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Gotham’s Golden Girl Pt 5
Laura roared off into the night leaving the whole Penguin fiasco behind her. It’s a shame that Nightwing and I can’t get together, she thought wistfully. Laura still hadn’t found her place among the superhero community elite. Metropolis already had Superman and Supergirl had begun to work in Capitol City. Central City had the Flash, while Oliver and Chloe had moved to Starling City.
The experience in Gotham, however brief, had been instructive, but ultimately resolved nothing. So Gold Wing had to return to Falcon Claw. Laura could continue to rehab her old Victorian Era mansion called Burntwood Manor, and make sure that the Loracite levels in Comet Creek continued to flow freely beneath Crater Lake and ultimately into the cave under the mansion where her storage facility was.
With her Metahuman speed and strength, it wouldn’t take long to bring the old manor up to par. Just because she could use her enhanced abilities, didn’t mean that she could accomplish all of the technical details, like updating the electrical service, installing a new plumbing system, or modernizing the heating and cooling systems. Bringing the mansion into the twenty-first century and up to code, would require a lot of effort. Oliver obviously had the large financial backing of Queen Industries, and Clark and Lois were paid well enough to live a decent lifestyle beyond their required duplicity at the Daily Planet.
Laura’s trust fund had taken a huge hit. She didn’t need to use it for education as her parents had intended, due to her enhanced mental ability, she could acquire a college level degree in no time, memorizing classes on line, and answering the test questions correctly. She could get by, but would never become wealthy. Maybe I should charge for saving people, she thought sourly. I mean what the hell? Firemen, policemen, and other first responders were paid decently.
Gold Wing rode her father’s rebuilt motorcycle along the roads that divided the amber corn and wheat fields of Kansas, and through the vast plains of Nebraska, home towards Falcon Claw. After her stint in Gotham, it would be nice to see her high school friends again and catch up with Tim Servo, now a freshman at Nebraska State University. Mike Trent and Shana Springbrook had decided to attend NSU as well, seeing as how it wasn’t all that far from Falcon Claw.
The lightning crackled across the night sky as a storm front had suddenly come up. This wasn’t unusual at this time of year. The mid-spring weather had been warm and humid lately, so the storms would become more numerous. Gold Wing had been running her father’s motorcycle at nearly top speed. It wasn’t as if she could get injured, and the two lane highways were mostly deserted at this time of night.
Laura could almost hear Clark’s voice in her head. ‘Laura, speeding is against the law, regardless of how safe you think that you are.’ Gold Wing grimaced. Why would I want to live my life in the shadows like Clark had until recently? She rationalized. Suddenly, a blinding flash of lightning distracted her. Laura’s bike skidded along the edge of the road, and she fishtailed into a muddy ditch.
Immediately, she shut down the motorcycle as its wide rear wheel had been entrenched in the muck. Laura sighed as she physically lifted the 1976 Honda Gold Wing out of the slime and hefted it back onto the road. Another flash of lightning illuminated something nearby.
It looked metallic as it reflected the lightning. A muddy swamp encircled the object. Gold Wing decided to investigate, settling her motorcycle on solid ground. She waded into the muck as the rain began pouring down. Laura determined that the metal that reflected the light was the rear bumper of a car. It was mostly rusted, so it had been there for a while. The license plate hung loosely from it.
As Laura circled closer, she noted that the bumper was still attached to a car. “Ew! Gross!” Gold Wing commented as she reached down into the muck and pried the car door open. A single skeleton slumped over in the driver’s seat. From the angle of the car in the bog, it would have been impossible to see from the road, or the recent flooding rains, and disruptive tornadoes had swept away enough mud to reveal the unfortunate accident victim.
“Too bad, dude.” Laura commented, noting that the corpse had been wearing disheveled male clothing. Something else caught her eye. Gold Wing spotted a hole at the center of the skull’s forehead. It resembled photographs of the deceased that had been shot in the head. It could’ve been a bullet hole, since it was about the right diameter. “It’s a good thing that I watched all of those reruns of CSI.” Laura grumbled as she flipped the corpse forward, again grunting in disgust. “Yuk!”
