Chapter Thirty-Seven: A Scent of Lilac.
Harry and his girls arrived in Gotham City circa the 1960s. They didn't know what to expect. Gwen in particular looked around and pondered what was going on. There was one point that really smacked her hard on the face that she had to talk about. She allowed herself to take a momentary breath.
'You know what's the weirdest part?' Gwen asked. 'You don't see a mugging every ten feet.'
'Which does put this era of Gotham City before the death of the Waynes,' Kara thought. Gotham City always was on the verge of going completely and utterly insane. That was the trigger point that pushed it over the edge.
Hope shook her head. 'Gotham, up until the end, it was a never ending battle against crime and corruption. The Waynes just got the ball rolling and it kept rolling, until finally Gotham City was made a No Man's Land."
'Exactly what made Gotham a No Man's Land anyway?' Kara asked. She paused and realized something. 'Or does that file into things that we really don't know about the future. I'd figure as much, wouldn't you?'
'That is one of those, well duh, moments,' Kitty thought. She frowned when she considered everything. 'But then again, I'm almost wondering.'
Harry did wonder as well, but he didn't say anything. Until this moment, Harry never thought that he would step foot back into Gotham City. This was even before Helena's father had rose into the Big Black Bat. This was before Joker, Penguin, Black Mask, and any of the insane and colorful gallery of rogues.
There was crime granted, Harry didn't see that there was a place on Earth that didn't have crime. Compared to the standards of what Gotham City did become, everything was fairly peaceful and dare he say it, tranquil? Harry hated to say it, but it seemed oddly unsettling. Perhaps he was well off base, in fact, Harry was going to have to say that he was slightly off base.
It was time to figure out where things were. Harry made his way to the Gotham City paper. He paid for it and took it, frowning.
"Well, this is interesting, the Waynes are all over the society page and not the obituaries, so this puts it before the murders," Harry said.
'What if we…..' Kara started, but Harry shook his head.
'That's not what we were sent back here for, and even if we stopped the mugging on that night, there are some things that are destined to happen,' Harry answered. He leaned himself back and read the society page. 'Few familiar names in here that we know, there's a Sionis, also Falcone and Maroni….a Cobblepot that had to leave Gotham City in disgrace, might be the fat bird's father for all I know…and….oh what do we have here?'
That was one of those statements where Harry trailed off. He was muttering underneath his breath. He ran his finger down the line of the society page and tried to determine if he was on the right track.
'Dare we ask what you're hmming about?' Kara thought. She leaned over towards Harry and saw him look over the paper.
'Well there's an Evans estate here on Gotham City,' Harry thought.
That caused an interesting reaction from the members of the group. Jean was the one that broke the silence. 'Is that….'
'Well do you think that there is any conceivable reason that there is a coincidence?' Hope asked. Jean was caught off guard by this bold and brash maneuver on the part of her daughter. 'I thought that might be the case, and this ties into what's been happening with Darkseid.'
Harry could not sense Darkseid anywhere close. 'I just have a bad feeling about this, regarding what he's going to try to do.'
'Even if it's likely not to affect you at all given the nature of the timeline?' Hope asked.
'Regardless of what happens to me or not, I still have a bad feeling about this,' Harry thought. 'Pretty sure that everything happens for a reason and we've been brought here for one of these reasons.'
It was all coming to mind right now. Harry wasn't certain, but everything tended to have a way of working itself out. All he had to do was figure out what.
The era of Gotham City in 1960s and Harry read another article about one of the top rumored criminal underworld figures of this era. Some of the faces might be different, the names even more so, but even both the death of the Waynes, Gotham City had its fair share of insanity.
It was just a different kind of insanity, granted, but it was still insanity none the less. It was time for the group to make themselves scarce, should they not attract too much attention.
Gotham City did have many extremely colorful characters, even in what might end up being a more innocent time. A rather stylish looking gangster was many of those eccentric characters. He was dressed in a lilac suit, with a flower on it, and a stylish hat. He held a cane that resembled a pimp cane. He was flanked by two bodyguards that looked like your stereotypical looking henchmen, who were only out to cause trouble.
