People filled both sides of the long table in the office of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
The Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, FEMA, the White House Counsel, the director of central intelligence... everyone who could attend had come. The president was absent, which meant the Chief of Staff had the authority to steer the discussion, to report its conclusions to the president if necessary, or to bury the whole affair in the gray areas of the bureaucracy.
"All right," he began quietly. "Everyone knows why we're here?"
No one answered.
"Then I'll get straight to the point." The Chief of Staff swept his gaze over the long table. "Not long ago, an F-22 was shot down over the New Jersey coast. The pilot ejected and is out of danger, but the aircraft is gone. The military's public explanation is mechanical failure. You all know the actual cause. The media hasn't started paying close attention yet, but that story won't hold for long. We need a plan before this leaks."
"That Krypton Girl!" the Secretary of Defense continued grimly. "Whatever her motives, this was an act of war. We must respond forcefully."
"How?" the Attorney General asked. "Send more planes? Let her shoot down another one?"
"..."
The Secretary of Defense lost some of his bluster. "I'm not suggesting we send more planes. I'm saying we need a legal classification. She attacked a United States military aircraft. That's treason, or at least a serious federal offense. Once we establish that, we can issue a warrant for her arrest."
"Hmm... a warrant..."
The Chief of Staff repeated the word. "How do you intend to enforce that warrant? Send marshals to arrest her?"
"We can apply pressure through a third party. She isn't alone in Gotham. She must have ties