Chapter 4 – You can't always get what you want
Lantern returned to his room at sunup. His back was aching as he'd spent the last six-hours sitting cross legged, propped up on the top of a hardware store. He'd wedged himself into the corner in order to minimize his silhouette, surmising Chronos might have night vision goggles built into his helmet.
"Can't take anything for granted." He muttered to the wind.
The effort to make himself inconspicuous turned out to be an uncomfortable waste of time. While his legs and back had screamed for relief by four a.m., he forced himself to wait until the sun started to overwhelm the last remaining stars in the sky. By six, the sky had brightened enough so that he could see the entrances to the Bank without the night vision goggles. He tucked them into the breast pocket of the overcoat, contemplating how much longer it made sense to surveil the building.
He checked both sidewalks and streets surrounding the building then satisfied that no one would see him coming off the roof, shimmied down the corner truss, landing on the hard packed dirt of the street a moment later. He scurried back to the hotel then made his way into his room, surprised to find a wide awake Bruce Wayne stretched out on top of his bed.
"Awake?" John asked in surprise.
"Who sleeps?" Bruce asked rhetorically.
"Sleep at all?"
"No."
"How often does that happen?"
"More lately." Bruce replied, then sat up and dismissed John's concern with a wave. "Don't worry about it…I slept some last night. That might last me the whole week. See anything?"
"No. It was pretty quiet." John replied. "All I've got to report is an aching back. Where's Diana?"
"I assume she's in her room." Bruce replied icily.
Lantern looked at him in surprise, trying to determine whether it was a conversation that warranted further pursuit, then opted against it, noting that whenever Bruce set his jaw in that particular fashion, big explosions were usually just around the corner.
"Want to get some breakfast?" he suggested.
"Why not?" Bruce muttered in reply, swinging his legs off the bed. Anything sounded better than staring at the ceiling, thinking up new reasons not to give into his desire to knock on the door and ravage Diana.
Lantern crossed the hallway then knocked on Diana's door. She pulled it open a moment later, clad in the white cotton shirt and jeans she'd liberated from Bruce. Her eyes were somewhat puffy while her hair was unkempt for the first time since he'd known her.
"Morning." He said gently, not sure if she was fully awake. "We're going to get some breakfast. Hungry?"
"Bruce going with you?" she asked, looking over his shoulder with a distracted gaze.
"Yep."
"Then no." she replied, slamming the door in his face.
'Great,' Lantern thought as Bruce snuck past him without saying a word. 'Either they did it and hate it each other or didn't do it and hate each other.' He considered the chances of successful mission if Bruce and Diana were at odds and brought them from 50/50 down to a 1 in 10 chance. "This just keeps getting better and better." He muttered, then followed Bruce down the stairwell.
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The two men ate a leisurely and very quiet breakfast. They found a restaurant situated on the opposite street corner from the bank. Since they were the first customers in the door, Bruce opted for a window seat with a clear view of the bank. John attempted some small talk, trying to determine what transpired between his teammates. As usual Bruce was tight-lipped, reluctant to discuss anything other than the mission.
Making no headway with his teammate, John opted instead to skim through the local papers. Nursing his coffee, he flipped through the pages, looking for anything out of the ordinary which might indicate Chronos was in the region. There was a brief mention of a nearly naked man who'd walked into Coloma the day before, claiming to be victim of a robbery.
John held the article for Bruce to see, noting, "You in your underwear only makes Page #4." Bruce showed little interest in the article, returning his stare towards the bank.
Lantern wasn't surprised at his teammate's lack of interest. He returned to the paper, doing a double take on the headline he'd originally skipped. "Masked Avenger Frees Chinese." The front-page cover article concerned a "masked avenger" who, clad in black, had apparently uncovered an illegal slave trade of Chinese workers. The slave-owners had brought over 200 Chinese laborers to work the gold mines in Colubmia, California. The miners were all menacled together and were provided minimal food and shelter in conditions which could best be described as hellish. The slave-owners were found bound and gagged, with only a "Z" etched on their backs courtesy of a bullwhip.
John's eyes bugged out as he read the miners eyewitness accounts of their rescue from the mines. "Get this," he read aloud. Bruce briefly pulled his gaze off the bank building to listen to the account. "Single-handedly, this 'Masked Avenger' managed to overwhelm their captors. Armed with only a bull-whip, the man defeated twelve men armed with pistols and shotguns, subduing them without a death in the group."
