against the railing, the two worlds collided in a raging storm. There were only so many people in the world that would benefit from the death of a Leaguer, and she was staring at one of them. Anger rose in her along with the knowledge that she would never again get this opportunity to get the answers she needed, unopposed. There was no time to even think; before she knew it, her feet had left solid ground and she was barreling as fast as she could toward her unaware target.

"South-east side, sixth floor," Batman instructed, his voice a lost whisper in the blood rushing in her ears, "You'll have to break through some drywall to get in, but it shouldn't be-"

It wasn't until Diana was on top of Waller and hauling her into the air, did the woman realize what was happening and let out a yell of surprise, shortly followed by Bruce's. Diana spared one hand to switch off the device, before continuing further up. He didn't need to hear any of this.

"Wonder Woman?" Waller craned her head to see her attacker, a waver of fear unmistakable in her normally calm voice, "What is the meaning-"

"The Lex Corp break-in a few days ago," Diana cut her off, bringing Waller up to eye level, "What do you know about it?"

"Absolutely nothing!" Waller leveled a glare right back, all the while clinging to Diana's hands in case she had the notion to let go.

"Nothing?" Diana narrowed her gaze, "Pardon me if I find that hard to believe. You of all people always seem to have a hand in this sort of thing."

"I might as well cut off my own foot for all the good it would do me. Luthor is one of CADMUS' biggest contributors and the very idea of attacking his company is ridiculous!" Waller defended angrily.

"I never said his company was the one under attack," Diana loosened her grip slightly; "The bomb threat was a diversion for a weapons test! With the Justice League as guinea pigs!"

To Diana's surprise, Waller stopped struggling. No doubt the knowledge had caught up to her that a fall from such a height would almost certainly be fatal, and struggling would only make her situation worse. Waller knew she'd been caught, she had to be guilty! She had gone after a Founding Member of the Justice League and sentenced him to death, and now was in the hands of an Amazon Princess who could easily see too it she met that fate far sooner than Batman ever would. Why else would she stop fighting to save herself?

Diana scowled, ready to throw Waller to the ground several stories below, when she caught a glimpse of the woman's eyes. Behind the resolute determination that she'd come to know, a new emotion hid in its wake. Fear.

"Passing judgment like gods," Diana could almost hear Batman's voice laced with disgust even now, "With our super-powered army and our orbiting death ray... Cadmus is right to be scared."

What was she doing? She was a hero, not an executioner. Diana felt her body drop through the air of its own accord, slowly lowering the two of them back down onto the inviting rooftop. Her legs shook so badly that once she touched solid ground, she had to fall against the rusted out air conditioner for support to keep her on her feet.

"I-I'm sorry…" Diana hardly managed, horrified with what she'd been about to do.

"What kind of weapon?"

"W…what?"

"You kidnapped me off of the roof of my own headquarters because you believed I had information on some kind of dangerous weapon," Waller demanded, shaking off the weakness in her voice, "Anything that has the capacity to drive a member of the Justice League to such an action, presents a threat to the rest of the American people."

Diana looked up at Waller who now stood just a few feet away from her. The CADMUS director was leaning against an old box herself, but was hardly about to give up on finding out why she'd been abducted if she was going to be given the chance. It took a moment for Waller's words to fully register, before Diana managed a response.

"We believe it's a weaponized strain of the Ebola virus," Diana said, forcing her voice to cooperate, "The attack on Lex Corp was a diversion to test the efficacy of the virus against a member of the Justice League. CADMUS is one of only a few places that could have developed something like that."

Diana couldn't miss the way her companion's face suddenly blanched.

"What did you just say?" Waller asked, carefully, as if she'd just realized she was in a bad dream.

The first known emergence of Ebola Zaire-the hottest type of Ebola virus-occurred September 1976, when it erupted simultaneously in fifty-five villages near the headwaters of the Ebola River. It seemed to come out of nowhere, and killed nine out of ten people it infected. To mess around with Ebola is an easy way to die. Better to work with something safer, such as anthrax.

