Here's a new story I've been kicking around in my head for a few months. I wasn't sure if I was going to do anything with it, but here it is. I wanted to retell the New Teen Titans story with different origins and Titans on the team. This is mostly for shits and giggles, each of the first eight chapters will be introductions of the new Titans, then the team coming together, and facing the big threat. I'll also be giving a brief explanation on why I changed what I changed and why I included this character at the end of each chapter.
And for anyone curious about my other major story, Urban Legend...Unfortunately I'll be taking an indefinite hiatus from that story. I haven't been inspired to continue that story for a while, and I might just drop it all together.
Anyway, enjoy the first chapter of this new story.
The Bat
It was six AM. She was sure of it. She didn't have a clock, but she knew it was six AM. Because she always got up at six AM. It was a subconscious thing at this point; she did it without thinking or planning it. The compulsion to wake up at six, no earlier, no later was drilled into her for as long as she could remember.
She stretched and yawned. It was warm out, she was happy. She couldn't get to any of her more insulated places before nightfall. The place is a bombed out building with lots of small houses inside. She picked out one a few floors up and made it her own. She cleaned out the room of all the charred objects, dust and soot; made a bed out of discarded cushions and blankets she found and it was hospitable enough. Unfortunately, it didn't have windows or a door. That made using it when it's cold problematic. She remembered the last time she slept here, it snowed. She was surprised she didn't get sick.
The building didn't have running water, of course. She had to find water the night before so she could take a bath in the morning. If there was one good thing her teacher taught her, it was the importance of keeping clean. Hell, it was the only good thing he taught her.
After bathing, she took a second to look at herself in the slightly cracked mirror. She had grown considerably in the years she's been in the city. She isn't exactly tall, there were plenty of people much taller, but she had grown. She ran her fingers through her long black hair. It came down to the small of her back. She should probably cut it some time.
She look at the rest of her body, it was still covered in scars, though most of them have faded with time. Despite the years since her training, she still had a good deal of muscle. She sometimes wondered if she was considered attractive. She would often notice men leering at her so one could make the assumption. But she was never sure.
She got dressed and left her place to get something to eat. Today was one of the few days she actually had money so she didn't have to steal anything. A few years ago she figured out that the police would sometimes give small rewards to people who had information on finding criminals; it was more than an easy enough task for her. After bringing in the criminal to the police, beaten and half conscious, she realized they didn't actually want people to apprehend the criminals themselves, just give them an idea of where to find them. It seemed unbelievably ineffective to her, but if it gave her the ability to buy food, it was worth it.
She had just given printed out snapshots of a suspected bank robber's apartment (Ironically with a stolen camera), and had about $250 in her, figurative, wallet. With conservative spending, it could last her at least a week or two. But first thing's first: Breakfast.
She walked to a diner she liked to visit when she could afford it and sat that the counter. The waitress walked up to her, in her usual cheery nature and a strange accent, "Hey there honey! How you doin' today?" She smiled and nodding. "Still not talkin', huh?" She shrugged. The waitress smiled and handed her a menu before walking away. The waitress was a woman named Carla who was significantly older than her. She had a few wrinkles and a gray streak or two lining her messy bun, but wouldn't be considered elderly.
She liked Carla. She was kind and friendly, never bothered by the fact that she couldn't talk or read, and even showing her pictures of menus items that didn't have them in the menu so she knew what she was ordering. Pretty much the only thing she didn't like about Carla was that her accent was so thick she could understand her even less than other people.
She had sampled almost everything on the menu at some point, but found herself particularly fond of the Turkey burger; at least she thinks that what Carla called it. She ordered that and a side of fries to-go.
She left the diner and made her way to a park she liked to relax in. She sat down at a bench and laid out her food and began to people watch. She liked to see how people interact with each other. She didn't completely understand all of it, but she had managed to figure out how certain interactions worked. People who held hands or hugged were close, but people who kissed had a deeper relationship. The people who kissed would usually look at each other oddly before doing so. Though, it seemed this wasn't always the case, as many people who kissed each other did have that odd look. It was all very confusing without being able to talk with these people herself.
