The arrival in 1853 was jarring for all three League members but only one of them had no extra-physical powers or energy shields at his disposal. As he coalesced from the time stream into a corporeal form, Batman immediately felt nauseous and disoriented. He wobbled on his feet, reaching out to a now solid Diana to prevent from keeling over into a fetal position on the ground.
His discomfort must have been evident to the two of them as John took one glance at him then brought his arm up, forming a stretcher with the green plasma for his ring. Stars swirled in Batman's eyes a moment later then he collapsed into the stretcher, grateful that it prevented him from landing on a barrel cactus between his feet. Diana crouched down on the ground next to him, slipping her left hand behind his head to make him comfortable. She ran her other hand tenderly along his cheekbone, her eyes betraying her concern. Despite the swirl of stars in his vision, Batman could tell from their pained expressions he wasn't the only one who had found the experience unsettling.
"You okay, tough guy?" She asked with a wan smile. Her right hand fluttered discreetly, her body still trembling from the pain of her own time travel experience.
"Felt like the boom tube," He replied with a frown. "You didn't tell me I'd feel like I was going insane in the time stream."
Diana and John exchanged a second glance of concern, surprised at their teammate's sudden verbosity. John crouched down to eye to take a closer look at his teammate. "This one was different from the last, but insane is not a word I'd use to describe it."
Batman gritted his teeth, angry to be evidencing any weakness in front of his two teammates, especially Diana. Though they were original Leaguers and knew his background as a 'mere mortal', his ego demanded that he perform at their level. He tried to sit up but his head was still spinning, leaving him too disoriented to get his feet properly underneath him. "Ooooohhh." He moaned, then laid back down, disgusted with his performance.
"Hold on." Lantern commanded, then willed the plasma to change shape. Quickly, the stretcher transformed into a more comfortable hospital bed. The portion under his feet smoothly changed shape, rising upwards. He feet were forced above his head, thereby allowing more blood to flow into his brain. Diana and John exchanged another worried glance then relaxed a moment later as they saw Batman's white pallor replaced with his healthy, flesh-pink tone.
"Thanks." Batman rasped as the last of the stars whirled in his vision. The spinning stopped at the same time, allowing him to regain his equilibrium a moment later. He took a few deep breaths then swung his legs off the green plasma bed.
Diana helped him to his feet as he gingerly raised himself off the bed, slipping her hand around his waist for support. Still unsteady, he slowly raised himself up to his full height, his own hand snaking around her waist for balance. He wobbled for a brief moment, pulling her a little tighter than was otherwise necessary. She turned her head away from him so that he wouldn't catch her smile. Diana set a more serious expression on her face then turned back to him. She pursed her lips to say something cute then thought better of it, allowing that the growing bond between them allowed him the indulgence of her touch.
Her hand gave him a reassuring nudge in the small of his back before she withdrew it, then the reality of their mission was upon them.
"Did we make our target?" she asked hopefully, then tried to soothe Batman's damaged ego. "I don't really think I could do that again any time soon."
Batman produced a chronometer and pocket computer from his utility belt. He flipped the necessary switches on the computer to put it into temporal mode then nodded with satisfaction when the matching results were displayed a moment later on the LCD.
"March, 1853." He stated without hesitation, then allowed himself a smug smile. "And right on target, too. We're two miles due east of Coloma, a town which serviced the mining camps which popped up after the Gold Rush started at Sutter's Mill."
"If I remember, you and J'onn differed on the calculations to get us here?" Lantern asked pointedly. "So you were right. Big surprise."
"Considering we're going to need every ounce of energy in your ring to power us through our next jump in time, I thought it was important to calculate our arrival to the exact moment we wanted to be here." Batman replied tersely, pointing at the device J'onn had 'liberated' from Booster Gold to aid their return trip. "Any sign of Chronos?"
"Let me check." Lantern replied. He prepared himself for flight and a green aura settled in over him. He was about to climb into the sky to get a vantage point to allow the ring to search for signs of Chronos. After getting "the look" from Batman that just informed him his idea had about as much merit as a land war in Asia, he thought better of it, then powered down the ring. "On second thought, why don't we let Diana look for him?"
