Dark City Gold Wing Season 2 Episode 1

Rise of the Vigilantes

Homicides weren't all that unusual in Gotham City. The large metropolis carried one of the highest homicide rates in the country, second in total murders per capita only to Lakeside City. The crime rates in general, in both cities, were astronomical. Soon the police forces of both large cities were overwhelmed. Lakeside City had just called in the National Guard to quell the surge in violence.

The National Guard had only been minimally successful in reducing the crime rates. Naturally, all of the local politicians crowed about how the crime rate had gone down by two percent. It was becoming obvious that the Gotham Police Department (GPD) and the Lakeside City Police Force (LCPF) were undermanned to sustain any meaningful drop in criminal activity.

The general populace of both communities had quickly taken to arming themselves. Gun sales had increased exponentially in both the black market and the legal gun shops. Every neighborhood would soon become a shooting gallery between the law abiding citizens and the criminal drug gangs. Whoever shot the best would win this long term urban war. Nearly one hundred people per day from both sides were being shot, of which twenty five percent had already died.

At the moment, it was more of a stalemate with mass casualties on both sides. Recent indications were that the law abiding citizens were beginning to lose. One thing that set the criminals apart from the general citizenship was that they had no moral code. The law abiding people usually only shot in defense, as they tried to go about their daily lives. This all led to the rise of the vigilantes.

Criminals that formed gangs and organized mobs now had hundreds of associates. The law abiding citizens were still separated, disorganized, and this was leading to their downfall. Though the good citizens had formed vigilante gangs based on neighborhood location, sometimes they would mistake a criminal for one of their own. One day, when the time was right, the criminal would turn against some of the good citizens and kill them, say during a local community meeting.

The good citizens were beginning to fracture, and this degraded their resolve. Many still had children, relatives, or property to protect. Their strategy wasn't working, and the populace began to cry out for a hero. The quiet, leafy green suburbs were due to fall next. They were unprepared for the coming onslaught. The urban dwellers had become numb to the constant scenes of violence. It didn't take much to get them to retaliate, as their backs soon hit against the wall.

When things had been relatively stable, the general population witnessed through news reports, social media, and the constant TV coverage of the urban carnage the emergence of a new savior. The alien savior, Superman, and his equally impressive cousin, Supergirl, had frequented Metropolis, Kansas.

Unfortunately, this didn't help the dregs in Gotham or Lakeside City. Where was their superhero? Most logical people realized that Superman and Supergirl couldn't be everywhere at once. The Batman and his assistants in Gotham had done much to limit the violence, yet the criminal element persisted.

Who would save the good, tormented people of Lakeside City? Superman and Supergirl couldn't protect them from every murderer, rapist, and thug that attacked them. The LCPF was still under resourced, outgunned, and becoming increasingly unpopular. Enter the new vigilantes. This opened up a new opportunity for the not so super crime-fighters. Green Arrow, The Flash, and The Batman were all purported to be human, albeit with some extraordinary or unique abilities.

A new breed of crime-fighter was about to take center stage, the Metahuman. No one really knew how this had begun to happen. Some people began to acquire one or more unusual abilities. Most speculated that The Flash could have been one of the first. Clark Kent and Lois Lane of the Metropolis Daily Planet had openly wondered if Metahumans were caused by a side effect of billionaire nuisance, Lex Luthor's illegal genetic experiments. They had never publicly been able to prove any links.

Now however, the people of Lakeside City's cries had been heard. One such hero stood atop the tallest building in America, Lakeside City's Sauryn Tower. A silhouette of a tall young female appeared against the backdrop of the setting sun. The Lake far below seemed placid today, though the beautiful heroine stood stoically watching over it, allowing her lengthy raven black hair to blow wildly in the stiff breeze.

Gold Wing, aka Laura Lake, had been assigned to the city in turmoil by one Oliver Queen. It was her first true test as a new crime-fighting superhero. Relatively unknown to the general populace, Gold Wing was about to take a giant step onto the world's stage. Tall, muscular, young, and driven, Laura Lake was determined to make a name for herself. Oliver had given her the sole responsibility for Lakeside City.

