Chapter Six
Facility-45 airspace
Twelve-thousand feet
Lieutenant Colonel Cooper of the 152nd Fighter Squadron of the Arizona Air National Guard and his wingman, Captain Stoller were closing in on the intruder at high speed from Six O'clock in their F-16 fighters. They were two of eight F-16s tasked with enforcing the NFZ over the area. Prior to taking flight, they were told that hostiles of unknown origin had breached a government facility and they were to keep the airspace clear until forces on the ground could get the situation under control.
Ten minutes ago, Cooper tried asking for an update on the situation at the facility, but was told all information regarding the facility desginated as Foxtrot-Six was on a need to know basis. In other words, this was not a typical situation.
"So what's the plan, boss?" Stoller asked.
"We're gonna make a high speed pass to get their attention and then we'll come back around and say hello."
"Copy."
"Sky-Tiger Three, are you in position to take the shot if necessary?"
"Affirmative, Sky-Tiger One. I am six miles behind you guys and tracking the bogey on radar."
"Good. Alright Sky-Tiger Two, it's time make our presence known."
"Roger, going to max thrust."
"One mile from the Cessna, Cooper and Stoller pushed their throttles to full power and blew past the plane at close range, creating a great deal of turbulence in the process.
"What the hell was that?" Ryan Hurst shouted as he struggled to maintain control.
"I don't know, they came by so freaking fast," his copilot, Felton replied.
"Cessna on heading two, eight, six. Do we have your attention now?"
"This is Cessna Whiskey Echo Nine-Seventeen, who the hell is this?"
"This is Arizona Air National Guard flight lead Sky-Tiger One coming back around on your starboard wing. And you buddy boy have just entered restricted airspace. Now unless you wish for you and your plane to be planted face first in the Arizona desert, you will follow us to Luke Air Force base where you and all onboard will be detained for questioning. You have ten seconds to decide between compliance and kissing the dirt. I suggest you choose wisely."
"Alright, Sky-Tiger One, we'll comply."
"Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" Sandra asked over the radio. The sound of her voice shook Hurst and Felton to the core. They were too fearful to respond.
"Control, this is Sky-Tiger One, we are bringing the intruder to you. ETA, sixteen minutes."
"Copy that, make sure he doesn't wander off."
"Oh he won't," Cooper replied.
Luke AFB ops room
"It looks like you were right, little sis. The plane our fighters intercepted is in fact owned by Wayne enterprise," Sandra said after running its transponder code through the FAA database.
"Normally I would be jumping for joy about being right, but we still have a situation to do deal with."
"And speaking of situations, I want you to run the interrogations of our guests when they arrive."
"I will get a team together on the tarmac right now."
"Have fun, little sis," Sandra replied then Ashley turned and headed for the exit. After the doors closed, Sandra turned back to the screen showing the video feed from Selina's helmet cam.
"Ice Queen, this is Cat Zero-One. I have a visual on a new pair of contacts hanging from the ceiling."
Facility-45
The sight before Selina was hideous, dozens of big brown sacs were hanging from the ceiling and they appeared to be breathing. Selina raised her railgun to fire on one of them, but a better idea came to mind. She lowered her weapon then grabbed a grenade from one of her vest pockets then rolled it down the hall after pulling the pin. It came to stop in beneath of the sacs and detonated.
At that moment, the creatures dropped down to the floor and let out ominous sounding roars.
Selina instantly went to town with the Scarlett, the first two slugs passed through their initial targets at Mach Seven and bagged a few more creatures that were unlucky enough to be standing right behind them. One of the creatures tried to lunge at Selina with its four cornered mouth open wide, but ended up getting blasted by a round in midair.
As great as it was, Selina didn't stop to admire her shot, she continued the process of Shoot, shift, repeat until the last one was blown away.
"Hallway cleared, thirty sackers destroyed."
"Considering how they attack, I'd say that's a good name for them," Sandra commented.
"Yeah, I'm moving on to the next part of this house of horrors. Cat Zero-One out."
Selina went fifty meters before encountering another group of sacs, but there was only three of them so she simply obliterated them with the railgun and moved on.