She gingerly went through the corpse’s pockets, or what was left of them, but found no identification. Laura yanked open the glove compartment, but again found nothing of note. The only clue, therefore, was the deceased’s rear license plate. It turned out that the vehicle’s trunk had been opened, due to the rusted out lock. Laura glanced into the trunk, expecting to find another body. Instead, she saw what appeared to be a torn and rotted leather briefcase.
Laura opened the briefcase lock and only found what appeared to be a few remnants of paper money, a five dollar bill to be exact. The good thing about it was that the bill still had its serial numbers imprinted on it. Gold Wing left the accident site as is, except that she grabbed the license plate and tossed it into the small luggage compartment on her dad’s motorcycle. She pocketed the five dollar bill as well. A rusty old common .38 caliber snub nosed pistol rotted away beside the briefcase. She grabbed that as well. The chamber of the gun refused to open due to the rust. “Some WD-40 should cure that.”
As the rain poured down, the lightning crackled overhead, and the thunder boomed, Laura inspected her motorcycle for damage. “What’s this?” She asked aloud, noting a small blinking red led light attached to the rear wheel guard, presumably placed where someone wouldn’t notice it. Gold Wing brushed the soot and grime due to the muddy drainage ditch from the device. It was black, and bat shaped. “Bat Shaped?” Laura snorted. “Nightwing? I didn’t know that you cared.” She said derisively.
“A tracking device?” Gold Wing muttered. It could only have been Nightwing that wanted to locate her, Laura mused, since it was obvious that Batman didn’t want her around. “Dude’s got a real attitude.” She groused as she mounted her motorcycle and revved it up. Laura estimated the best that she could where the accident, slash possible crime scene, was located, by memorizing the last mile road marker that she’d seen and the next one on the highway back to Falcon Claw.
So Boy Wonder wants to keep in touch, eh? Laura considered. Okay, I’ll bite, but I’m not ready to give him my home address, she smirked, alone with her thoughts.
Laura peeled out and took the next road that led away from her home at Crater Lake, instead cruising into Lincoln, Nebraska. By now, the storms had subsided, and the sun was just coming up over the horizon as she pulled into Marty’s Gas Station. The gas station was near the outskirts of Lincoln, at the edge of the farm fields.
Gold Wing wiped down her bike, and carefully popped off the magnetically attached bat shaped locator, and flipped it over. There were no markings on the tracker of course, except for a tiny engraving near its center. The regular human eye couldn’t really see the imprint. One would likely need a high powered microscope to view it. “WI8” Laura muttered as she spied the engraved part number.
After filling up her motorcycle with gas, Gold Wing left Marty’s and sped off down the road for a bit. The directive sign stated ‘Lincoln South and West off ramps twenty four miles.’ Laura pulled off the road and into a forest preserve parking lot. Some early morning joggers, hikers, and bikers, eyed her suspiciously. Laura parked her motorcycle and strolled partway down the first jogging path. She seated herself comfortably on a park bench.
Gold Wing called Chloe Sullivan-Queen’s cell phone. “Hey Chloe, this is Laura.” The young superhero began. “I take it that this isn’t an emergency, since you used my unsecured phone.” Chloe responded as she yawned. It was about 7 AM in Starling City. “True. I just wanted you to check out a little toy that someone attached to my motorbike.” Laura said vaguely. “Sure. Ollie and I are flying back to Metropolis this morning, since he has a meeting with some of his dysfunctional friends.” Chloe quipped.
“Got it!” Laura remarked. “I’ll send you a photo of it now on the encrypted line of your work cell phone.” Chloe had a custom made Queen Industries Smart Phone that contained the latest innovations in tech security. A master hacker could probably still break into it, but Oliver had guaranteed that the secure celly was ninety eight percent unhackable. It was the last two percent that would cause problems.