The Green Arrow had directed Laura to start her crime-fighting career anonymously, and she'd agreed to build her rep slowly. Gold Wing would work the streets, get to know the people, determine who was a criminal sort, and who was just a common, usually good person that had suddenly become desperate. When backed up against the wall with no way out, any human or animal would fight to the death.

Gold Wing's SMART watch beeped, calling her attention. The watch was the latest in hybrid technology developed jointly by Queen Industries, Wayne Technologies, and WorthingtonCo. It would be part of the communications set that all of Oliver's dysfunctional League of Justice could use. The watch came with a high tech comfortable ear bud as well for instant communications over a very long range.

The SMART watch also had the ability to measure instantaneously the wearer's biological vital signs, and could be used as a tracking device similar to a GPS. Laura had agreed to allow her over the top biometric signs to be monitored, since they were far above that of a normal human's. Wayne Techs research and development guru, Lucius Fox had upgraded the SMART watch, and specifically recalibrated it for Laura.

"Yeah, Gold Wing here." Laura said above the din of the onrushing air's noise some one hundred stories above the bustling city streets. It was rush hour in Lakeside City, and the traffic had completely jammed. "Gold Wing, this is Watchtower Base." Chloe Sullivan-Queen's voice came across clearly and distinctly on the ear bud in Laura's left ear. "Go ahead Watchtower." Gold Wing urged.

"Green Arrow would like to know how things went with The Batman." Chloe continued. "Well, Watchtower, let's just say that he won't be sending me any Christmas cards." Laura scoffed.

Oliver Queen's fledgling Justice League had not yet gotten off the ground. Queen had said on a number of occasions that getting the League members organized, was like herding cats. The surly and secretive Batman had not yet come on board with Oliver's and Clark Kent's initiative.

Apparently space aliens, metahumans, and representatives of a nearly extinct culture, like Wonder Woman's Amazons, or Arthur Curry, aka Aquaman's Atlanteans, didn't sit well with the Dark Knight. He held a basic mistrust of all unusual beings. So in his mind, Oliver's Justice League had a lot to prove.

"Well, his apprentice, Nightwing, likes me, sort of." Gold Wing answered playfully. "Batman's protégé, Batgirl, is slowly warming up to me." Chloe laughed at Laura's comments. "That's a start, I guess. Keep after them." She instructed, half-seriously.

"How do you like Lakeside City?" Chloe asked informally. "The city itself is beautiful, especially along the lake at sunrise or sunset. The river that runs through it splits into three separate directions. I guess that one way to describe it is as a colorful, juicy, fruit with some rotted, worm infested interior areas." Gold Wing critiqued. "Very picturesque." Chloe commented cynically.

"Tonight I'm going to tour that slimy, rotten underbelly within the city." Gold Wing stated dramatically. "Spoken like a true superhero crime-fighter." Chloe praised. "Watchtower! Here's the scoop of the year!" Gold Wing teased excitedly. Chloe and Laura had been friends for years, and both at one time or another, had fallen head over heels for Clark Kent, before Lois Lane had ultimately won his alien heart.

Clark and Chloe had been the first strangers to witness Laura using her extraordinary metahuman abilities. Gold Wing still enjoyed a playful taunt of her friend, knowing that Chloe had always wanted to break 'the big scoop' as a fledgling reporter for the Metropolis Daily Planet. "A scoop?" Chloe's voice rose. "Yes! The biggest scoop since we found out about Supergirl!" Laura added cheerfully.

"I know exactly who Batman is as well as his two assistants!" Gold Wing announced excitedly on the secure Watchtower SMART phone link. "No way!" Chloe gasped. "You missed your calling, Gold Wing. You should be working alongside my cousin at the Daily Planet." She said anxiously. "Thanks. Except that Lois hates me!" Laura complained.

"Are you one hundred percent certain?" Chloe cross-examined the young novice superhero. "Definitely!" Gold Wing assured her. "Put it this way, I had dinner with them sans costumes! Naturally, I can't reveal the truth to anyone. The Batman had me swear to keep their identities secret. He would refuse any cooperation with the Justice League if I outed him and his protégé's."

