Acadian: I still remember my Into to Psychology class, and Wilhelm Wundt was one of the people we covered. My instructor himself raised the similarity to Willy Wonka! El Gordo was a cool teacher.
Thankfully it was only her attending class. If it was her teaching a class at the dojo it would be even more difficult to just duck out of it. That is the problem of having a day job and trying to be a superhero. Eventually they will be at odds with one another.
Those aren't really official callsigns. I just read a short story named "Broadsword Calling Danny Boy" that was loosely inspired by Where Eagles Dare, so that, and the movie, were forefront in my mind. Plus it is a pop culture reference that I cannot use in most of my writing.
January is slowly but surely improving her flight. I am sure it will come as no surprise when she no longer simply glides, but flies outright. That is one of many improvements I want to show her working toward.
I did say that January and Avery were going to upgrade her long range arsenal!
treydog: Where would our culture be without Willie Wonka and his amazing rhyming name?
I have often told myself to hold on to those rare, wonderful moments for as long as I can. January is now learning that life is just a string of moments all lined up in row. Many forgettable. Some to be cherished.
The intelligence behind this all is indeed, pretty intelligent. We will be meeting him in a few episodes.
January's Route To The Junkman's Lair 01January's Route To The Junkman's Lair 02January's Route To The Junkman's Lair 03January's Route To The Junkman's Lair 04 (Her Bus Stop before the Packard Plant)January's Route To The Junkman's Lair 05January's Route To The Junkman's Lair 06Book 2.10 - Stormcrow Recycled"I've got them on the tracker heading south on Mount Elliott," Gadget said over the comm. "Just for shits and giggles I'm trying traffic cams. But they all go dark before the truck comes along. This is some really good electronic camouflage."
"But at least the GPS is still working," January said.
She leapt up to the roof of the tallest building in Global Titanium's complex. Then from there a second leap took her into the sky. She snapped out her wings, and began to glide along a pair of train tracks. They went in the same direction that Gadget had indicated, parallel to the street the garbage truck had turned on after it left the metal shop. This time she did not try to go too fast. She did not want to catch them after all, just follow their trail, hopefully out of sight.
"GPS uses microwaves," Gadget explained. "Some would say they are a subset of radio waves. Others put them in their own category. In any case, a different wavelength in the electromagnetic spectrum."
"You just love to nerd out like that," January laughed. She was flying again. No one had been hurt, and their plan was going, well, according to plan. Things were good.
"You know it babe!" Gadget exclaimed.
"Careful, I might start quoting Carl Sagan on you," January said.
"Don't make promises you can't keep baby," Gadget deepened his voice into his sexy-man tone.
"We are star-stuff, which has taken its destiny into its own hands," January declared in her sultriest tone.
"You are such a tease," Gadget laughed. "If any aliens are listening to this, they are mighty confused."
After that January went silent, putting her full attention back to her routine of leaping and flying. Thankfully the railroad tracks were lined by factories and warehouses. They provided her with plenty of rooftop space to land on, build up some steam by running, and then leap back into the sky again.
Her eyes scanned for signs of the truck and flying robot. But she was too far away from the road, and there were too many buildings blocking it from her view. That was just as well, because if she could see them, they could see her. Instead she relied on Gadget to give her updates on the GPS signal's progress.
"Ok, its veering south-west now," Gadget said.
Soon January soared over what looked like a junkyard for broken semi-trucks. Beside it the railroad tracks fanned out into half a dozen different lines, many filled with rusted train cars. The tracks veered south-west, and forced the parallel street to do the same. January followed, eyes open for danger.
"I've got the video back," Gadget said. "You must be out of range of the jamming. Turning mostly west now. It looks like they're cutting through a neighborhood."
January kept on her south-west course, and followed the wide swath of train tracks. She hoped the robo-thieves were still planning on going back south eventually. She could cut across their path, and gain ground. Well, gain sky at least. Soon the landscape became very familiar. She was back in Hamtramck again. The massive complex of the Cadillac plant rose up to her left, and beyond it the towering smokestack of the Detroit City Incinerator.
"Turning south again, on Conant," Gadget said. "I just lost video again, so you must be close."
January dropped down onto the roof of an abandoned factory to her left, just beyond the railroad tracks. She stepped behind a large water tower, and stared out toward the west. Not too far away the street crossed under a railway bridge, and continued south toward Downtown Detroit.
"I see it!" January exclaimed as the garbage truck briefly came into view, only to vanish beneath the bridge again. The rest of her view was blocked by a warehouse, so she could not see it emerge. She gambled that it would not stop and turn back around to shake any pursuit, and launched herself into the air southward once more.
She found herself out of industrial parks, and over a residential area. The meant smaller rooftops and power lines. It slowed her progress, as she had to always watch for trouble. It also brought fingers pointed toward the sky, and cars that stopped to watch her pass. That made her wish for the run down factories and warehouse again. The last thing she needed was to be blamed for someone rear-ending someone else.
She found a three-story school with a wide roof to land on. She got a good long run out of it, and was back into the sky once more. The giant Hamtramck Plant lay just past a few more blocks to the west, and she was obliged to bank more to the left, to leave room between her and Conant: the main street headed south.
"It's passing over 94, still heading south," Gadget kept the steady updates coming.
She recognized her bus stop from her training sessions with Lighthammer right up ahead. Beyond it was I-94, and the sprawling decay of the Packard Plant. She headed toward the latter, knowing that it was filled with both rooftops and convenient places to stay out of sight. She had just passed over the highway when Gadget came back on the comm.
"It just turned west again on Medbury," he said.
January had to turn once more, and followed Gadget's report back over another large residential area south of the freeway. The homes here were not all crowded together like in a normal subdivision however. Most of the lots were empty. Some entire blocks only had four or five homes in all. January imagined that all the other houses had either burned down, or been abandoned and torn down. She had to admit that the added greenery from the grass-covered lots and extra trees did look nice. Even though the maples and oaks made gliding more tricky.
"Back in Poletown again," January noted. "It looks like we're headed for the incinerator."
"Those trucks were thrown together from scrap," Gadget thought out loud. "Maybe the Robo-Boss has his lair in the city dump? Oh, turning south again on St. Aubin."
January alit on top of a tall church, with ornate minarets that capped two of its corners, and a third spire in the center of its roof. All were made of bronze turned green with verdigris. She landed atop one, and eased down into a crouch. For a moment it struck her that it looked just like a classic comic book pose, of the Dark Avenger protagonist perched upon an appropriately Gothic steeple. All she needed were some crows to swirl around her for dramatic effect.
She almost jumped out of her skin and fell off the building when one of said crows croaked loudly in her ear. She was thankful that she was already hanging on to one of the minarets for support. Turning her head, she saw the bird leap into the sky, and followed its black figure across the cityscape.
That brought her eyes directly upon the garbage truck again. She swung back around behind the minaret to stay out of sight. The truck was headed down the street just a block ahead of her. Beyond was a sprawling lot belonging to another metal company. But where the previous businesses had been nice, relatively neat places to stockpile new metals, this was where the scrap went to die. It was a junkyard of rusted iron and twisted steel piled high into heaps. Farther still lay the city dump, whose single, tall smokestack rose high into the sky.
She kept her eyes glued to the truck and waited. She was too near to go back into the sky now. It drove down to the next intersection and turned toward the incinerator. But before it could reach the city dump, it turned into the driveway of a building set adjacent to the scrapyard instead.