Luke AFB
Seventeen minutes later
The moment the Cessna-680 touched down and rolled onto the tarmac, it was surrounded by two MRAP vehicles from base security and four JLTVs of the FBI TAC team that accompanied Agent Hayes from Gotham. In a matter of seconds, the plane was surrounded by twenty security force personnel and sixteen feds all in full combat gear and rifles ranging from M4-A1s to M16-A2s trained on the plane. There were also two remote controlled fifty caliber machine guns mounted on top of the MRAPS if things got really nasty. Hurst opened the cabin door and lowered the boarding ladder with the push of a button.
"Attention, everyone on the plane, remain seated until instructed to disembark," the security team leader, Master Sergeant Banderas shouted through a megaphone.
A black Chevy Suburban sped up to the scene with its siren blaring and came to a stop in the space between the two teams. Agent Hayes got out wearing a vest and helmet along with two more TAC team operators. Banderas and Agent Emerson approached her.
"Status, gentlemen?"
"The plane is surrounded and powered down, ma'am," Agent Emerson reported.
"Sniper teams are in position on the control tower and the nearby buildings," Banderas said.
"Here's to hoping we can take these guys alive so we can figure out what the hell they were thinking," Hayes replied then glanced at Bandera's megaphone. "May I?"
"All yours, Agent Hayes."
"Thank you." Ashley walked up to the barricade and raised the megaphone to her lips. "Attention all passengers and crew, this is Agent Ashley Hayes of the FBI. You are to disembark from the plane and kneel on the tarmac with your hands behind your heads. Whatever weapons or gear you may've brought with you, leave it on the plane. You have thirty seconds to comply or we will blow the plane to bits."
The last part of her statement really got them going, twelve men dressed in black BDUs scrambled down the ladder and kneeled on the ground followed by Hurst and Felton. The badges on the BDU jackets confirmed Ashley's earlier assumption and shocked Emerson.
"Well, well, what the hell. These guys are from Wayne Enterprises," Emerson said. Ashley ignored his comment and continued on addressing the group.
"Who amongst you is the team leader?"
"I am, Agent Hayes. Todd Simmons. Wayne Enterprises Special Tactical Response Unit."
"Well as of this moment, you are all under arrest for violating restricted airspace and interfering with a military operation."
"But Facility-45 is the property of our company," Todd said. Ashley lowered the megaphone and walked through the gap between the barriers to get right up in Todd's face, Agent Emerson and Sergeant Banderas followed her with some of their men behind them.
"Allow me to enlighten you on an unspoken rule, Mr. Simmons. When you partner with the United States government, your stuff becomes our stuff. Master Sergeant, take them away. Agent Emerson, take four men with you onto that plane and search every inch. Tear it apart if you have to."
"Yes, ma'am."
After the STRU members and their pilots were handcuffed and hauled away, Ashley decided to go onto the plane to see what Emerson and his men found
"Any luck guys?' she asked upon entering the cabin.
"Plenty, ma'am. We found their gear in duffle bags in the overhead compartments and an armory in the back."
"An armory?"
"Yes, ma'am," Emerson replied.
Ashley walked to the back of the plane and sure enough, there was an armory. Two of Emerson's men were still in the process of tagging everything.
There was a decent assortment of firepower present. HK-416 assault rifles, M-249 light machine guns, M-32 grenade launchers and even a dozen flamethrowers.
"The ATF would have a field day with this," Ashley commented then activated her radio to contact her sister.
"Hey Sandra, how is Selina doing?"
"She is still kicking ass and taking names. She just had a close call with a group of insects she calls Spitters due to the fact that they spit acid. One of them tried to spray her in the face, but she dodged it and smoked the whole pack with a grenade. Six creatures in total."
"Does she still have her railgun."
"Oh yeah, she took out a new pack of creatures called sackers and a few more hopper-beetles with it before she encountered the Spitters. But she still hasn't found any survivors."
"Damn," Ashley replied. "Well I'm about to go question Todd Simmons. He's the leader of the team from the plane we intercepted."
"What kind of team?"
"Wayne Enterprises Special Tactical Response Unit."
"Basically a squad of corporate SWAT wannabes?"
"Yeah."
"You know little sis, I can't help but wonder how much control does Bruce Wayne really have over his company. He should be spending more there cleaning house than trotting around the globe."
"Perhaps Mr. Simmons can shed some light on that too."