"What is it with these superheroes and their secret identities anyway?" Chloe asked rhetorically. "I think that they all saw how well that worked for Oliver, being thrust into the public eye." Laura returned cynically. "Touche'!" Chloe countered.

"Actually I was a little surprised at the outcome." Gold Wing reluctantly admitted. "After I thought about it for a while, knowing the full story makes perfect sense." Laura added. "I get where he's coming from. I get The Batman's motivation. We actually have a few things in common, aside from our penchant for black leather." Gold Wing joked.

"Gosh! I have so many questions." Chloe began. "Can't you tell me anything more?" Watchtower's guru whined. "Hey Watchtower! Whining is not a superhero quality." Laura teased, recalling what Lois Lane had said to her a few years back. "I can say that Batman and his pals are human, with no extraordinary abilities, other than that, he is very smart, crafty, highly focused and driven, and has a basic mistrust of any of our League members. He especially dislikes our alien buddies."

"Batman is annoyingly secretive, bossy, surly, and purely from a female standpoint, he and Nightwing are very cute. They are well funded and well organized. They function as a team, though they fight often. I would almost characterize the relationship between the three of them as similar to siblings, though they are all unrelated." Laura continued as Chloe sighed audibly.

"That's not much detail." Chloe complained. "Sorry sister, that's all that I can give you." Laura quipped. "Hey wait a minute!" Chloe gasped. "Gold Wing, did you unmask for The Batman?" Laura glanced away from the SMART watch's screen. "Yes." She replied sheepishly. "What did you have to do to get The Batman, and Nightwing to unmask, or should I even ask?" Chloe's disappointment was evident.

"Hey now!" Gold Wing pretended to be offended. "You can't see through my Gold Wing mask, but I'm blushing!" Laura answered half seriously. "Batman and Nightwing were perfect gentlemen. I would almost say that they're a bit on the boring side when not in costume. I assume that they were on their best behavior in front of me." Laura added. "However, Batgirl doesn't like me at all, and she was the last to unmask." Chloe listened intently to her story.

"It could be that Batgirl was being territorial, and defending her turf, if not her job." Chloe gave her some insight. "Maybe she has romantic designs on one of the boys?" Laura's high speed mind went over the details of the bizarre evening quickly. "Watchtower, I didn't sense anything romantic going on between them. I could've missed some signs, though, after being caught under the wheels of the Clark, Lois, and Lana love triangle, I'm certainly no expert." Gold Wing admitted.

"I heard that, sister!" Chloe interjected. "Preaching to the choir, girl! Unending love triangles tend to reduce the efficiency of the team." Gold Wing nodded. "Anyway, Watchtower, the caped crusaders are good at backing up one another, despite any rivalries." Laura concluded. "Got it!" Chloe confirmed. "I guess that's all that we have for now. Would you consider them for Oliver's team?" She posed.

"Definitely!" Laura said enthusiastically. "The downside is that Batman's group doesn't appear to need us. They were perfectly happy functioning as a crime-fighting team in Gotham City." Chloe frowned. "Yeah that the impression that I got on the rare occasions when I was able to contact The Batman. What Batman and his pals fail to realize is that things aren't always within the status quo."

Watchtower continued her lecture to the newbie crime-fighter. "Things can, and will change, like our recent confrontation with the Kandorians. No one was even thinking about them, and Zod and his cronies nearly started World War III. Sooner or later The Batman and his crew will need us. They may come across a situation that lands the caped crusaders in over their heads."

Laura nodded. Clearly she'd been thinking along the same lines. "Does anyone think that Superman and Supergirl are the only aliens from another world that exist?" Gold Wing was suddenly distracted. "Ooh! Gunshots!" Laura's superior hearing was a definite advantage. "I'll have to check it out, Watchtower."

"Okay! Watchtower, out!" Chloe flipped off the SMART watch link. "Gold Wing, out!" With that, Laura switched into hyper speed and literally ran down the side of the huge skyscraper, zipping past the general population unseen. "Time to get to work!" She exclaimed aloud.