"Not in that outfit in 1853." Batman replied grimly, stealing a quick glance at the armor Hephaestus had fashioned for Diana years before. He turned his glance back to John. "You're going to attract a lot of attention as well. California wasn't a slave state but we'd have to assume it was rare for a black man…a Negro to use the appropriate colloquialism, to travel with a white man and woman unless it was in the role of servant or possibly bodyguard."
Batman hesitated a moment, realizing that his normally brusque manner would ill-serve him when talking to his African American teammate about the most damning issue in American history. "No offense, John."
"None taken, Bruce." John replied grimly. "But you're uniform isn't going to impress the locals either. Why do you think Chronos came here and now? Shouldn't he have just gone to Sutter's Mill in 1848?"
Batman nodded at the wisdom of John's question. "Chronos probably realizes that it's a lot easier to steal a large amount of gold from a bank or a Wells Fargo Coach than it is to dig it out from a mine by hand. By 1853, the 49'ers were selling over 100 pounds of gold dust per week to Wells Fargo for exchange in San Francisco. After meeting him, I'm assuming his robberies will get bolder to feed his ego. He's avoided conflict thus far but I can easily see him trying to rob a stagecoach in the Old West."
As he finished, he pulled back the cowl covering his face. It was only the second time John Stewart had seen Bruce Wayne emerge from behind the mantle of the Bat and he allowed himself a chuckle.
"Flash still hasn't figured out how you knew he was Wally West."
"Took me an hour to put it together." Bruce Wayne replied, removing the cape and utility belt in two successive motions. He piled the articles neatly on a nearby tree stump, then stripped off his pants and boots, leaving himself with only his black underpants on a moment later. He produced a knife-edged batarang from the utility belt a moment later then set about trimming off the tops of his boots to resemble something more realistic to the current time period, then slipped them back on.
John turned to Diana, eyes widening in embarrassment for the Amazon Princess to see one of her teammates in the process of stripping, but she didn't bat an eyelash. Instead, she stepped towards Bruce, stopping a foot away from him with evident intent.
"Is there something I can help you with?" she asked sternly, but a coy expression in her eyes betrayed her interest in his nearly naked form as she cocked one eyebrow.
"I'm going to walk into Coloma and claim that I was a victim of a kidnapping." Bruce replied with as straight a face as he could muster. "I'll try to find some clothes and transportation suitable for this era. It will also give me a chance to look around for our friend."
"Buy horses with what?" John retorted. "Are you going to pawn your utility belt?"
"With the gold coins I brought with me." Bruce replied, producing a handful of coins from the large container on his utility belt.
"Where did you get those?" Diana asked, arching her brows teasingly to let him know that she expected a ridiculous answer. "Let me guess, it's a long story, right?"
"Amongst the many collections of the Wayne Foundation is a collection of early Federal Reserve Gold Coins in $100 denominations. They are extremely rare but perfect for what we need. Two thousand dollars should go a long way here."
"Won't you miss them from your collection?" Diana asked doubtfully.
"That's the beauty of the situation." He replied with a wolfish grin. "I'll just have to buy them again in 150 years."
Diana and John watched their teammate disappear behind a grove of trees then turned to each other, trying to think of something useful to do while he was gone.
John was the first one to speak up. "Shouldn't we gather some wood for a campfire or something?"
"Or something?" she asked quizzically.
"The Marines teach you that when you're unfamiliar territory, you scout your position first then take care of shelter and food in that order." He replied in his best gunnery sergeant voice, then his face softened when he realized his attitude was more intense than the situation called for. "Then again, I'm just a kid from Detroit who thought camping in a tent in someone's backyard was a big deal."
Diana smiled, remembering the image of John when he was an eight-year old during their battle with Mordred. "That's a pretty cute image. It's still hard to believe how thick your glasses were."
"Don't remind me," John replied with a shake of his head. "Then again, every time I see Batman these days, I get a mental picture of him as Batboy. It's fun to think of Mr. Dark and Gloomy dressed up like a kid at Halloween."