Finished reading the article, John cocked his eye towards Bruce as he handed over the newspaper. "Anyone you know?"
Bruce sipped his coffee and read through the article. When he finished, he sat back in his chair and rubbed his jaw, considering the possible explanations. Finally, he reached a somewhat obvious conclusion. "The legend of Zorro must be true."
"It can't be." John argued back. "Zorro is just a legend…a myth."
"Half the people in Gotham say the same thing about Batman." Bruce replied with a smirk. "Most of the legends or myths in Western culture are usually based on some fact. Look at Diana. Themyscira and the Amazons were believed a myth by the rest of the world until she joined the League. Zorro probably suffered the same fate if the only people that could identify him were Chinese laborers who couldn't speak English. The rest of 'Society' in California probably thought they were a bunch of raving lunatics and dismissed the story outright."
"Still it would be fun to meet him in person." John replied, his expression thoughtful. "Zorro was always one of my heroes growing up."
"You and me both." Bruce replied, then his face darkened as the memory of his last night with his parents, watching 'The Mask of Zorro' at the Bijou Theatre, flooded his mind. His expression soured as the memories overtook him, reliving the aftermath of their brutal murders. As always, his most poignant memory was of himself as an eight-year old, trembling as he tried to return his mother's blood drenched pearls to her cold hand.
Bruce broke out into a cold sweat then abruptly got up from the table, double-timing it for the door. John was puzzled by the suddenly erratic change in his teammate's behavior. He downed his coffee and after paying the bill, caught up to his teammate halfway down the street.
"What's wrong with you? Where are you going?" John demanded, finally catching up to him.
"Need to buy some more clothes." Bruce replied brusquely. "Diana stole my other shirt."
They arrived at Bell's store and were both surprised to find Diana at the check out counter. She was clad in the jeans and white cotton shirt she'd stolen from Bruce. She'd done her best to disguise her face, pulling down his black cowboy hat low over her eyes while tucking her hair neatly under the hat. On the counter, she had piled two new sets of jeans, two cotton blouses, a tan leather riding jacket, white cowboy hat. For color, she'd tossed a few blue and red bandanas onto the pile of clothes.
John tapped her on the shoulder as she hadn't heard their entrance. "Shopping, Mrs. Wayne?" he asked helpfully.
Her face darkened at the use of the name then immediately brightened as she remembered her role. "I didn't want to ride all the way back to Sacramento without a proper outfit. That dress won't last another day if I'm on horseback. I'm glad you're here though. It saves me the trouble of billing this to our hotel room." She turned to Bruce with a disapproving glance. "Pay the man, won't you, my husband?"
Bruce stiffened at her mocking tone, but elected to play her game. "Of course, my dear. We'll be back to the hotel in a few minutes. Be sure to grab a bite to eat. It's a long ride to Sacramento."
Diana stared at him, a touch of menace flashing in her eyes before she accepted the parcel from the clerk. John grabbed it and escorted her back to the hotel while Bruce bought two grey shirts along with a black jacket similar to the one he'd seen Carson wearing the day before.
As he finished paying the bill, Bruce spied Kit Carson walking up the opposite sidewalk. He asked the clerk to send the clothes over to the hotel then walked across the street to intercept the man. John fell in behind him, assuming the role of security guard for his wealthy patron.
They exchanged greetings with Carson in front of the bank then he motioned them around back. Teamster crews were busy assembling four teams comprised of four horses each. Bruce and John watched with interest as the teamsters assembled the horses then hitched them up to the wagons one by one. The entire process took over an hour while the security teams loaded their rifles, shotguns and pistols.
Carson waited impatiently for his manager to arrive. Given his tone, it was obvious Carson did not hold his employer in high esteem. With no choice but to wait to unload the gold from the safe, they made small talk about the weather then Carson mentioned the appearance of 'Zorro' in their area. "Ain't the first time we've heard of him. Some land barons down in Monterey were re-writing land deeds in areas thought rich with gold veins. Zorro showed up and set the whole thing to rights in a few days."
"Who is he?" Bruce asked earnestly.
"Some say he's a son of an old Spanish governor. Talk is he's dedicated his life to atone for his father's corruption by helping the weak. I don't know if there's any truth to it, but it sounds like the man has helped some people, one way or the other."
