Immediate Response
Sunday, September 20th, 10:00
Wayne closed the study door. "Batman reporting." He spoke in a deep voice. Seating himself in the leather-backed chair, he accessed a one way video conference. Waller's imposing office and the League's high-tech council room appeared side by side. "Everyone briefed?"
"Is your informant reliable?" Waller was all business.
"The panicked delivery was most definitely sincere." He replied with a hint of annoyance.
Waller typed in a few commands. "The CDC is informed." She answered after a moments pause. "Emergency procedures are under way: quarantining the clinic, production of vaccine, security checks of the germ bank, staff background checks… You name it - they're doing it. "
"Good." Kent leaned on the table, his voice optimistic. "The sooner we deal with this the better."
"Yeah, but how?" Wally was perplexed. "I mean you can't just punch the buggers." He implored with upwards facing palms.
Stewart shuffled uncomfortably in his seat.
"Laser vision will do." Kent reassured both colleagues.
"Superman, Jonn and Shayera should inspect the scene. Terran pathogens can't affect aliens nor be transmitted by them." The Bat returned the conversation to planning.
"Sounds reasonable." Shayera replied.
"We should take a sample of the virus to see if it was modified."Jonn suggested.
Diana gave a nod of agreement. "Definitely."
"Also all vaccines and anti-virals you find." The Bat added. "They can be reverse-engineered for mass production."
"The CDC-ers will de-con you on the way out and take over the samples." Waller informed.
"I have a better idea." He cut in. "Beam straight to the old watchtower.The de-con and lab are up to standards. No risk of accidental contagion in space. If something goes wrong we'll bring the tower down, burn it on re-entry."
"It's not destroyed?" Waller frowned.
"That would be a waste." Batman replied. "The living quarters were disassembled and re-used in the twelve ISS stations. The core is dormant but functional. I can re-activate it in an hour."
"All right, go with the Watchtower." Waller conceded, dissatisfaction evident in her delivery.
"And the clinic?" Stewart turned to Ammanda's image on the projection screen, already suspecting the answer.
"Demolition has been moved ahead of schedule." her chilly voice bespoke of a bomb waiting to drop on the building.
"I'll investigate the case from the informant's end and do a background check on the CDC staff."
"Noted." She returned. "Everyone reports their finds ASAP."
A murmur of agreements came in response before they all disconnected.
Passing the great bookcase, Bruce scheduled the day in his mind. Shower, change, eat... He grabbed the polished doorknob and paused. Hope Tim cooks better than Dick. Once out, the aroma of Chinese take-away invaded his senses. Like father like sons. He grinned faintly, climbing back to the master bedroom.
Ever short on time, Bruce doubled his daily activities, using the shower time for meditation. Like the Japanese monks sitting under waterfalls, he stood in the the shower, not-thinking the same. Comfortably warm water washed away the tension as his mind relaxed with the familiar sensations, the dark red of his eyelids and the soft rumble of water.
Bruce stood propped up on the marble sink, watching himself in the large mirror. The bare torso and arms were covered in one too many cuts and bruises for even his liking. Getting too old for this... He mentally told the reflection. Might be time to call Dick back home. Bruce begrudgingly admitted as he proceeded with the morning routine.
Dressing into the signature black jeans and gray shirt, Wayne made his way downstairs. Tim and Dick could be heard enjoying a good-natured teasing session, which coaxed a half-smile to his face.
How long will you be staying? He asked both and neither men between mouthfulls, pulling his best nonchalant act.
Tim ducked his head. "I'm flying in the evening." He mumbled with a tinge of shame at not mentioning it earlyer. "Got classes tommorow. Final year and all..."
Bruce played a long and nodded, but knew full well the real reason behind Tim's short stay. A short stay with the Joker would revile anyone of this city and its life.
Dick, suspecting the for that question, chose to feel out the situation before giving a clear answer. "Don't know. Want me to stay 'til you adapt the routine?" He offered carefuly, knowing Bruce would never ask nor accept a decrease in responsibility outright.
"Why not." He shruged. "Temporary, right?"
"Temporary." The younger man reassured, but they all knew it wasn't.
After the food was gone and boxes disposed off, Bruce and Dick left for the Cave. Some things were so common within the clan that words were not needed for coordination. The older man took his place at the Crays while the younger one set up his laptop on a small table to his side. Splitting the search in the same implicit manner, Dick looked up the clinic while Bruce handled Talia.
Richard leaned into his chair, starting the search with the clinic itself. One of the transport companies hired to empty the place sounded familiar. A more thorough check revealed connections with Lex, Savage and other such faces. Amoral freelancers obviously. More was done there than packing. Satisfied with initial results, Dick shared them with his partner.
Bruce on the other hand, had less success with his end. He followed the trail of transports from bus to plane to boat to train and more buses, all the way to the Middle East. By the look of it, she was in a lot of hurry, crossing half the world in under twenty four hours. With no stops for eating or sleeping, she was truly scared. But somewhere in Kurdistan the trail ceased, passing from organized transport to ad-hoc camel rides. The money trail was even more nebulous, vanishing almost instantly in a number of bank accounts in some gray-economy banana republics.
As the two were about to report their findings, the alien trio called in.
"We've scoured the clinic." Kent informed in a satisfied tone. "There were no stored spores there, but somebody's been using the clinic's lab recently. Best case scenario - we stopped them before they got the chance to produce weaponized aerosol. Worst case - they knew we were coming and moved it elsewhere."
"No outgoing activity from the clinic." Bruce interjected. "Found anything useful?"
"I'm not sure. There were about a dozen test-tubes of two or three distinct substances. Jonn 's testing them now."
"One sample is definitely an Orthoproxyvirus." Jonn cut in from the lab. "Though I'm not sure if it's Vaccinia or Variola."
"When will you know?" Waller's voice displayed the anxiety they all shared.
"The DNA sequencing may take several hours." Jonn quelled their hopes of a quick answer.
"It should be Vaccinia." Waller said. "According to the CDC both the Variola major and minor samples are accounted for and there was no sign of compromised security."
"And the employees?"
"All staff with acces to maximum security areas have repeatedly passed detailed psycological screening." She assured.
Than it should still be there. The bat silently agreed. But is that the good or bad alternative?
"Are you sure your contact is reliable, Batman." Waller voiced his thoughts.
"It did not deceived me." The Bat stood with the earlier assessment. "It may have been misinformed." He admitted. "I also doubt my doubt, but right now that's the last thing you need to know. "The clinic?"
"Demolished presently." Came Waller's brief reply.
"We should check all major airports."
"Agreed."
"I'll organize the members." Kent volunteered for the thankless duty. "Each member will work on one state."
"Have the local enforcers assist you." Waller subtly reminded of the mandatory human involvement.
"Nightwing and I will contact Commissioner Montoya." The Bat informed before abruptly terminating the link. He could almost see her frown at the special treatment he got from the local police.