"I don't think he saw much humor in that particular mission." Diana stated with a touch of regret evident in her voice. She realized she was letting a little more of her emotions show than she was normally comfortable with, but then again Lantern was an original member of the League. If anybody could relate to her situation, he could, especially after what happened with Shayera. "He does have his moments, though. Never thought I'd see him walk into a town wearing nothing but his underwear."
"You and me both, Princess," he replied, then ducked down to gather some kindling from the forest floor, "Though I get the feeling these days that its not the first time you've seen him in his underwear."
Diana looked at him with a shocked expression then realized he was kidding. She wasn't about to take his entendre lightly however. "You should talk. First Shayera now Vixen. You're getting quite the reputation with the ladies in the League. I've also heard rumours about one of the female Lanterns. Care to comment?"
"Whoa! Easy, Princess." John said, surrendering with his hands. "You proved your point. I've just noticed that our friend…" he jerked his head over his shoulder in Bruce's direction, "seems to lighten up a bit when he's around you. For the better."
"Sometimes I wish he would lighten up a bit more," Diana admitted ruefully. "But I guess that comes with the territory. Let's get some firewood so he doesn't think we've been gossiping the whole time he was gone."
Bruce cursed under his breath as he walked into the town of Coloma, damning Chronos for putting him in this situation. Checking himself, he immediately forced a smile onto his face at the flabbergasted townspeople who'd stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of a man wearing only a pair of shorts and foreign looking calf-high leather boots. Maintaining an artificial smile, he mentally cursed Chronos one more time. If they'd been afforded another ten minutes time to procure some clothes appropriate to the era, they would have done so, but time was not a luxury availed to them and now he was standing in his underwear looking like a village idiot.
The coins were a stroke of luck, not that he would have admitted that to Diana or even John. He'd brought them down to the Cave from a safe deposit box two days before as a numismatic broker had contacted him with an anonymous offer for the collection. There was a contingency on the offer however, requiring all of the coins to be in literal "mint" condition. Bruce had set them next to his computer in the Cave later that afternoon to ascertain their condition but had put the project on hold when Chronos started his crime spree. Batman had scooped a handful into his belt during his and Diana's brief return to the Cave, noting that gold was the only acceptable currency medium for all cultures, regardless of when they might travel.
Spying additional looks of shock and disgust from the townspeople, Bruce decided to increase his pace. Fifteen strides later, he found himself in front of 'Bell's General Store' which looked like it would meet his requirements. He dashed inside before he could attract even more attention, then set off another commotion from the people already inside the store. A woman in her late twenties with two children at her side let out a quick shriek, which he managed to stifle by giving her his patented playboy grin. Momentarily appeased, she gathered her children close to her then herded them around him, her eyes locked onto his the whole time.
As soon as the family had exited the store, Bruce turned his attention to the shelves. He scanned the shelves, puzzled as different items seemed to have been piled haphazardly. Spying what he wanted, his eyes lit up when he found a blanket. He pulled it off the shelf, shook it out quickly so that its length equaled his height, then wrapped it over his shoulders to conceal his bare chest.
He approached the wizened shopkeeper standing behind the cash register, who was now eyeing him even more suspiciously than the rest of the patrons huddled in the back.
"Where's your clothes, mister?" the man asked dubiously.
"Four men ambushed me, my wife and my servant outside of town." Bruce replied. "Took our horses, wagon and even took my clothes. Only thing they didn't get was my money." He stated proudly, flashing some of the coins.
The man considered the story for a moment, dubious that four men could overpower an imposing figure like the one in front of him. "Where did you say you were from, stranger?"
"I didn't." Bruce replied evenly. "Name is John Wayne, from Gotham."
"What's a city-slicker like you doing all the way from Gotham?" the man asked incredulously, then peered over the counter at his footwear, observing. "Them boots ain't from these parts neither."
"Came in on a clipper ship round' the Horn two weeks ago." Bruce replied forlornly. "Landed in San Francisco, got loaded up with everything I was told we needed to come prospecting, then on our way up here we got robbed." He pulled a boot off then proudly showed it to the shopkeeper. "Boots are straight from Paris. Latest fashion in Gotham."
