Chapter Seven

Interrogation Room one

Todd Simmons was looking down at his cuffed hands on the table. The rest of his team members were confined in separate rooms, probably being questioned by the feds at this very moment.

It was supposed to be a simple job. Go in, clean up the mess, and get out. Getting intercepted by F-16s and detained by the FBI and the United States Air Force was definitely not part of the plan.

The door opened and he looked up to see Agent Hayes walking in with her helmet in hand. There were two guards standing by on opposite sides of the door too. Ashley slammed her helmet on the table and sat down across from him."

"Why didn't you guys identify yourselves when air traffic control tried hailing you?"

"We had orders to fly in under complete radio silence, no transmissions to or from the plane until we landed at the facility."

"Who in Wayne Enterprises would draw up such a flightplan and why?"

"The Board of Directors. You know, the real power of a corporation. It was meant to decrease the chances of our mission being discovered by groups who might want to gain intel on our research projects. Foreign spies, rival companies."

Ashley knew those kinds of threats were a given in the business world, but wasn't interested in them at the moment.

"When did your bosses know that Facility-45 was compromised?"

"About five hours ago." When the distress call was discovered, they told us to gear up and fly out here to clean up the mess."

"You mean to say they didn't get the distress call right away?"

"Wayne Enterprises doesn't open till Seven AM. Even then, it takes a while to sort through messages that came overnight.

"That explains why we detected it before you guys did," Ashley thought to herself then went on to her next question. "So what prompted them to establish an STRU in the first place?

"After that mess at Indian Hill, the Board decided to create a unit to deal with elements within our company that engage in nefarious activities. Especially if those activities result in situations like Indian Hill and Facility-45."

"So Wayne Enterprises is now in the business of killing its own employees?'

'We don't kill the workers, we put down their mutated subjects and detain those calling the shots."

"And what happens after they are detained?"

"They are brought before the board and drummed out of the company."

"Has Bruce Wayne ever been present at these hearings?"

"The board likes to handle these things its own way. Bruce may be the CEO, but that doesn't mean he is privy to everything. Especially since he is still a teenager. Sure he can put on a tailor suit and hold meetings but-."

"Don't forget that he was also put in charge of the fight against the Court of Owls by the President of the United States six months ago. A campaign that was carried successfully," Ashley stated sternly.

"True, but he is still a teenager. I'm surprised that-."

"Whatever you are surprised about regarding Bruce is not important. Now did the Board tell you anything about the creatures you would be going up against?" We found some serious firepower on your plane."

"They told us that the specimens in question were creatures not of this Earth and authorized the use of heavy weapons. Which is always the case whenever we get a call. I am in complete violation of my NDA by telling you this."

"Your NDA is of no concern to me Mr. Simmons, Ashley replied then got up, grabbed her helmet and headed for the door. Thank you, Airman," she said to the guard holding it for her.

Ops room.

General Hayes was watching the feed from Selina's helmet cam as she fired away at a horde of creatures that were trying to get her. This time, it was a combination of hopper-beetles. Sackers, Spitters, and some new creatures that weren't encountered until a minute ago. They looked like a mix between a crab and a spider.

"You're doing great, Selina. Keep it up."

"Thanks, Ice Queen," Selina replied then sent another group of creatures into oblivion at Mach seven. The rounds from the Scarlett were going through four to six creatures at a time depending on how they were moving when she fired. Selina fired off another round and took out a Spitter and a Hedi-crab. Her term for the crab/spider like creatures. Hidi was short for hideous which what they were.

With the magazine empty, Selina pulled out a nine-banger grenade and chucked it at the advancing horde before dropping back behind a crate to reload. The process of taking the spent mag out and putting a fresh one in looked like one swift motion. Sandra was impressed.

Before popping up to re-engage, Selina threw another nine-banger over the crate to stun the creatures some more. The moment the flashes faded, Selina popped up and unleashed more Mach seven fury on the creatures. Many of whom were still stunned.

After seeing too many of their brethren blown to smithereens, the ones at the rear of the horde turned and ran.

"It looks like the remainder are calling it quits."

"Remember what I taught you, Cat Zero-One. Don't let up."

"Roger."

Selina chased the four hidi-crabs down the hall and blasted them one by one, she nailed the last one just when it was about to turn the corner. The round also blew a hole in the wall.

"Outstanding, outstanding, outstanding. It looks like your time on the streets of Gotham combined with mine and Ashley's training is really paying off," Sandra said.

"I agree. I'm about go silent until I come across something else worth speaking of. Cat Zero-One out."

Sandra leaned back in her chair smiling as Ashley came back into the room and rejoined her. Putting her helmet on the table and her vest on the back of her chair after removing it

"Did I miss anything?" Ashley asked as she unzipped her jacket.

"Selina encountered a pack of over fifty buggers and blew every single one of them to kingdom come with her trusty Scarlett. How was the interrogation of Mr. Simmons?"

"Surprisingly, he was very forthcoming. The STRU was created by the Board of Directors behind Bruce's back after the Indian Hill incident to deal with nefarious activities within the company."

"Such as other Indian Hill style experiments?"

"Exactly. And Wayne Enterprises didn't know their facility was compromised until they opened for business this morning."

"That explains their delayed response. Which I am glad about by the way. There is no way I would trust a bunch of mercs to contain a mess this big. They didn't even bring enough men to set a perimeter around it. Let alone hold down their exit point."

"But you did, and that's why they pay you the big bucks."

"Damn right, little sis."

In addition to Major Reddington's team, Sandra brought along a full battalion from her unit to encircle the facility. Anything that escaped the facility grounds wouldn't make it half a mile before encountering heavy fire. If the actual size of Division Nineteen was publicly known, it would be big enough to qualify as America's third army.

"And he also said that the creatures in the facility are not of this Earth."

"His teammates said the same thing. I monitored their interrogations from here along with Selina's progress. The pilots on the other hand knew nothing beyond where they were flying to"

"You didn't watch mine of Mr. Simmons?"

"I wanted to hear about it from you. So he didn't make any nasty comments on you like that Bruce lookalike we dealt with?"

"I didn't give him much to comment on, I had my vest on the entire time. The loser couldn't check out my boobs even if he wanted too."

"Loser, very funny."

Ashley chuckled softly then sat down in the chair next to Sandra and watched Selina's progress on the screen.

All was calm for the moment.