Golden Age Sunday: Riding Sidecar Part 1

Okay, here it is. The first Golden Age story. This follows Yellow Tail during her first teamup with The Victor.

Riding Sidecar
Part I

I sat on the edge of one of my favorite rooftops watched the sunset as I toyed with my whip. Dad was out of town doing work for Stile, and all my enemies were in jail. After patrolling for an hour after school, I had only found a purse-snatcher, and he handed it back as soon as he saw me. Bored without a case, I was planning to head back home when I saw him, The Victor.

He was dressed in a crimson bodysuit and half mask, and even though his back was to me chances were that he was also wearing his trademark grin. He was climbing a tree reaching for something. I didn’t know what until I heard him speak, his deep but gentle voice floated up to me, “Don’t worry Molly, I’ll get Cuddles.” He really does get cats out of trees.

I was trying to figure out who Molly was, when I saw the little girl. It wasn’t surprising that I had missed her. The angle from the roof had given me a good view of the street, but the girl was tiny enough to blend into the base of the tree until I looked for her. She was only five maybe six wearing a pink dress.

I ran down a few rooftops and swung across the street. I then ran up the rooftops until I was standing on what I guessed to Molly’s apartment building, all that took me less than a minute. If you’re wondering why I sneaked up on The Victor instead of just letting him know I was there, the answer was simple. The Victor is a legend, and I wanted to know if what I had heard was true or just stories and I could only do that with him unaware that I was there.

In the time I had gotten onto the roof, The Victor had climbed down the tree and handed her a large black ball of fur that could only be Cuddles. The Victor was now leaning on the tree talking to Molly. “Now Molly, I know you love to play with Cuddles, but you can’t do it outside.”

Molly had been hugging Cuddles, but had stopped when The Victor had started talking. Shaking her head, she said, “But he likes the outside.”

The Victor stepped away from tree now, “Molly, you know that’s not true. Every time you let him out he runs straight up that tree and won’t come down. The city scares him, so unless you want to his fur to turn white, you have to keep him inside. Now promise me Molly, that I’m not going to have to get him again.”

Molly sadly nodded and said, “Okay, I promise.”

The Victor produced a lollipop out of nowhere. His sleight of hand is impressive. “Good girl, here’s a lollipop. Now get inside, it’s getting dark.”

Molly again nodded and started to head inside. So he is good with kids too, I thought.

The Victor got onto his crimson motorcycle, The Crimson Sentinel I think, and was waved goodbye at Molly. I pulled my whip out, from the corner of my eye, I could see Molly waving goodbye as I swung after The Victor. I thought if I followed him something was bound to happen.

As I swung into a dead end alleyway I realize just one problem with this. I had forgotten whom I was following. Looking around the alley for someway that he could have given me the slip, I heard a voice from behind me say, “You may want to work on your stealth.”

I turned around to see The Victor leaning back on his bike with his arms crossed a smile on his face, “How can I help, Miss Tail?”

I tried to stutter a reply, “I… I… I…” Okay, so I was a little star struck. I lied a little when I said my reason for sneaking around was to see if he was what he pretended to be. I did want to see if the stories were true, but this was also the first time I had came face to face with a hero this famous. I mean he’s even a celebrity in the masked community.

Without skipping a beat The Victor responded, “You… You… You don’t need to be nervous, Miss Tail. I don’t mean to sound rude, but I do need to be somewhere. Just give me the lowdown and I’ll help anyway I can.”

Suddenly I felt like I was in the principle’s office. Looking down and shuffling my feet I said, “I don’t have a case at the moment, but I thought if I followed you something was bound to happen.” I stopped looking at ground and stared straight at The Victor, “Please, can I tagalong?”

To my surprise The Victor tossed me a helmet and said, “Get on. We can talk about it on the way.” On the way to where, I thought as I got onto the back of the motorcycle.

I held on to The Victor for dear life, trying to stay calm as we rode down the streets. This was my first ride on a motorcycle. I was blushing, but only a little, I mean I was ridding on the back of The Crimson Sentinel, with The Victor. The Victor on the other hand was very relaxed and was talking like we were in his kitchen even as we dodged back and forth between traffic, “Like I said, I have to be somewhere tonight and tomorrow is a school day. So Saturday will have to do.”

Not knowing what was going on I decided to ask a few questions, “Do for what? Hey, how can we even hear each other? And where are we going?”

For a second I thought maybe I shouldn’t be bugging the guy keeping us from slamming into a truck, but The Victor just answered the questions as he took another turn and stopped at a red light, “ Always asking questions, just like your father. Well, in the order you asked: our teamup, there’s a hidden mikes in the lining of the helmet and my mask, and your home.”

“You know where I live?!! Wait, our team up?!!”

Shaking his head with a small laugh, “Yes our teamup. Your father speaks very highly of you, and I had been looking forward to working with you for sometime. Sooner, is better than later.” He is as good as I had heard; I just hoped that he didn’t notice me blushing even more.

The Victor took one more turn and we stopped in front of a construction site. Looking around, I rattled off more questions, “Why are we stopping here? I thought were taking me home. And how do you know where I live?”

The Victor glanced over his shoulder giving me a small grin, “Again with the questions? Okay, this time in the opposite order you asked. Sauce makes your father talk, and I figured you don’t want your neighbors finding out that you are secretly Yellow Tail, the Wiry Teen.”

Pointing to the far end of the site he continued, “There’s the alley behind your apartment, so you should be able duck into room, away from prying eyes.”

After I got off the bike, I was about to ask more questions when The Victor beat me to it, “Oh yeah, our teamup. Meet me Saturday at the corner of Simon and Chambers, around 10 am, I should have a surprise for you.”

As I was hiding my suit and gear in the back of my closet, I thought over what The Victor had said. Blue Beak... I mean Dad had let The Victor find out our secrets identities. I’m going to have to find someway to fix that. He also said he was looking forward to working with me. Why would the famous Crimson Crusader want to work with me? I hope Dad didn’t tell him all our secrets.

After I got ready for bed, I looked up the address that The Victor had given me. Turns out it’s a junkyard, weird. Even weirder was that the junkyard was owned by a charity organization called Winning Back Our Streets. Well I get to work with The Victor; I just had to wait a few more days.