"That is a damn shame, Mister Wayne." The shopkeeper replied. Relatively satisfied that the man appeared to be what he stated, he reached his hand out to shake the newcomer's hand and introduce himself. "Robert Bell, at your service. Not the first time bandits have robbed newcomers though. If they don't start producing a month or two after they get here, they get pretty desperate and start looking for alternative sources of revenue."
"I'd like to buy some clothes for my wife and servant…" Bruce began, ticking off a list of items they'd need to set up camp while waiting for Chronos.
An hour later Bruce, now John Wayne, left Bell's store mounted on a roan colored mare. He was wearing a pair of dungarees resembling an early version of Levi's original jeans, as well as a dark shirt, vest, cowboy hat and a Colt .45 pistol which Bell had convinced him to purchase so as not to appear 'fair game' to more bandits. Grudgingly, he accepted the gun, complete with a holster and belt, noting that Lantern could probably wear it if necessary. He hated the idea, but knew a man who'd just been robbed would have a hard time turning down the security the firearm offered.
Two fresh mounts loaded with supplies and a pack mule trailed behind him, their reins attached to his saddlemount. The first was an Andalusian mare that caught his eye in the livery. The mare had looked him up and down at the stable with temperament that reminded him eerily of Diana. The owner warned him that the horse was ornery and known to bite. 'Perfect' he thought wryly. 'A Princess for a Princess.' The second horse was a coal-black gelding he thought John might like. It was a relatively small horse but its ears pointed up when he walked in the stable, signifying that it was as least interested in seeing what was going on past the stable doors.
Bruce rode the two miles back to their original 'camp'. Finding nothing, he started whistling the stanza to the chorus of Beethoven's 9th Symphony (a pre-arranged signal). Diana and John poked their heads out from behind a house sized granite boulder situated south and east of his position. They warily checked for interlopers then walked up to him when he dismounted off the roan, tying a loop around a nearby branch to keep the train from walking away.
"What's going on, Cowboy?" John deadpanned, staring at the wide-brimmed hat covering his teammate. "Nice hat."
"Thanks." Bruce replied gruffly, aware that he was the unwitting victim of John's sarcasm. "There's two tents and some clothes on the gelding…that's your horse, John. The mare is Diana's." He looked up to the north and spied some ominous looking storm clouds. "Let's get the tents set up then get you two changed into the clothes I bought you. I don't want the locals forming a lynch mob in search of green men or flying women."
Diana started untying two parcels secured to the mare. The larger one looked the most promising to her but unfortunately contained men's trousers, shirt, boots and cape, all as black as the gelding's coat. "John, these must be for you." Bruce paid no attention to her, focused on unloading the animals as quickly as he could manage. "I hope black wasn't the only color available."
"It works for me," John interrupted before Bruce could reply with one of his usual harsh comments. He slipped the trousers, shirt and cape over his shoulders, then looked over at Bruce pounding tent stakes into the ground. "You didn't by chance buy a mask? This would make a great Zorro outfit."
"They were all out." Bruce replied, irritated that at the moment he was the only one setting up camp. The sun was starting to make its way westward over the horizon while the clouds continued to build up to the north. By his estimate they only had an hour of daylight left to get their camp set up and he was frustrated his teammates were more concerned about the fashion choices he'd bought them than getting their shelter set up.
Diana untied the next knot, then her eyes went wide with delight as she pulled a royal blue silk dress out of the last parcel, complete with a parasol, matching hat and shoes and gloves. She glanced over at Bruce, now surreptitiously spying at her reaction while he pretended to busy erecting the tent.
"Bruce…" she stammered searching for the right words. "This is gorgeous! Did you spend the rest of our money on it?"
"We've got plenty left. The owner of the store took pity on my story." Bruce replied, then stood up to survey the first tent. He bowed curtly, pulling the flap open then Diana ducked in underneath it, smiling widely at him as she passed. She brushed her arm against his lightly, hard enough to ensure he noticed but away from Lantern's gaze so that she wouldn't embarrass him, mouthed a quick 'thank you', then disappeared into the tent.
