Sylvia Wayne "Wildcat"
Gotham
June 10th, 2011
I opened my eyes as the first light of morning drifted through my window. I felt the warm body next to mine, and I quietly slipped away, feeling the cool air touch my naked body. I drew the curtains so Wally wouldn't wake up. He was technically here for a sleepover with Dick, but, he snuck into my room after Alfred went to bed and my father left for his scheduled all night Watchtower duty. Oddly enough, Superman and Green Lantern were covering for him on patrol since Dick and I had the night off. I went and slipped on a pair of shorts, a tanktop, a hoodie, my Gotham Knights baseball cap, and a pair of running shoes. I grabbed the bag I packed when I got home from school and the duffel of money I had been accumulating whenever I pulled jobs with my mother. I went back over to the bed and kissed Wally. He groaned as I shook his arm to wake him up, finally.
"Babe, I have to go meet up with Bette, promised I would help out with her ACT tutoring today… and if I'm not here, my super hearing wont wake me up to hide you if I hear someone coming towards my room." I told him as I put his clothes next to him. "You might want to get dressed and finish sleeping in Dick's room." I told him and he groggily got up and started putting his clothes back on.
"Have fun with Bette." He smiled as I kissed him again.
"I love you, Wally." I told him as I headed for the door.
"I love you too, Sylvie." I heard him say as I walked out the door. I felt bad lying to him, but it was the only way he wouldn't come looking for me. I hurried down to the garage so no one would see me leave. The moment I was in my car, I felt that faint feeling, so I dug into my bag that was sitting on the seat next to me and started eating a protein bar. The minute I felt better, I opened the garage door and sped away, racing to my mother's club. The drive was easy, but I went slightly slower as I drove with one hand and ate with the other. I kept going over the conversation I had last night with my mother. Before Wally had snuck in and after Alfred drove Artemis home, my mother called back.
"Darling, your mother has worked her magic." I heard her say after I answered.
"You found her?" I asked, hoping for the best, but there was a short pause. I would have searched for her myself, but that would require using the Bat-servers, and I can't have my father finding out what I'm going to do.
"Yes and no. I found her history, genealogy, and possible locations for the target. The thing it, they probably move and hide her like nobody's business. So, I found the footage from the night she was taken for the experiments, like you were, and I got a body scan and a facial scan to use in recognition. She's been moved from city to city, and you only see her face when she's leaving a city and they never follow their flight plan. The only time she is conscious and highly visible during transport, is when they're leaving a city. So, I've created a digital schematic of the flight plans, and where they actually went after deviation. I want you to come here tomorrow and help me with those god given detective skills of yours to find out where she might be."
I was racing through the Downtown of Gotham until I found the nearest Best Buy, buying a laptop with the best processor and other capabilities I could find on short notice and included a bund of flash drives and hard drives to ensure we had everything we needed incase the information we recover needs to be decrypted in massive file dumps. I paid in cash so my father wouldn't be able to trace my purchases. After that, I made my way to my mother's club, pulling into the garage in the back upon my arrival. She was already waiting for me as I grabbed my bag and climbed out of my car, continuing to eat. I was on my second protein bar. When I stood up outside of the car, she hugged me while I crammed the last bite into my mouth. Her long hair was curled in perfect ringlets that slightly reminded me of a Hollywood Movie Star. Her lips were painted a deep shade of red that made her smile into something more daunting, but nonetheless friendly, or possibly motherly.
"How is my dear kitten?" She asked, and I flinched. I remembered how he used to call me that. But it would be useless if I let a common nickname get to me.
"I'm doing well. I hope you have a lot of food on hand. I'm going to need it. But I brought some just incase we need to get more later." I told just after I swallowed the food in my mouth.
"I have food, but I'll send out a girl or two to pick up more. Just write down a list of things and flavors that you like and they'll bring it along with some takeout so we can have some real meals while we're working." My mother handed me a pen and a pad of paper to make my list as she took my bag. We sat down in her office in the back of the club and got to work. She made sure the door to the physical office was locked, but allowed for her physical private lounge to be open incase any of her girls or clients need anything. I got situated at her computer, syncing the data to the laptop I had just bought. This way, everything she had, I had. I even programmed the clouds of both servers to merge, therefore if one computer saved something, the other would receive a copy.