The man's name was Louis Milton, but he was known in the Gotham City criminal underworld circles as Louie the Lilac. He was able to get his hands a big chunk of the criminal underworld and he was considered a pretty large cult hero due to being considered somewhat of a savior of the anti-establishment.
That being said, there was many families that were part of the establishment in the Gotham City criminal underworld and this gentleman was no exception. His name was Carmine Falcone and he was a member of a great criminal dynasty.
"Mr. Milton, thank you for meeting me," Carmine told him.
"The pleasure is all my, Don Falcone," Louie said. His eyes looked towards the grizzled Gotham City criminal and he gave him a grim look. But please, call me the Lilac, that's what everyone in Gotham City says."
"Yes, Louie the Lilac, you've made quite the name for yourself," Carmine said.
"Just like they've called you the Roman and have compared you to Caesar," Louie said. He offered Falcone a cigar but he declined. "But I'd keep your men close to you, because you know what the story of Julius Caesar ended up like."
"I'll keep that in mind," Falcone said. He sat around the table, his bodyguards behind them. His bodyguards could take the Lilac's bodyguards easily. "I don't have a problem with your ambition, I even respect and admire some of what you're doing. If you wish to take a chunk of Gotham City, then by all means, if you're willing to work for it, then take it."
The Lilac could sense a "but" coming and Falcone was all too happy to tell him about that right now.
"When you move into my territory, you have a problem," Falcone said. "My family has worked too hard. My grandfather is an institution on Gotham City and my father as well. My future children will one day be as big of a part of this city as I have been."
"I have no intention of muscling in on your territory, Don Falcone," the Lilac told him. "I have nothing, but the utmost of respect for you and the entire Falcone Family."
"Excellent," Falcone said. "The Canary is giving my boys enough grief and if you want to stir up the hippy population of Gotham City, to cause trouble. And if you cause trouble for me, there will be trouble."
Louie lifted his cigar and smoked it. He looked Falcone dead on in the eye and he smiled at him. "All I want to do is corner the extremely lucrative flower and perfume market. I'll leave the waste disposal to the Falcones."
"Good, and I'm glad," Falcone said. "And we should have no further problems."
The two men shook hands and they left on good terms with each other.
"He doesn't know that the future of Gotham City is with the flower generation," Louie said and he lifted the newspaper that was in front of him and he flipped through the society page of it.
At first, there wasn't anything that caught the interest of the Lilac. That was until he reached the society page and noticed that a Herb and Audrey Evans are visiting Gotham City on business.
"The Evans family is coming to Gotham City," Louie said. "And you what makes the important?"
"They're pretty rich, boss," one of the thugs commented.
"Rich, but they have something unique about them," Louie commented. He flipped through the paper and put the family paper down. He pointed his finger down at the paper. "All of the daughters in the Evans family are named after flowers. And you know what that means?"
Another one of the thugs piped up. "Someone was a bit too obsessed with flowers."
Louie rolled up the newspaper and smacked the thug hard in the face. He recoiled from that attack.
"No, the Gotham City flower market is mine and anything named after flowers should be mine as well," Louie replied. He gritted down onto his teeth and flipped over the paper. "Do you see that, do you hear that?"
"Yeah boss, we do, I think we do," one of the goons commented. There was some amount of uncertainty in his voice.
"You're going to snatch all three Evans brats," Louie told them. "And I'm finally going to get the respect I need. Get ready to grab them."
The Henchmen made their way off and disappeared after a second. One of the henchmen looked at the other.
"I don't know about you, but I would think that he would get a little bit more respect if he didn't call himself Louie the Lilac."
It was a quiet morning in Gotham City. Harry held the pages of the society paper in his hand and also there were other news that was happening all throughout Gotham City. He stood side by side with Gwen and they were waiting outside of the airport at the edge of the city.
There was a lot of hustle and bustle in the city and there was plenty of insanity to go around. Gwen placed her hands on top of each other and frowned when she turned towards Harry. Her eyes locked on him. "So…..?"
"They're going to show up soon, trust me," Harry muttered underneath his breath. He kept looking forward with a frown on his face. His gaze continued to point forward. "And when they do something is going to happen."
Exactly what was going to happen, Harry honestly had no idea. There were a lot of variables going with this situation. He knew that he wouldn't be sent to this particular place in Gotham City, not without a reason.
