A nita Potts thrust her microphone into Captain Goldstar’s face along with the twenty other reporters, all shouting questions, desperate to try and get a quote from the famously laconic super hero about his latest save. This time it had been a bomb on an oil tanker set by Dr. Green, the environmental activist villain who seemed to have forgotten that his plot would have hurt all the seabirds along with the oil companies; not to mention the sailors manning the tanker who would have been very dead without the heroic Goldstar. Anita tripped in the crowd falling against the Captain, further exposing more of her ample breasts with the hope that Captain Goldstar would take notice of her over the other shouters. He set her gently back on her feet, but took no more notice of Anita than he did of any of the other reporters.
Anita dressed each day with the idea that the superhero would at last see her and take note, and then her dream of being swept up in Goldstar’s strong arms and flown away for her own happily ever after would come true. With his silken blonde hair and emerald green eyes, lean muscular form wrapped in his spandex and tights, Captain Goldstar was the paragon of Anita’s ideal of what a man should be. Of course Anita wasn’t the only plucky girl reporter to think this, she knew she would have to be more than just another pretty girl in a short skirt and low cut blouse that was a mockery of professional attire.
That was why today was going to be different. Anita was a good investigative reporter and she had been studying Captain Goldstar. Everything from when and where he was spotted, to the far too few words that the Captain actually spoke. Her research had Anita convinced that the Captain, like many super heroes, had an alias, a secret identity that allowed him to live at least some of his life out of the spotlight. She knew there was one sure way of landing her own personal superhero: discover his other identity. Anita had carefully cultivated a relationship with a geeky tech dork; he now adored her and asked no questions when she requested a lightweight GPS tracking beacon be made.
Anita smiled as Captain Goldstar took flight, up, up, and away from the disappointed mob of reporters while the crowd of fans who had managed to witness the event were delighted to have been a part of history. Anita no longer had her tiny tracker; it was now attached to the inside of Captain Goldstar’s cape. Soon she would discover who the Captain was in truth… soon she would have her man.
*****
GPS in hand, Anita slid out of the taxi and threw some money at the driver without looking how much she gave the man. She was closing on her target, the pulsing dot on the GPS screen had not moved for several hours now. Anita walked steadily forward as her heart pounded in excitement. She imagined how Captain Goldstar would look at her with respect and lust when she revealed she had discovered the truth about him. Anita paused to straighten her attire so that she would be suitably attractive for the encounter.
Anita blinked in surprise, as for the first time she took her eyes off the GPS to look at the area the beacon’s signal had lead her too. She had been expecting upscale apartments, but found herself surrounded by bars and nightclubs in a part of town she had never been to before. Anita’s eyes flashed back down to the GPS to double check the coordinates the beacon was sending, but there didn’t seem to be a mistake. Anita squared her shoulders and re-imagined the secret identity of Captain Goldstar, from well-to-do suit and tie-wearing businessman, to successful, laidback, silk shirt wearing nightclub owner. Anita smiled, pleased with her new idea of the superhero’s secret identity.
Anita hurried past a bar named The Unicorn, she admired the bright silver and pink décor, thinking it would be a nice place for her to get together with her friends to dish about her finally landing her dream guy. The evening dusk was starting to fade into true night, and the sidewalks were filling up with people heading to drink and dance. Anita’s eyes were intense and back on the GPS.
The coordinates lead up to a nightclub called The Saffron Sapphire with a long queue. Anita waited impatiently as the line of people slowly made its way towards the entrance. So engrossed in her fantasies of how her revelations would cause Captain Goldstar to fall madly in love with her that it was several minutes before Anita noticed the unusual way the people around her were dressed. The majority seemed to be wearing very bright colors, and Anita who was not a short woman felt dwarfed as statuesque women with amazing dresses made themselves even taller in 6-inch heels. Anita dove into her purse and quickly brightened up her make-up, though she still felt as though she was wearing almost none at all in her conservative mauve lipstick, while the giantess in front of her wore scarlet red and eye-shadow up to her higher-than-average eyebrows. Anita felt her confidence in landing the Captain waver as she noticed all the glamour girls entering The Saffron Sapphire. Surely, he would be able to have any of these gorgeous women if he wanted them, Anita would not even be noticeable. The line which seemed so slow before suddenly seemed to be flying through, and Anita suddenly found herself inside the nightclub.