“I’ve got it, Laura!” Chloe gasped. “You know who did this, don’t you?” Laura snickered. “That’s from my new friends!” She joked. “This is too good to pass up.” Chloe said excitedly. “I’ll call you on the red line right now. Do you have it with you?” Gold Wing smirked. “I never leave home without it, Chlo’” She quickly snapped off her public cell phone and grabbed the high tech Queen Industries one. Laura glanced around to make sure that nobody was nearby that could possibly overhear her.
“Go ahead, Chlo’.” Laura said as she punched in her authorization fingerprint. “You saw that it was bat shaped?” Chloe was startled. “That’s the one.” Gold Wing confirmed. “So now the Batman is tracking you? Should you be honored? You need to definitely bring it with you to Metropolis tomorrow. We’ll meet at a public place like Chandler’s Coffee. That way the Batman will know that we’re on the same team.” Chloe instructed. “I’m going to analyze the Bat’s tech.” She added excitedly. “You must have made quite the impression on the Bat Dude.”
Gold Wing went into her recent history with the Bat Team and The Penguin and Joker. “I see that you’ve been keeping busy.” Chloe remarked with sarcasm. “So you went joy riding with Bat Boy as well. Are you and Nightwing an item now?” Chloe teased her good friend. It had already been five years since Chloe and Clark had discovered Laura at the Tekamah caves. “Not so much!” Laura snickered.
“The Bat Family is kind of cliquish.” Chloe nodded. “No doubt.” Laura stretched leisurely. “At least the Bat Family cared enough to track me.” Gold Wing added cynically. “Nothing says ‘I care’ like a Bat shaped tracking device.” Chloe said flippantly. “Trust issues, much?” She asked rhetorically.
“Anyway, I don’t want the Caped Crusaders to drop by for tea, so that’s why I’m calling you from West Podunk, Nebraska.” Laura said as she snickered. “I’ll zip by now and leave the Bat toy with you.” She offered. Gold Wing accessed the Speed Force and was at Chloe’s side in a matter of seconds. Starling City was already busy, as the downtown area businesses began to open for the work day.
Chloe was just putting her secured phone away, when the familiar breeze swept past her, ruffling her now lengthy blonde hair. “Will I ever get used to that?” She playfully complained. “Hey Chlo’!” Laura spoke up cheerfully, as the café umbrella above their table shook like it had been caught in a stiff breeze. Gold Wing handed Chloe the Bat Tracker. “Ooh! Color me intrigued!” The self-admitted super geek said excitedly. “I now have some legit Bat Tech! It’s just like Christmas all over again!”
“Ho! Ho! Ho! Chlo’!” Gold Wing teased her good naturedly. Laura had quickly changed out of her Gold Wing costume and wore a simple denim miniskirt and a bright yellow sleeveless knit blouse. “Where were you going to examine the Bat Tech, Chlo’?” Laura wondered aloud. “I was going to have STAR LABS give it a go, however, I think that I should respect the Bat’s privacy. I’ll run it through the device analyst machine at my Watchtower Base. The Batman already knows its location.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Gold Wing said, unable to keep the disappointment from her voice. Chloe cast Laura a questioning glance. “You want me to reverse engineer the Bat Tracker to find the hidden location of the Bat Family, don’t you?” Chloe guessed correctly. “You got me, Chlo’!” Laura admitted. “I mean they started it, right?” She defended lamely. “I suppose.” Chloe reluctantly agreed.
“My concern is that Ollie and Clark have been trying to sweet talk the Batman into joining our dysfunctional group. They’ve been attempting to contact Bats through me. As you already know, The Batman gets surly when we try and gather the team around him. Bats said that he doesn’t play well with others.” Chloe explained. “I can vouch for that.” Gold Wing confirmed.
“Let me run the device through Watchtower’s Mainframe, and I’ll let you know tomorrow if I get anything.” Chloe volunteered. “Deal!” Laura carefully shook Chloe’s hand. “See ya!” With that, Laura ducked into the alley behind the café, and sped straight towards the wall of a high rise. Seconds before impacting the wall, she accessed the Speed Force, and zipped back to Nebraska, collected her motorcycle, and drove back to Falcon Claw. To any possible security cameras, it would appear that Laura disappeared into thin air. Most security personnel would assume that it was a monitor glitch.