"We recovered a knife after the attack that tested positive for an unknown Ebola strain," Diana detailed, "Our first reaction was to look at government installations that had the capacity for developing the virus."

Waller was silent for a moment, though Diana could see the wheels turning furiously in her head.

"No. Our Level 4 biocontainment chamber's only real use is for developing vaccines against possible bioterrorism," Waller said, not really looking at Diana, "Ebola….Ebola's something we simply don't mess with."

Diana hung her head, both relieved and terrified at herself. She hadn't let her anger at such a twisted situation result in the harm of another person, yet it had managed to push her right to that point. She felt no reason to push Waller any further. She had the answers she'd come looking for, and there was no point for the woman to lie to her. Not when they shared a common enemy.

"I suppose you'll need to alert security?" Diana sighed, disgusted with herself.

"I should," Waller nodded, "But then we'd be no closer to finding out what psychopath is running free with a hot agent. Of course, if you ever pull me off of the ground like that again, I'll see to it you rot in a dark hole for the rest of your existence, immortal or not."

Diana stood, understanding the unspoken permission to leave. Now that Waller knew, they had at least one more set of eyes to help them find the answers they sought. She wasn't sure how CADMUS could help, when the League themselves had nothing to go on, but it was reassuring to know they weren't alone. Diana pushed off back into the air when Waller's voice stopped her.

"Batman."

Diana turned enough to look back at Waller standing alone on the roof.

"You said the attack was to test the virus on a member of the League," She clarified, "Batman always seems to make it his personal business to be the one to speak with me. But you're here instead."

Diana felt her hands ball up and her nails bite into the palm of her hand. Her heart seemed to weigh her down, even as she remained airborne. Still harder, was finding a way to speak without the raw emotion tearing again at her throat.

"Batman couldn't make it." Was the only thing she managed before flying away from the building as fast as she could manage.

Waller stood and watched Wonder Woman's retreating form until she was no longer even a dot against the sky. She knew she should be more shaken up, yet the uneasy dread that had settled in her stomach dulled the reality that her life had almost come to a very abrupt halt. A shrill ring sounded near her feet, drawing her attention to her cell phone lying forgotten on the ground. She figured she must have dropped it in all the chaos, and stooped down to pick it up.

"Waller."

"Where in the hell have you been! You wake me up in the middle of the night and then have the gall to ignore my calls!"

"Eiling, as much as I would love to point out everything wrong with that particular statement, I'm afraid I have a more pressing matter at hand."

"And what would that be?"

"Get me in contact with USAMRID and I'll debrief you when you arrive. I have an errand to run first."


"Wonder Woman to Watchtower."

"Diana?" J'onn's voice came in over the com-link, "We've been trying to get in touch with you, but your communicator was disabled-"

"I know J'onn," Diana sighed, "I was…busy."

A long pause on the other end and an uncomfortable tingle at her temples saved her an explanation, but that did little to make her feel any better.

"What's Batman's condition?" She asked, unable to stand the silence any longer.

"No better," J'onn said hesitantly. In truth, that was a lie. The vomiting had triggered a nosebleed that had been steadily running for almost an hour, with no end in sight. If it went on for much longer, He would need to give Batman a transfusion just to keep his blood pressure up.

It never came in a rush, but the blood dripped and ran and would not stop and would not clot. It was a hemorrhagic nose bleed, the kind that does not stop until the heart stops beating.

"Have any of the others checked in yet?" Diana asked, wearily.

"You were the last." J'onn said, "No one managed to find any sign of malicious intent at any of the sites."

"So we're still at square one?"

"I'm afraid it seems that way. Superman wants to meet with you in Washington as soon as possible to discuss our next move."

"I'll be there."

"Diana?"

"Yes?"

"Please hurry."


Gotc: Ahhhhhhh…it feels good to have that done. Sorry again for the delay, folks. Life, work, and all that. And the heat….don't forget the heat… bleh. Anyway, don't forget to review. I'm finally getting the hang of my summer schedule, so I'm banking on having more frequent posts. Besides, I can't wait to give you guys the next chapter! Laters!