Anita steeled her resolve as she made her way through the dimly lit entranceway. She had come this far, Anita knew she had to see her quest through. The short hallway opened into a fairly typical bar setting with a large stage on one side and a well stocked bar on the other. The stage was occupied by a trio of gorgeous, outrageously dressed women who seemed to be lip-synching to a medley of Pointer Sister hits. Anita stared at the stage in appreciation, as the red-headed performer took center stage. The plucky girl reporter forced herself to focus back on her task and tore her eyes from the spectacle on the stage to look back down at her GPS tracker; the signal seemed to be coming from backstage.
It took a bit of sneaking about to slip into the back rooms, but Anita was a good reporter and it didn’t take her long to be back on the trail. The GPS signal led the intrepid reporter to an empty dressing room. Fabulous dresses hung on a rack in the corner and over every available space, and the dressing table was overflowing with random makeup. On a comfy looking, bright turquoise armchair, an overnight bag lay partially unzipped. The machine in Anita’s hand beeped louder as she approached the chair. Anita unzipped the bag the rest of the way and pulled out the cloth she found within. She could not help but gasp as the familiar uniform of Captain Goldstar unfurled in front of her. She had done it! She had found the Captain out of costume, which meant she only need wait to discover his true identity.
“What are you doing in here?” an angry voice snapped. Anita jumped in surprise and clutched the spandex fabric to her stomach and turned. She found in front of her yet another of the Amazonian women she had seen around the club. The woman was wearing a spaghetti-strapped, emerald green dress that Anita could only dream of wearing, without looking like a child playing dress-up. She had striking green eyes that popped from the stunning gold eye shadow, dark black eyeliner, and fake eyelashes. Her blonde hair cascaded in intricate golden curls that hung past her shoulders that made Anita self-consciously bring her hand up to touch her own straight ash-blond hair. “This is a private room!” the woman complained again in a low voice.
“I… I… I’m so sorry,” Anita stammered as the other woman stamped into the room on stiletto heels. “I was just waiting for someone.”
“You got the wrong room then, ‘cause you’re in the dressing room of Goldie Starla and I don’t share my dressing room with anyone,” Goldie said with a snap of her long-nailed fingers. Anita looked down at the costume scrunched in her hands and then back at the stunning woman.
“Your… boyfriend?” Anita’s answer was more of a question. “I mean I’m waiting to meet your boyfriend.” Goldie glared at the plucky girl reporter.
“I got lots of suitors but none of them are my boyfriend right now, so like I said before girly, you’re in the wrong room,” Goldie snapped again. Anita straightened her spine and stared determinedly back at Goldie.
“Then where is the owner of THIS!” Anita demanded, thrusting the costume of Captain Goldstar in her hands up towards the taller woman.
“I’m the owner of that; I got it at the thrift store today. I was thinking of modifying it to a dress for one of my numbers, ‘Holding Out for a Hero.’ What’s it to you?” Goldie asked defensively, eyeing the bold reporter as if she were a crazy person. Anita flushed, as her mouth dropped in shock at the statuesque performer’s words. Her great plan had failed. Somehow, Captain Goldstar had realized that he had been tagged with the tiny tracking chip and had ditched this particular uniform to get rid of it. Anita opened and closed her mouth a few more times like a fish out of water soundlessly.
“I… I’m sorry to have disturbed you Ms. Starla,” Anita squeaked out at last, even as her face turned red in embarrassment. “I’ll get out of your way now.” Anita slunk out of the dressing room and away from the club as quickly as her feet would allow her.
Goldie Starla waited cautiously until the reporter girl Anita Potts was gone, and slid into her dressing table chair with a sigh of relief. That had been the closest call yet. She pulled the superhero costume into her lap and searched the fabric until she spotted the tiny microchip. Goldie pulled it off and squeezed it until it turned to dust. Goldie slipped her wig off and placed it back on its rack, and proceeded to scrub off her makeup, getting out of face. She popped her feet out of her stilettos, then she slid out of her dress. It took only a few moments to pull on the spandex costume.
*****
“Hey! Look! In the Sky! There goes Captain Goldstar!” someone shouted as Anita struggled to hail a cab. She couldn’t help but look up at the soaring figure. Anita straightened her spine as she watched the Captain fly across the horizon. So what if she didn’t find him this time; she was a plucky girl reporter and she wouldn’t give up till she found her man.