Laura roared off into the night leaving the whole Penguin fiasco behind her. It’s a shame that Nightwing and I can’t get together, she thought wistfully. Laura still hadn’t found her place among the superhero community elite. Metropolis already had Superman and Supergirl had begun to work in Capitol City. Central City had the Flash, while Oliver and Chloe had moved to Starling City.
The experience in Gotham, however brief, had been instructive, but ultimately resolved nothing. So Gold Wing had to return to Falcon Claw. Laura could continue to rehab her old Victorian Era mansion called Burntwood Manor, and make sure that the Loracite levels in Comet Creek continued to flow freely beneath Crater Lake and ultimately into the cave under the mansion where her storage facility was.
With her Metahuman speed and strength, it wouldn’t take long to bring the old manor up to par. Just because she could use her enhanced abilities, didn’t mean that she could accomplish all of the technical details, like updating the electrical service, installing a new plumbing system, or modernizing the heating and cooling systems. Bringing the mansion into the twenty-first century and up to code, would require a lot of effort. Oliver obviously had the large financial backing of Queen Industries, and Clark and Lois were paid well enough to live a decent lifestyle beyond their required duplicity at the Daily Planet.
Laura’s trust fund had taken a huge hit. She didn’t need to use it for education as her parents had intended, due to her enhanced mental ability, she could acquire a college level degree in no time, memorizing classes on line, and answering the test questions correctly. She could get by, but would never become wealthy. Maybe I should charge for saving people, she thought sourly. I mean what the hell? Firemen, policemen, and other first responders were paid decently.
Gold Wing rode her father’s rebuilt motorcycle along the roads that divided the amber corn and wheat fields of Kansas, and through the vast plains of Nebraska, home towards Falcon Claw. After her stint in Gotham, it would be nice to see her high school friends again and catch up with Tim Servo, now a freshman at Nebraska State University. Mike Trent and Shana Springbrook had decided to attend NSU as well, seeing as how it wasn’t all that far from Falcon Claw.
The lightning crackled across the night sky as a storm front had suddenly come up. This wasn’t unusual at this time of year. The mid-spring weather had been warm and humid lately, so the storms would become more numerous. Gold Wing had been running her father’s motorcycle at nearly top speed. It wasn’t as if she could get injured, and the two lane highways were mostly deserted at this time of night.
Laura could almost hear Clark’s voice in her head. ‘Laura, speeding is against the law, regardless of how safe you think that you are.’ Gold Wing grimaced. Why would I want to live my life in the shadows like Clark had until recently? She rationalized. Suddenly, a blinding flash of lightning distracted her. Laura’s bike skidded along the edge of the road, and she fishtailed into a muddy ditch.
Immediately, she shut down the motorcycle as its wide rear wheel had been entrenched in the muck. Laura sighed as she physically lifted the 1976 Honda Gold Wing out of the slime and hefted it back onto the road. Another flash of lightning illuminated something nearby.
It looked metallic as it reflected the lightning. A muddy swamp encircled the object. Gold Wing decided to investigate, settling her motorcycle on solid ground. She waded into the muck as the rain began pouring down. Laura determined that the metal that reflected the light was the rear bumper of a car. It was mostly rusted, so it had been there for a while. The license plate hung loosely from it.
As Laura circled closer, she noted that the bumper was still attached to a car. “Ew! Gross!” Gold Wing commented as she reached down into the muck and pried the car door open. A single skeleton slumped over in the driver’s seat. From the angle of the car in the bog, it would have been impossible to see from the road, or the recent flooding rains, and disruptive tornadoes had swept away enough mud to reveal the unfortunate accident victim.
“Too bad, dude.” Laura commented, noting that the corpse had been wearing disheveled male clothing. Something else caught her eye. Gold Wing spotted a hole at the center of the skull’s forehead. It resembled photographs of the deceased that had been shot in the head. It could’ve been a bullet hole, since it was about the right diameter. “It’s a good thing that I watched all of those reruns of CSI.” Laura grumbled as she flipped the corpse forward, again grunting in disgust. “Yuk!”