The bank manager finally arrived and seeing Mr. Wayne, nervously fumbled the keys to the safe. Carson finally got fed up with his employer then yanked the keys away, easily inserting the master key to open the door. He pulled back the metal screen to reveal 2,000 pounds of freshly minted gold ingots waiting to travel to San Francisco.
John let out a quiet whistle of appreciation at the amount of gold stacked before them. Carson's men nudged them out of the way and formed a "bucket brigade" to move the gold from the safe inside the bank to the wagons waiting on the street. Each wagon could carry up to 500 pounds of new gold 20-pound bar ingots. Once they were loaded and locked up, a guard mounted on top of the wagon, wielding a 12-gauge shotgun. Seated next to him, the driver's were armed with .45 caliber Colt revolvers. Finally, each man had an assigned .30 caliber lever action "Henry" rifle stowed behind them for longer shots.
Carson talked them through the security procedures then asked if they had any questions.
Bruce just shook his head and asked for a few minutes to retrieve his wife. Carson laughed and told them to take their time, noting "we'd wait till sunset to get a chance to ride along with your wife." Frowning at the man's audacity, Bruce and John set off to retrieve Diana.
John stole a glance at his teammate as they walked back to the hotel. Bruce was visibly irritated that Carson had taken such an interest in Diana. John was surprised to seem him so agitated. He'd never known Bruce to get upset about anything since he'd known him, always maintaining the calculating façade of the Bat even in the most trying of circumstances. John thought it wise to try and soothe his teammate's wounded pride.
"He is just a woodsman after all." John pointed out. "No manners to speak of. And he's got a point about Diana being pretty."
"A man in this day and age should know better than to make a pass at another man's wife." Bruce shot back.
"But she's not your wife." John protested. "What are you getting so upset about?"
"I'm not upset." Bruce replied angrily. "I'm…" He stopped himself as they arrived at the hotel.
They knocked on the door of 2B. Diana opened it a second later. She looked radiant in her new 'cow-girl' outfit, white hat perched on top of her raven black hair which she'd fixed into a ponytail. "Ready to go?" she smiled brightly. "Can you ring the bellman for our bags?"
John and Bruce exchanged puzzled glances at her sudden warmth then Bruce turned and summoned a bellman from the staircase landing. He thought about trying to make a nice comment about how the outfit was becoming on her but realized in her current mood that it wouldn't be well received. Instead, he continued to the first floor, then settled up their bill. John and Diana made their way down the staircase a moment later.
The three of them strode out onto the sidewalk then Carson stopped the first of the Wells Fargo wagons in front of the hotel. There was plenty of room for their baggage (notably the box encasing Booster Gold's time machine) on top of the wagon. Carson had agreed to tote their baggage, a luxury allowing them to leave the pack mule at the stable as it could not keep up with the pace of the wagons for more than a mile or two. The crews quickly loaded up their baggage on the last two wagons, one of which was driven by Hickok. Once the bags were secured, a livery boy brought their three horses around from the stable. Bruce reached over to help Diana up onto her mount but she ignored him, swinging herself up easily into the saddle.
Bruce's expression tightened for a moment as he contemplated her new frigidity, then he and John mounted up and waited expectantly for the rest of the train. A minute later Kit Carson got the 'all-ready' sign from his teamsters, then drove the first team of horses past them, waving at them with his hat over the din of the noise of the teams, then the rest of the wagons followed in close pursuit. As he passed, Carson gave Diana a long, appreciative look, winked, then turned onto the main road leading back to Sacramento.
Diana, Bruce and John brought up the rear and two minutes later the wagon train left Coloma. Once they'd gotten far enough out of town, Bruce reached into his saddle pack and gave each one of them a metallic disk.
"Put this on under your sleeve." He commanded, then showed them how to work the buttons and settings necessary to operate the device. "They are local field generators. I think Chronos has a time machine mounted on his backpack which allows him to travel back in time, as well as a local field generator which allows him to move around like Flash relative to the rest of us. If there is a sign of trouble but no visual, dial up your generator until you're on his wavelength. I think he's probably going to hide in the 25 to 35 angstrom cycle."
"How do you know that?" John asked suspiciously.
"Because that's where The Clock King was most effective." Bruce answered, already anticipating the question. "Any slower and we might catch a glimpse of him, any faster and he might shake his molecules into oblivion."