My mother had handed off my list with couple additions of her own to a girl with red hair that I was recognizing from that very first job I worked with my mother. We all were in cat themed costumes and they doubted a child could run in the big leagues with them. I couldn't help but laugh to myself after I saw the looks on their faces when I destroyed the metal door to get into the locked down jewelry store. When my mother returned to get to work with me. I was already going through to files. She began pulling up a timeline and talking me through it. I ended up entering the different locations that Victoria had been taken to. But it seemed like the only way to find out where she may be next after we see which city she leaves from, is to create an algorithm, a simulation to analyze the pattern of travel. I factored in the distance between cities, the original flight plans that weren't followed, how long she stayed in each location, and correlating factors such as known activity from Vandal Savage, Klarion, and other members of the Light. The only thing that befuddled me was why Klarion didn't just teleport them. But maybe it's to keep up appearances and possibly to have their secret Light meetings without any possible interruptions. But other than those peculiarities, I continued to work. Factoring in her behavior that I remember and accommodations that had to be made because of her gift.
When I was finished, I had let the program do its work, taking a bit longer than I had expected. I got up from the table and went over to my mother, who was retrieving a large bag that I could smell had takeout in it from some french restaurant. I could tell by the specific scent of steak and frites, one being a bordelaise with caramelized onion and red wine sauce, the other a bearnaise with it's classic sauce. My mouth was watering from the scent drifting from the bag. Even more so when I picked up the scent of chocolate mousse and chevre cheesecake. I was simply dying at the smell of the delicacies. I could even smell something cold in the separate bag, a chilled scent of strawberries and another of nutella, in an underlying scent of milk and sugar.
We sat down on the sofa with our food in hand, sharing everything half and half since neither of us could decide what to eat. My mother had turned on the television and the two of us sat there, eating and laughing at the monster hunting antics of our two favorite characters in the television show we had chosen. I felt happy. Though this was simply part of the wait in searching for one Victoria Weyling. I needed to find her, but we were doing all we can for the time being. It's not like she's being tortured, but I know how much she needs to know freedom. How much she will feel and understand when I bring her back to her family. But only after I help her escape the hold he has on her. If she underwent the same experiments I did, I was going to have to help her though this treatment that I've been enduring. My brain has slowly stopped producing the fear toxin, and soon I would be free to get fat and happy as I see fit. No more letting my family have to hug a skeleton. No more Wally having to hold someone who is simply skin and bones. Things would get back to normal, and I would be free to return to my hero work. Right now, all I could do is coordinate missions from either the bioship, of the cave.
After a while, my phone started going off like crazy, my family trying to find me. But I ensured they wouldn't by having my phone's signal and gps bounce off multiple towers, making it out of the city, basically placing me everywhere. At once. But I still felt guilty when I would listen to the voicemails of a worried father trying to find me, a nervous Wally, an irritated little brother because he can't hack my triple encryption as fast as I can put back up the walls he's torn down, and a calm Alfred who seems to trust that I can handle myself more that the others seem to think so.
"Do you think they'll find us?" My mother asked as she typed on her computer. I was still combatting Dick's almost rapid decryption.
"No, between my father's training, Canary's, and Savage's, I'm pretty much golden." I sighed, the guilt subsiding when I reminded myself why I was doing such things. Tori needed my help. I may not have known who she was while I was there, let alone who I was, but I know now that she cannot be ensnared with them forever. I needed to find her and I needed to save her.
"That's probably a good thing. But if anything, there's no way I'm going to let you go in there alone. I could go with you." My mother offered as she got up from her desk and when to the refrigerator.
"Well, it's not like I can stop you from tagging along. I don't think I can do this alone either, and if we're stealing one of Savage's assets, might as well have a world class thief by my side." I smiled as she came over, a strawberry smoothie in hand. She was stirring it, and I could smell the protein powder she was mixing in.
"Yes, that does seem like a good idea." She laughed, handing me the smoothie. I just looked at her, slightly confused. "What? You're starting to look flushed and that's usually when you need to eat and since your hands are a bit busy I bought a smoothie instead of food. Faster to take in too." She pushed the cup closer and I took the cold glass in my hands.
"You're right." I sighed. "I am starting to feel a little tired." She smiled and sat down on the sofa with me.
"So, how is combatting your brother going?" My mother asked, looking at my computer screen as I switched to typing with one hand for a moment, taking a huge sip of the smoothie before swallowing and getting back to two hands.
"Pretty well, he may know computers better, but I'm programming with both python, assembly and C++ interchangeably. I switch when he least expects it, so he has to figure out which one I'm using in each package of data. I learned the tactic when I got up close and personal with Enigma. He may be annoying, but he sure likes his coding to be hard to solve. I've had to go and help Amanda Waller once while baby brother followed Bats to Russia for some mission… I think with missile codes? Launch sequences? I'm not completely sure. I was having this huge issue with 'Nigma…" I trailed off, suddenly realizing that my brother had stopped.
"What is it?" She asked, worried as I slowed my typing. I checked the clock and compared it to his lack of activity.
"I think he's gone to sleep." I yawned. It was three in the morning.
A/N: Hi guys! Remember, please REVIEW! Hearing your feedback at this point can only help me in my writing process to get you guys your story!