Chapter 25

Epilogue / Assembly

Kara Kent had managed to locate Greg's other party boy pals in and around the wharf, and had them report to Metropolis Police Department. The Intergang thugs who kidnaped them, had either intended to ransom the kids back to their usually wealthy parents, or keep the kids as makeshift work slaves.

She felt bad about not rescuing Mr. Wayne's charges, especially after Clark and Laura had rounded up the Intergang members. This represented the first major bust that the fledgling crime-fighters had pulled off. Kara, Laura, and Clark had all worked together on the problem. Oliver Queen took notice.

Chloe and Oliver lounged around Watchtower Base as Clark, Kara, and Laura returned from their adventures. "Talk to me." Oliver directed his request at Laura. "What went wrong out there?" Chloe watched Laura's reaction to the questioning. "I let my Loracite reserve dwindle down a bit." She explained. "I'm trying to keep the intake amount under control."

"You put the team and operation at risk." Oliver pointed out. "Really?" Laura's eyes narrowed. "I knew that nothing short of those damn meteor rocks could hurt Kara or Clark, and as for Bats and Dick, they're not part of our team." She defended. "That's not the point." Oliver continued harshly.

"By your reckless actions, you could have gotten the hostage or hostages killed, or murdered the Intergang operatives by accident or on purpose." Oliver lectured her. "You know, rich boy, I don't need your band of misfits to hang out with." Laura snarled. "I can do just fine on my own."

She got up off the seat and prepared to zoom away. "Laura wait!" Clark pleaded. "Oliver makes a good point. We want you to be safe, and I know I want our missions to be successful." Chloe felt that she had to chime in. "Laura, all we ask is that you think for a few seconds before you act."

This seemed to calm Laura's temper a bit. "You're right. You don't need us." Oliver added as his tone softened. "We'd like to have you, though. I mean everyone gets lectured now and then." He smiled disarmingly. "I don't know how many times Clark, Chloe, or Lois have called me on the carpet. Every time, they were mostly right."

"Yeah Laura." Kara put in. "Kal has bent my ear on more than one occasion." Laura sat back down. "I guess I could be more careful, I mean seriously though, how are you going to keep tabs on everyone?" Oliver rubbed his dimpled jaw. "I've given that a lot of thought. We're calling a meeting at Clark's barn. You know, the Halloween Party night. My entire team will be there."

"I'm listening." Laura hinted. "We'd like you and your buddy, Tim Servo, to join us. Literally." Oliver smiled brightly. This gave Laura a brighter outlook. Clark faced Laura, and she melted into his eyes. That crush never did go away completely, she mused. "We mean it. Laura. We'll need all the help we can get. Tim can be very useful as well. He'll be like Chloe's protégée." Clark explained.

"Okay, I'm in." Laura smiled at Kara. "But no more lectures." Oliver chuckled. "I can't promise you that, Gold Wing!" Laura and Kara exchanged glances. "We'd like to invite Bruce, Dick, and Barbara as well." Laura informed them. Kara nodded in agreement. "Okay, but tell them to be there at about eight o'clock." Clark directed. "At six thirty, Oliver will address his team. I'll have to keep Lois busy somehow."

"I bet you will." Chloe teased, feigning jealousy. Clark rolled his eyes. Kara playfully slapped Clark on the back. "It's just a sacrifice that you'll have to make, cousin." She added sarcastically. Laura just glanced away, pretending to be observing one of Chloe's monitors.

Back at the hotel, Bruce and Dick were finally reunited with Alfred and Barbara. "Just a simple little vacation on school break, eh?" Barb asked Bruce cynically. "Do you guys want to head home?" Bruce asked. "No, I think that we ought to attend Clark and Kara Kent's party." Dick decided.

He certainly wanted to see Laura and Kara again. "Yeah, we could use the break." Barb commented. And I wouldn't mind seeing Clark in person, she thought lustfully. "If I may, sir, this Gold Wing person possessed unusual powers?" Alfred's interest was piqued.

"Yes Alfred." Bruce began. "Dick and I saw her get up from being shot point blank. Even if she had a good bulletproof vest, those shots should've knocked her out cold for a long period of time. At the very least, she'd have had severe bruising on her abdomen and rib cage."