"Got it." John replied, "what about our weapons? I know you want us to keep a low profile so that we don't spook the locals, but if Chronos shows up with his technology then the horse is already going to be out of the barn…" his teammates looked at him in surprise, "…so to speak."
"Good point," Bruce replied, handing over the revolver and bandolier containing the .45 caliber shells. "Use this if need be. If you have to use the ring, use it for defensive purposes only…shields or big explosions of dust to provide us with some cover might not be noticed."
Bruce then turned to Diana. Inspecting her new outfit, he nodded in appreciation that there was no indication of her armor, bracelets or tiara. He knew better though as she'd picked out an outfit which allowed her enough movement to put on her armor underneath the blouse and jeans. The only thing that might give her away was the golden lasso secured on her hip, but there wasn't anything they could do about that other than to try and dirty it up a bit. "Diana, defensive measures only if possible but if you go on the offensive, be sure to stay on the ground. No flying. One last note: he has lasers on his outfit. I doubt he'll hesitate to use them."
"What about you?" Diana asked, expressing an odd mixture of interest with professional detachment. Bruce felt her indifference meant that she really didn't care to hear his answer so he pointed silently to his utility belt tucked underneath the grey shirt and black jacket he'd purchased that morning. The new clothes were bulky enough that no one would notice the bulge created by the belt unless they were inspecting it by touch, and Bruce didn't intend to let anyone get that close.
Settled on their plan, they spurred their horses to catch up with the wagon train. The dust from the four wagons was choking so they waited a quarter of a mile until the road widened then spurred their horses past the train, settling at a comfortable trot in front of Kit Carson's lead wagon.
While they were only fifty feet in front of the wagon, short of a gunshot there was no danger of the teamster's overhearing their conversation as the clatter of hooves and wagon wheels meant the teamster's would have to rely on their sight alone to locate any potential attackers. The three of them formed up their horses next to each other, with John finding himself in the middle between a frostye Diana and equally indifferent Bruce, not interested in speaking to each other unless the mission required it.
Bruce pulled a map from his shirt pocket Carson had provided him earlier in the day, passing it to John then onto Diana once he was done reviewing it. "There's two places I've marked which would provide Chronos with an optimal terrain to make his ambush. The first one is another half an hour up the road. A bridge crossing over the American River. If he takes out the bridge, the wagons will be sitting ducks."
"Noted," John replied. "Just like they taught us to do it in the Marines."
Diana nodded in understanding then turned her head as Kit Carson called out to her. Ignoring Bruce deliberately, she gave John a puzzled glance then reined her horse in to slow its' pace, waiting for the wagon to catch up. She settled the horse next to Carson's wagon then started passing the time with him. Carson immediately attempted a few clever remarks in his official capacity as the master of the wagon train. Diana was initially indifferent to his flirting then realizing that she was still angry with Bruce, Diana decided to play the coquette with Carson, encouraging his rather shameless pursuit.
Bruce couldn't hear the two of them over the clatter of hooves on the gravel however he immediately noticed that Diana seemed delighted with Carson's company. Her face grew more animated by the moment as Carson heaped a number of compliments on her, ranging from her choice of new clothes to her obvious comfort on top of the Andalusian mare.
Bruce turned from time to time to watch them talk, trying to pick moments where he could do so without being too obvious. It was nearly impossible. He debated placing one of his mini video cameras on the back of his saddle so he could watch them without turning around but realized he would look like an even bigger fool than he already was. He resigned himself to put up with the torture for a few more minutes, his emotions simmering at a low boil but rising up on occasions when her face grew more animated. Diana noticed his discomfort and their eyes met once when she caught him glancing back her way. Diana flashed him a subtle smile, letting him know that she was enjoying his discomfort.
John watched his teammate's countenance tighten by the moment, then decided to help him with the same kind of advice Bruce had provided for him a few months before. "Women," John intoned, "the most mysterious creatures in the universe."
Bruce eyed him coldly as he comfortably rocked back and forth on his horse. "Shut up."
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The stop at a watering hole an hour later was welcome, both for the horses as well as the riders. After seeing to his roan to make sure it took in a healthy pull of water, Bruce replenished his own canteen to wash out the dust in his mouth.
The water didn't do much to wash out the other taste in his mouth: jealousy.