She gingerly went through the corpse’s pockets, or what was left of them, but found no identification. Laura yanked open the glove compartment, but again found nothing of note. The only clue, therefore, was the deceased’s rear license plate. It turned out that the vehicle’s trunk had been opened, due to the rusted out lock. Laura glanced into the trunk, expecting to find another body. Instead, she saw what appeared to be a torn and rotted leather briefcase.
Laura opened the briefcase lock and only found what appeared to be a few remnants of paper money, a five dollar bill to be exact. The good thing about it was that the bill still had its serial numbers imprinted on it. Gold Wing left the accident site as is, except that she grabbed the license plate and tossed it into the small luggage compartment on her dad’s motorcycle. She pocketed the five dollar bill as well. A rusty old common .38 caliber snub nosed pistol rotted away beside the briefcase. She grabbed that as well. The chamber of the gun refused to open due to the rust. “Some WD-40 should cure that.”
As the rain poured down, the lightning crackled overhead, and the thunder boomed, Laura inspected her motorcycle for damage. “What’s this?” She asked aloud, noting a small blinking red led light attached to the rear wheel guard, presumably placed where someone wouldn’t notice it. Gold Wing brushed the soot and grime due to the muddy drainage ditch from the device. It was black, and bat shaped. “Bat Shaped?” Laura snorted. “Nightwing? I didn’t know that you cared.” She said derisively.
“A tracking device?” Gold Wing muttered. It could only have been Nightwing that wanted to locate her, Laura mused, since it was obvious that Batman didn’t want her around. “Dude’s got a real attitude.” She groused as she mounted her motorcycle and revved it up. Laura estimated the best that she could where the accident, slash possible crime scene, was located, by memorizing the last mile road marker that she’d seen and the next one on the highway back to Falcon Claw.
So Boy Wonder wants to keep in touch, eh? Laura considered. Okay, I’ll bite, but I’m not ready to give him my home address, she smirked, alone with her thoughts.
Laura peeled out and took the next road that led away from her home at Crater Lake, instead cruising into Lincoln, Nebraska. By now, the storms had subsided, and the sun was just coming up over the horizon as she pulled into Marty’s Gas Station. The gas station was near the outskirts of Lincoln, at the edge of the farm fields.
Gold Wing wiped down her bike, and carefully popped off the magnetically attached bat shaped locator, and flipped it over. There were no markings on the tracker of course, except for a tiny engraving near its center. The regular human eye couldn’t really see the imprint. One would likely need a high powered microscope to view it. “WI8” Laura muttered as she spied the engraved part number.
After filling up her motorcycle with gas, Gold Wing left Marty’s and sped off down the road for a bit. The directive sign stated ‘Lincoln South and West off ramps twenty four miles.’ Laura pulled off the road and into a forest preserve parking lot. Some early morning joggers, hikers, and bikers, eyed her suspiciously. Laura parked her motorcycle and strolled partway down the first jogging path. She seated herself comfortably on a park bench.
Gold Wing called Chloe Sullivan-Queen’s cell phone. “Hey Chloe, this is Laura.” The young superhero began. “I take it that this isn’t an emergency, since you used my unsecured phone.” Chloe responded as she yawned. It was about 7 AM in Starling City. “True. I just wanted you to check out a little toy that someone attached to my motorbike.” Laura said vaguely. “Sure. Ollie and I are flying back to Metropolis this morning, since he has a meeting with some of his dysfunctional friends.” Chloe quipped.
“Got it!” Laura remarked. “I’ll send you a photo of it now on the encrypted line of your work cell phone.” Chloe had a custom made Queen Industries Smart Phone that contained the latest innovations in tech security. A master hacker could probably still break into it, but Oliver had guaranteed that the secure celly was ninety eight percent unhackable. It was the last two percent that would cause problems.
“I’ve got it, Laura!” Chloe gasped. “You know who did this, don’t you?” Laura snickered. “That’s from my new friends!” She joked. “This is too good to pass up.” Chloe said excitedly. “I’ll call you on the red line right now. Do you have it with you?” Gold Wing smirked. “I never leave home without it, Chlo’” She quickly snapped off her public cell phone and grabbed the high tech Queen Industries one. Laura glanced around to make sure that nobody was nearby that could possibly overhear her.