"She wasn't wearing a bulletproof vest." Dick clarified as Barbara's eyebrows rose. "How do you know, or should I even ask?" Dick reddened, and sat comfortably in a plush hotel room chair. "I kid you not. Gold Wing could move faster than the eye can see." He added. "She was amazing," Dick kept repeating.

"What is she then?" Barb wondered. "I'm convinced that Gold Wing is a Meta Human." Bruce stated. "My word, sir!" Alfred exclaimed. "Possibly the first of her kind." Bruce settled into another chair, striking a thoughtful pose. "No, there are others." Barb elaborated on the research she'd been doing on the Smallville and Metropolis meteor freaks.

Bruce shook his head. "No, Gold Wing said she was from Nebraska. There were no reports of unusual beings in that state at all." Barb listed some of the known incidents of super powered people. "There's the Central City Flash, and the Coastal City Surfer. He could reportedly swim faster than a normal human."

"I don't believe that I like this at all, sir." Alfred commented. "You and I both, Alfred. We have our hands full back in Gotham with psychotic human criminals, let alone ones with superior powers. We'll have to bring our game up to a whole new level." Bruce said solemnly.

"Perhaps if we had help, sir?" Alfred suggested. "You mean cut a deal with Queen, and get some more information out of him?" Bruce toyed with the idea. "What do we have that we can offer Queen, to get him interested?" Dick and Barbara had zoned out, each considering the new people they've met.

"Bruce, for some reason, I think that we'll get some answers at Kent's party." Dick tuned back in to the discussion. "You said yourself that Clark Kent and Chloe Sullivan figure prominently in all of the strange goings on around Smallville and Metropolis." Barb reminded them.

"Lois Lane is somehow involved as well." Bruce contributed. "Otherwise, why would this Blur drop you off at her desk at the Daily Planet? I think that they're all linked together. I'm certain that the Gold Wing and the Blur are working together. Those Intergang goons at the warehouse didn't go airborne on their own. They had help." The crime-fighters agreed that Kent's party was their best opportunity.

"The only question is, what kind of costumes should we wear?" Dick brought up. Bruce rubbed his square jaw, lost in thought. "No one around Smallville or Metropolis had seen your usual outfits." He postulated. "That just leaves Alfred and I." The elder British nobleman scoffed. "I'll pass, sir."

On Wings of Night

"Get this, Kara Kent said that the Halloween Party will have a super hero theme." Barb's eyes sparkled with mischief. "My word, how blatantly ironic!" Alfred remarked. "I've got it, Bruce!" Dick snapped his fingers. "You remember telling me about that old black and white cartoon you used to watch as a child?"

"Yes. The Grey Ghost." Bruce confirmed. "Grey ghost?" Barb echoed. "Master Bruce used to tie a gray blanket around his neck and run about stately Wayne Manor shouting: Look at me, I'm the Grey Ghost!" Alfred said, smiling wistfully as he recalled the memory from a much happier time.

Barbara laughed heartily. "The truth be told, I did the same thing, running around my dad's apartment with a blanket on, yelling, I'm the Batman! Dad told me that I should call myself Batgirl." Bruce grinned, embarrassed slightly, but said nothing out of respect for Commissioner Gordon's daughter.

"That was just last week!" Dick needled his good friend, bringing a smirk to even Alfred's stoic face. "Very funny, bird boy!" Barb took the good natured ribbing. "Seriously though, I've been thinking." Dick began, as Barb rolled her eyes. "I think that I'm going to hang up my Robin costume."

Barb, Bruce, and Alfred shared a gasp. "What do you mean, Dick?" Bruce inquired worriedly. "I loved my family, especially my older brother. That's why I honored them with the Robin name. Now, I think that I need to move on." Dick explained. "I want to create a new identity."

Bruce had figured that Dick was considering something like this for a while. He could always tell when his young charge wasn't fully on his game. Barb whistled, as Alfred's graying eyebrows rose. "Such as?" Bruce prodded. "I'm going to call my self, Nightwing. The outfit will be half black and half sky blue. I had a test garment made at a local tailor. Don't worry, I said that I was joining a rock band."