With the exception of the one, knowing glance his way, Diana had all but ignored him during the ride, chatting and flirting with Carson as well as the other men on the wagons, who relished their time in the company of this beautiful woman. Normally viewed as somewhat aloof by her League teammates, Diana seem to revel in her role as the object of their affections, especially since she could see the pain it caused Bruce. She debated about whether to twist the knife once more as he surreptitiously stole another glance her way, then decided it was a good idea.
As the crews loaded back up into the wagons, Carson's invited her to ride next to him in the wagon, noting "it must be very hot for a woman of such beauty to ride in the saddle all day long." Nodding, she handed the reins of her horse to the guard on Carson's wagon, then hopped up and sat next to Carson, sitting closer to him than would otherwise be considered appropriate for a married woman. Carson's eyebrows rose in delight, interpreting her action as a clear indication that she was interested in him.
Lantern's eyes grew wide as Diana settled onto the buckboard next to Carson, then shook his head and let out a whistle. 'It is on," he thought with a laugh, then got serious again when he stole a glance at Bruce. 'I hope Diana knows what she's doing. Bruce has been a little…different since we came back to the Old West.'
Lantern contemplated their arrival two days before, reflecting on Bruce's comments and actions to date in 1853. 'Let's see, there was that 'insane' comment about the effects of time-travel, singing around the campfire then in front of the hotel when he kissed Diana. He's even gotten jealous of Carson.' He surveyed his teammate seated on the horse next to his, looking for signs that something was amiss, but finding nothing but a slight throb in his temples which he couldn't tell whether was new or not since Bruce almost always had the cowl over his head.
Independent of each other, John thought Bruce's actions irregular, attributing each one of them to the requirements of the mission. Still thinking something was amiss, John continued to sneak glances at his teammate, looking for something obvious. His patience was rewarded a moment later when Bruce's expression changed from laconic to furious in a flash. John realized with horror his teammate was about to unleash an attack on the unsuspecting Carson, an unwitting pawn in the game Diana was playing.
Fearing for the mountaineer's safety, Lantern ambled his horse over to Bruce, who by now was reaching inside of his shirt for a knife-edged batarang intended for Carson.
"Bruce," Lantern began quietly, "What do you think you're doing?"
"Huh?" Bruce asked, his expression changing from rage to bewilderment in a quick second.
"Put the batarang down." Lantern whispered. "It's not worth it, trust me."
Bruce looked at his teammate with dismay, realizing that something was not quite right. "I'm… sorry, John," He began, his face a mask of confusion. "Something's wrong. You need to take over the mission…"
The effort to control his emotions left Bruce exhausted. He slouched over on his horse to regain his breath, sweat pouring from his face. John reached over and steadied his friend until he regained his strength a minute later. "Bruce, what's going on?"
"I've been fighting it since we arrived." Bruce whispered, the strain evident on his face. "Thought I had it under control."
"Had what under control?" John asked.
"Something happened during the time travel. Feels like my mind is slipping away from me." Bruce replied, his face gaunt. "We've got to find Chronos fast before I endanger the mission."
"Don't worry, Bruce." John urged, trying to buck up his teammate's spirits. "He's probably a few minutes up the road. You going to be okay?"
"A good fight sounds like a welcome relief, right about now." Bruce admitted, then took a deep breath, focusing his willpower to overcome what he imagined felt like a schizophrenic episode. He sat up a little higher in his saddle then re-doubled his efforts, bringing the Bat back over his eyes. The effort was an obvious strain as his psyche seemed to be at war with itself. John knew better than to try and talk his teammate into sitting on the sidelines. He was about to ask what they should tell Diana but Bruce cut him off before he could speak. "Don't tell Diana." He implored, "I've put her through enough already."
"She's our teammate and she should know you're not 100." John protested.
"She'll fight differently if she thinks something is wrong with me, then she'll get hurt," Bruce replied darkly. "Don't tell her a thing."
Lantern looked over his shoulder back at Carson's wagon to see if she'd picked up on any of their conversation. She had stopped flirting with Carson and was looking at the two of them with concern, her eyes asking a question he couldn't answer in the presence of "civilians". He shrugged then shook his head, as if to demonstrate nothing was wrong, then a series of explosions rocked the road behind them, leaving him no time to explain Bruce's behavior.