He looked up. Gwen turned towards him and grabbed onto his shoulder. She leaned towards him and whispered in his ear.
"A storm is coming," she muttered.
Harry raised his eyebrows when he looked back at her. Harry shook his head and he smiled when he spoke. "Oh, I know, I really know."
The two of them locked arms with each other and Harry decided to flip through the paper. The best thing that they would do was pose a couple that was waiting to greet something.
"Looks like the flight is going to be a bit late," Harry muttered. He flipped through the paper.
Kara was the one that jumped into the bond link. 'There's one thing that hasn't changed no matter how long time has gone.'
Harry snickered in amusement, but paused. 'So are you in position?'
'Yes, I'm in position,' Kara agreed. She felt like she was playing the waiting game and seeing what was going to happen.
There was a thunderclap that rang in above both of their heads. It was Gotham City's traditional weather coming in to haunt them. There was a horrifying gust of wind that appeared above their head.
'A storm is coming,' Kara thought to herself. She frowned deeply. Or was the storm already here. She couldn't really tell.
Another loud boom could be heard above them.
Harry continued to act casually. Gwen's eyes narrowed when she could sense someone coming up from behind them.
Before Harry could react, Gwen spun around and punched a potential mugger in the face. A switchblade clattered from his hand. She lifted him up, deposited him into a nearby dumpster, and webbed him up.
Gwen returned to Harry, as if absolutely nothing happened.
"It seems like some things never change in Gotham City," Harry murmured. He flipped through the paper.
At first Gwen thought that he was talking about the attempted mugging. However, she realized that he was talking about something else. Especially when Harry was reading what was on the paper for his benefit.
"Black Canary continues to be a vigilante that baffles the GCPD and leans the ears of gang members ringing," Harry said.
'Actually, wasn't it only her oldest daughter that got the meta-ability?' Kitty asked. She sounded excited.
'Yes, but Harry has the ability to make women hit that high note no matter what,' Kara thought. She hovered around pretty close to where Harry and Gwen were. She placed her hand on the bottom of her chin and she closed her eyes before sighing. The blonde threw her head back.
'That's really true,' Hope said and Diana and Isobel snickered in agreement because of that.
Harry put down the paper. He figured that he would run into the 1960s Black Canary all too soon. It was only inevitable that he would run into her and potentially other members of the Justice Society of America as well. This was during their glory days after all.
'The Lilac terrorizes Gotham City, flower children support his aims?' Kat asked. She closed her eyes and wrinkled her nose at that. 'What does that even suppose to mean?'
'It means it's the 1960s, it was one of the weirdest times in history,' Hope thought. She paused and added. 'And trust me when I say that's really saying something, given all of the weirdness that came out history.'
'Is some of the weirdest yet to come?' Gwen asked tensely.
Hope didn't say a word, but her smile said more than enough.
A rather nondescript woman stood in front of a front desk at one of the most elusive flower shops in Gotham City. She had some mousy looking hair and a pair of thick glasses, along with a blouse and a long skirt that flowed down. She wouldn't be the woman that stood out in the crowd, but that was really the idea.
The woman was waiting for one of her best customers. Dinah Drake, the owner of the flower shop, tapped her fingers on the edge of the desk and rocked herself back. This was a good front for her night job, because some of the greatest criminal minds all through Gotham City came through this area.
She looked on and the door opened. As if on cue, he showed up right on schedule. The man known as Louie the Lilac made his way inside.
"Mr. Milton, it's good to see you again," Dinah said in a bubbly tone when she looked at the man who came into the shop.
Louie smiled. "You know that I always show up in my favorite flower shop in Gotham City, and I've got a big order to pick up today. That's ready, isn't it?"
Dinah nodded up and down, looking like a giant windup toy when she smiled. "Of course, you know that I'd take care of my number one customer."
Louie smiled. That was a nice broad, but she seemed to be a little bit touched in the head. She was able to get him what he wanted, so he couldn't complain about her too much.
"Just wait one second, I'll be in the back of my shop and I'll get it for you," Dinah said. She bounced up to her feet.