"If that's what you want, Dick." Bruce added warmly. "It'll take some getting used to." Dick nodded. "I picked it up just before we were kidnaped. I plan to unveil it at the Halloween Party." Barb shrugged. "I'm okay with it, Dick. Not that you need my approval." She said playfully.

"When we get back to Gotham, I'll have Lucius Fox at Wayne Industries copy the Nightwing pattern and incorporate it into our Kevlar and other material outfit designs." Bruce offered. "Thanks Bruce." Dick suddenly felt wimpy, and he hated that. "Dick, you're eighteen now, and capable of making your own decisions. Just try and make the right ones." Bruce said extending a hand to him.

The boys clasped forearms, and Barb put her hand atop theirs. Alfred smiled warmly, beaming with pride over the dedicated young people whom he decided it was an honor to serve. Now all that was left to do was get ready for the party, which would be this Friday night.

Assembly : Part 1

Over at the Daily Planet, Lois Lane tapped her foot nervously on the sparsely carpeted floor, while simultaneously gnawing on a wooden pencil, and staring into her computer monitor screen.. "Hey Lois! Is that what they call multitasking?" Clark teased his intended date.

"That's right, Smallville!" She smiled brightly at his approach, tossing the chewed pencil into her 'In' basket. "Some people say that I can walk and chew gum at the same time as well. Not that the Blur would even notice!" She sniped, getting up to greet Clark. "Oh, him again." He glowered at her.

"As usual, Smallville, you missed all the excitement." Lois hopped up on the edge of the desk near Clark's side, crossing her long legs elegantly. "Oh? Like what?" He was getting much better at playing the innocent, though he was also beginning to hate more and more that he couldn't just simply tell Lois the truth. "The Blur dropped Barbara Gordon right in my lap!"

"In your lap?" Clark snickered. Lois sighed. "It's an expression, Clark! Miss Gordon had been kidnaped and was being held for ransom...." She related the entire story with very little embellishment. Clark, meanwhile was thinking of a way to ask her out for Friday night, to be his date for the party. He knew that she'd be there anyway, but this time, he wanted it to count for something.

Clark politely waited for her to finish, and cleared his throat. "Isn't that something?" She was just making the last comment. "Lois, I want to ask you something." He nearly choked on the words, even after kissing her a few times over the last month. "Shoot." She prodded, unaware of his intentions.

"What are you doing Friday night?" He exhaled, finally getting the question out. "Well, Duh, Clark!" She remarked, totally missing the point. "I'm going to your party. In fact, I'm resurrecting my Stiletto outfit, though I changed a few less comfortable aspects of it. The costume came out great."

"I meant..." Clark steeled his resolve. "Would you be my date for the evening?" Lois silenced, never a good sign. "Oh!" She flushed slightly, conflicted as usual between her perhaps foolish feelings for the Blur, and her more realistic feelings for Clark. "Just for the evening?" Lois's eyes sparkled.

"I figure that I better not push my luck." Clark said, relaxing into a smile. "That's very wise, Grasshopper!" Lois teased, edging closer to him. "Yes, of course, Clark." She stood up, and then leaned into his chest. He instinctively wrapped his arms around her thin waist.

"Come here." Lois glanced around the office nervously, and grabbed Clark's hand. "Catherine?" Lois called to the new hire, Catherine Grant. "I'm going out for a double cappuccino! You want anything?"

The tall, lanky Blonde glanced up from reading the Daily Planet Social Pages, grinning evilly.

"Going for a quickie, are you?" Cat taunted, the first of many. Clark reddened. Lois didn't appreciate Cat's perverted sense of humor. "Coffee, that's all." She snapped. "What a shame!" Cat teased. "No thanks, my break is coming up in a few minutes. See ya. Don't do anything I wouldn't do. Then again, there isn't much that I wouldn't do." Cat flirted heavily, as she appraised Clark from head to toe.

Clark guided Lois into the elevator, where they kissed heavily for the entire speedy ride down to the lobby. Lois wiped her lipstick off of Clark, and smiled happily. Clark was speechless, as the doors opened. Perry White was just coming into the office. "Where's the fire, Lane? Kent?" He asked.

Assembly 2 next