John and Bruce finished the second tent quickly then divided up the remaining chores between them while Diana changed. Bruce watered the horses at a stream 100 meters away from their camp then tethered them under a grove where trail grass was abundant. He poured a few piles of oats on the ground for them to munch on then slipped off their saddles for the night.
When Bruce returned to camp, he found John adding the finishing touch to a circle of rocks intended as their campfire. He placed some dry kindling next to a larger log then sparked a blaze by firing his ring at a piece of flint. A fire immediately resulted from the shower of sparks. Bruce frowned by didn't say a word as Lantern knew better than he the battery life of his ring. They both heard footfalls on the forest floor next to the tents and turned that direction. Bruce's eyes went wide as he spied Diana wearing the dress he'd bought her for the first time. She looked beautiful. Unfortunately, she was carrying a section of a downed redwood tree which by the looks of it probably weighed at least 3,000 pounds. She set it down next to the fire then looked up, flashing another dazzling smile at him before she realize he was angry.
"No powers, Diana." He whispered through gritted teeth. "If one of these 49'ers decides to drop by our camp for a visit, then we're going to have a hard time explaining how you can do the things you do." He turned to John then motioned towards the ring. "That goes for the both of you."
Diana set her jaw to argue with Bruce then closed her mouth when she realized that he might have a point. She was still happy with the dress he'd bought her, so she opted to take the high road over his reprimand. "Sorry," she said lamely. "I just wanted some place for us to sit."
Bruce realized he'd touched a raw nerve, then decided it would be best if he tried to mollify his teammate's wounded egos. He made a point of softening his features, removing the usual brooding grimace with a more airy look that people seemed to like (Alfred called it 'the Gatsby look').
"What should we make for dinner?" he asked, searching through their supplies. "We could roast the chicken over the fire with that spit that I bought."
"Sounds good." Lantern replied. "Any beans?"
"Not many other choices for canned goods at the time." Bruce admitted ruefully. "But anything sounds good at this point. I don't think I've eaten since yesterday."
"Whenever yesterday was." Diana chimed in. "I think we had a 48-hour day, chasing Chronos back here. When do you think he'll strike?"
"Soon. Probably a day or two." Bruce replied. "I narrowed it down to a pretty small band of time, but quantum mechanics are tricky. We should head into town tomorrow morning. There's a small hotel where we can grab some rooms. After that, we should get to know some of the local authorities as well as the stagecoach drivers and their guards. Chronos will either rob a bank at night or ambush one of the special gold coaches somewhere between here and Sacramento. After that, the terrain won't be in his favor. Wherever and whenever he decides to strike, the devices I brought with us should be able to detect him within a 5 kilometer range."
"That's a pretty narrow search area." Diana noted. "We're going to be spread pretty thin trying to find him."
"It is what it is." Bruce replied with a shrug. "If we stakeout the likely ambush spots then the range won't matter. He's here for the gold, one way or another and I don't think his ego will let him believe that we can track him here." He looked at Lantern, who by now looked to be in the final stage of roasting the chicken. "Ready yet? I'm hungry."
An hour later they were sated from the combination of beans and roast chicken. They each had a canteen filled with water from the nearby stream which in turn fed the American River, starting point of the initial gold rush at Sutter's Mill five years earlier. The night air had settled around them, cool in the eastern foothills of the Sierras but not uncomfortable. A half moon was unsuccessfully trying to burn through the clouds to their east but its luminescence provided little light on the forest floor. The rain Bruce had predicted had not yet come but lightning occasionally flashed on the northern horizon.
The three of them were seated on the log Diana had procured for them. She was seated in the middle with the men on either side. Lantern leaned back on the log then turned to face his two teammates. He swung a leg up and over to straddle the log, then posed a question to Diana as she was seated closest to him. "Did you ever see the movie 'Paint your Wagon'?"
She searched her memory for a moment but couldn't place it. "I'm afraid that one must have been before my time in Man's World." She replied with a frown.