Louie decided to browse around the selection of flowers that he had to choose from. He was really glad to see all of these things in the shop. There was a smile on his face when he continued to browse everything around him.
He could see some rare and exotic plants. As much as he would like to take a look at some of them and see how many of them fit into his plans, he needed to ensure that he played the game about as nicely as possible. And that meant that he needed to get his order and get out of here.
"I just wanted to make sure that everything was in order, we've had some problems here," Dinah said.
Louie raised his eyebrow. "Problems, what kind of problems?"
"Oh, nothing major, one of my shipments got delayed, by Falcone's men," Dinah said.
"He didn't cause you any trouble, did he, sweetheart?" Louie asked.
"No," Dinah said. "I just told my driver to keep out of that area of town. Someone's got to do something about Falcone. His father was bad and he was even worse."
Of course, Black Canary did do something about Falcone's men as the broken bones indicated.
Louie shook his head and snapped his fingers. He realized that he wouldn't be able to haul this crate out as it was. He wouldn't be able to do it with enough manpower anyway.
The man cleared his throat and two of his henchmen turned up. They lifted the crate up and hauled it out.
"Will that be all today, Mr. Milton?" Dinah asked.
"I've got some places that I need to be, but that's all for today," Louie responded. His gaze looked over the exotic plants. They really were a bit of a weakness for him, he had to admit that much. "Might have a few questions, but got to run. Say time next week, doll?"
"Oh yes, Mr. Milton, that would be swell," Dinah said in a bubbly tone.
Louie chuckled, she was a good kid, but she wasn't all there upstairs. He was about ready to leave with the box of flowers.
"Hey, this is heavy, isn't it?" one of the goons asked.
"You drop it, and you'll pay for that," Louie warned one of his thugs.
As expensive as these flowers were, the three flowers that he was about to pick up from the shop would be even more lucrative. They would be worth much more than anything else that had been taken from this shop.
The moment that Dinah saw that they were gone, she spoke in a calm tone. "The tracker is placing. You think the Lilac is going to go after them? This is something that I've been setting up for six months here, and I hope that you will back me up on this."
Normally, the Black Canary did work solo, but it was good to have some backup. She held the fairly high tech for its time device and sure enough, it showed the Lilac and his henchmen were on the move.
All she had to do was cash in and he would be hers. Dinah Drake could not wait. It was time for the Black Canary to preside over Gotham City and bring those who would harm the innocent to justice.
The storm which had been brewing in Gotham City had calmed down after a moment, but it was about ready to kick up again.
The rumbling sound that could be heard could be mistaken for a thunder clap. It was something else entirely. A tall dark haired woman exited from the darkness, from a swirling vortex that was outside of Gotham City.
A pair of would be muggers approached her. They were stopped by the sight of her muscular frame and the fact that she didn't appear to be wearing a single stitch of clothing on her from when she approached.
"Um, just…" one of the mugger said, trying to save face.
She nearly knocked both of their heads off with a violent double clothesline. They both hit the ground and hard. There were a set of loud smacks that followed when they hit. The woman looked down on them.
Contempt followed seconds later when she stared down at them. The woman in question stood over the top of them and stepped out of the mist.
"Now, my dear, Barda, they are close," the very distinctive voice of Granny Goodness commented.
The tall woman, the field leader of Granny's latest squad of Female Furies, nodded. She stepped into the middle of Gotham City. She lifted a box and some clothes appeared around her body. They fit her muscular and fit frame, with her gigantic breasts, juicy ass, and long legs. She had a body that could stop traffic.
Barda now could fit in, or fit in at least as much as someone of her stature could. "Are you sure it's a good idea to be doing this? Hurting children….."
"It's not your place to question, it's your place to obey your dear Granny," Granny said in her disgusting mannish tone of voice.
Barda made her way forward. She owed a debt to Granny Goodness and she wished that she could break whatever control that gargoyle had over her. Granny had managed to keep the Furies all closely under her eye after losing a previous batch to Har-Zod.
Perhaps that was her savior, although Barda dare not speak or think it.
She made her way into Gotham City to snatch the mother of Har-Zod, and destroy her before he could come to be. Little did she know that someone was watching her.
To Be Continued on April 25th, 2015.