“Go ahead, Chlo’.” Laura said as she punched in her authorization fingerprint. “You saw that it was bat shaped?” Chloe was startled. “That’s the one.” Gold Wing confirmed. “So now the Batman is tracking you? Should you be honored? You need to definitely bring it with you to Metropolis tomorrow. We’ll meet at a public place like Chandler’s Coffee. That way the Batman will know that we’re on the same team.” Chloe instructed. “I’m going to analyze the Bat’s tech.” She added excitedly. “You must have made quite the impression on the Bat Dude.”
Gold Wing went into her recent history with the Bat Team and The Penguin and Joker. “I see that you’ve been keeping busy.” Chloe remarked with sarcasm. “So you went joy riding with Bat Boy as well. Are you and Nightwing an item now?” Chloe teased her good friend. It had already been five years since Chloe and Clark had discovered Laura at the Tekamah caves. “Not so much!” Laura snickered.
“The Bat Family is kind of cliquish.” Chloe nodded. “No doubt.” Laura stretched leisurely. “At least the Bat Family cared enough to track me.” Gold Wing added cynically. “Nothing says ‘I care’ like a Bat shaped tracking device.” Chloe said flippantly. “Trust issues, much?” She asked rhetorically.
“Anyway, I don’t want the Caped Crusaders to drop by for tea, so that’s why I’m calling you from West Podunk, Nebraska.” Laura said as she snickered. “I’ll zip by now and leave the Bat toy with you.” She offered. Gold Wing accessed the Speed Force and was at Chloe’s side in a matter of seconds. Starling City was already busy, as the downtown area businesses began to open for the work day.
Chloe was just putting her secured phone away, when the familiar breeze swept past her, ruffling her now lengthy blonde hair. “Will I ever get used to that?” She playfully complained. “Hey Chlo’!” Laura spoke up cheerfully, as the café umbrella above their table shook like it had been caught in a stiff breeze. Gold Wing handed Chloe the Bat Tracker. “Ooh! Color me intrigued!” The self-admitted super geek said excitedly. “I now have some legit Bat Tech! It’s just like Christmas all over again!”
“Ho! Ho! Ho! Chlo’!” Gold Wing teased her good naturedly. Laura had quickly changed out of her Gold Wing costume and wore a simple denim miniskirt and a bright yellow sleeveless knit blouse. “Where were you going to examine the Bat Tech, Chlo’?” Laura wondered aloud. “I was going to have STAR LABS give it a go, however, I think that I should respect the Bat’s privacy. I’ll run it through the device analyst machine at my Watchtower Base. The Batman already knows its location.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Gold Wing said, unable to keep the disappointment from her voice. Chloe cast Laura a questioning glance. “You want me to reverse engineer the Bat Tracker to find the hidden location of the Bat Family, don’t you?” Chloe guessed correctly. “You got me, Chlo’!” Laura admitted. “I mean they started it, right?” She defended lamely. “I suppose.” Chloe reluctantly agreed.
“My concern is that Ollie and Clark have been trying to sweet talk the Batman into joining our dysfunctional group. They’ve been attempting to contact Bats through me. As you already know, The Batman gets surly when we try and gather the team around him. Bats said that he doesn’t play well with others.” Chloe explained. “I can vouch for that.” Gold Wing confirmed.
“Let me run the device through Watchtower’s Mainframe, and I’ll let you know tomorrow if I get anything.” Chloe volunteered. “Deal!” Laura carefully shook Chloe’s hand. “See ya!” With that, Laura ducked into the alley behind the café, and sped straight towards the wall of a high rise. Seconds before impacting the wall, she accessed the Speed Force, and zipped back to Nebraska, collected her motorcycle, and drove back to Falcon Claw. To any possible security cameras, it would appear that Laura disappeared into thin air. Most security personnel would assume that it was a monitor glitch.
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