"What about you Bruce?" Lantern continued, "Ever catch it on cable?"
"The one with Eastwood, right?" Bruce replied, searching his memory. "I think I might have suffered through that one."
"It wasn't that bad! Do you remember the theme song?"
"Mariah?"
"Yeah!"
"Why?"
"Because this whole thing reminds me of that movie," John replied with a gleam in his eye. Diana looked at him puzzled but Bruce nodded his head in understanding. John looked at Diana and explained. "They made a musical Western about miners during the gold rush. Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin were in it. The theme song from the movie was 'They call the Wind Mariah.' I remember watching that movie when I was a kid, thinking that if I ever got out of Detroit and went camping out west I would sing that song around the campfire."
"Why don't you?" Diana asked.
Lantern's eyebrows raised up in question at Bruce. "Bruce, you up for it?"
Bruce looked at him, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. "I'm not much of a singer."
Diana nudged him with her elbow, whispering "Should I ask you to sing 'Am I Blue' instead?" quietly so John couldn't hear.
Bruce was instantly taken aback. He immediately tried giving her 'The Glare' but she just laughed at his attempt. He worked his jaw for a moment, chewing over his options then looked past Diana at John. "Mariah, was it? You start it and I'll see if I can remember it."
John's eyes gleamed again with delight then in a stentorian baritone started singing
"Away
out here they've got a name for rain and wind and fire.
The rain
is Tess, the fire's Jo. They call the wind Mariah.
Mariah blows
the stars around and sets the clouds a-flyin'.
Mariah makes the
mountains sound like folks was out there diein'."
Bruce chimed in at the chorus, remembering that part from the movie with his own mellifluous voice.
"Mariah.
(Mariah). Mariah. (Mariah).
They call the wind Mariah.
Searching their memories while Diana laughed with delight, the two of them joined in for the second verse.
"Out
here they have a name for rain and wind and fire only.
When
you're lost and all alone, there ain't no name for lonely.
And I'm
a lost and lonely man without a star to guide me.
Mariah blow my
love to me. I need my gal beside me.
Mariah.
(Mariah.) Mariah. (Mariah.)
They call the wind Mariah.
Mariah!
Mariah. (Mariah.)
They call the wind Mariah."
Astonished with her teammate's duet, Diana brought her hands together and clapped for the better part of a minute, exclaiming, "That was fantastic!"
John grinned and even Bruce allowed a hint of a smile as the fire cackled behind him. They made small talk for a few more minutes. Yawning, Lantern rose off the redwood log then went to relieve himself in the woods. Perched on the log a few feet apart, Bruce and Diana silently contemplated the remnants of the fire, each of them waiting for the other to speak. The silence was comfortable though and Diana opted to not to break, knowing that Bruce would be a man of few words for whatever conversation topic she decided to bring up.
John returned a minute later, announcing, "I'm beat." Turning to the tents, he grunted, "Which tent is mine?"
Bruce turned towards him, perplexed by the question. "Don't you mean which tent is ours?" He asked warily, then pointed to their tent. "We're bunking in the one on the right."
John's face twisted uncomfortably as he realized he'd presumed too much. "Right," He muttered dryly, "See you in the morning."
"Good night Lantern." Diana replied, then grinned at Bruce mischievously, welcoming the opportunity to needle her romantic interest. She leaned closer to him. "What's the matter?" she pouted. "Don't you want to share a tent with me?"
Bruce's face reddened at the suggestion then he scowled, realizing she was making game of him. He shifted on the log away from her a few inches then stopped. Opting to play the game instead of retreating, he turned back to face her. "Do you know what your problem is?" he asked with a smoldering expression that took her breath away.
"No," she replied. "What is my problem?"
"Nothing." He whispered, leaning in at the same time. Cupping her cheek with his right hand, he brushed his lips lightly against hers. She pressed his hand over his, imploring him to maintain the contact, then her eyes widened in frustration a moment later when he stood up and walked into the tent in one quick motion, throwing a casual "Good night, Diana" over his shoulder as he lifted the tent flap, then disappeared.