But it was difficult for her to do so. Not just because of her inability to speak. She had a hard time trusting people. Carla was a rare occurrence, she didn't have many people she would consider a friend. She was friendly with some of the other homeless people in the city, even telling them about some of her warmer places on exceptionally cold nights. Though she considered the place lost, and spent the next day finding another to replace it.
She'd spend a few hours in the park, either people watching or training to keep her skills sharp before leaving. She wandered around the city for a while, just enjoying her thought as she continued to map out the city in her head. She'd explored most of it in the years she's been here, but she'd always managed to find more of it the more she looked around.
It was past dark when she decided to head to one of her places. She took the backstreets and side road to get to the abandoned building. She didn't have to worry about being attack like most people here did. She could take care of herself, her teacher made sure of that. That didn't stop the idiots of the city from trying.
Three men, one of which wasn't much older than her, calmly walked into her line of sight. "Look who we have here boys." The oldest looking one said. He was the leader. Keep an eye on him.
"A little cutie in the big city." Another one said. Cutie. Cute. They thought she looked good. So she was attractive. She felt disgusted learning that from these clods.
The last one, the one close to her age, walked close and started circling her, "Man, I've always had a thing for Asian girls." A word she didn't know. Asian. She'd heard it a few times, but never figured out what it meant. She decided it wasn't a good thing if they associated it with her.
"Yeah." The oldest one chuckled. "She must be from outta town. Blüdhaven just don't make girls like this." Blüdhaven. The city's name. She always forgot that. It just didn't seem that important.
The three were looking at her like she was a piece of meat and they were hungry dogs. She wanted to fight them. She was trained to fight them. Or at least people like them. More than fight actually. But she would wait. They may just be all talk.
The youngest one roughly grabs her arm, "What do ya say we-YAH!" In one quick move she snaps his wrist. "The bitch broke my hand!"
The smart ones take the hint and leave her alone after something like that. The middle one grabs a metal stick lying on the ground and runs at her. They aren't that smart. She knocks the stick out of his hand and delivers an open palm strikes to his chest, knocking the wind out of him.
The oldest rushes her when he thinks she isn't looking, "You little skan-" She silences him with the stick. He's unconscious, but not dead. She made sure to hit him hard enough for that.
The others gather up there leader and drag him away. "Who the hell was that chick!? Nightwing's little sister!?"
More words she didn't understand, but she decided not to think about it. They really didn't deserve anymore thought. They weren't even a challenge. Her teacher would have killed them without a second thought. He would have expected her to as well. It wouldn't happen. She'd never let it. Not again.
She shook her head and walked out of the ally. Her place wasn't far from here. But before she could get too far, she heard a voice, "That was impressive." A woman this time. A non-threatening voice. She turns around and a woman with orange hair and glasses in a rolling chair comes closer to her. "Hi." She smiled gently at her. She stared at the woman. She was completely relaxed. That was the strangest thing about her. Everyone else she had encountered was always tense, especially at night. It was the nature of the city. It was overrun with criminals and murderers. The general populace was terrified. She had noticed in the last year or so, people don't seem as anxious. Though, again, not as relaxed as this woman. It was like she didn't fear the threats of the city.
"My name's Barbara." The woman held out her hand. She took a step away from her, unused to the gesture. But she remembered seeing other people doing this before and returned it by grabbing her hand. Barbara. She liked that name.
Barbara smiled again at her before taking back her hand, "So, what's your name?" Her name. She didn't have one. She shook her head. Barbara looked confused before asking, "Do you...have a name?" She shook her head again. "Can you talk?" Another shake.
Barbara leaned back in her chair with a serious look on her face. "But you understand me, right?" She was about to nod, but stopped herself. She couldn't in all honesty say she understood Barbara. She'd been able to follow her so far, but that's only because she was using small sentences and easy to understand words. If she started talking too much, or too fast, or using words she'd never heard before, she wouldn't be able to keep up. Not sure how to respond she just shrugged.
Barbara thought about this for a moment, "So, you can only understand me a little." She hesitated herself before nodding.
"Okay then...This is going to be tricky." Barbara tapped her chin, trying to figure out how to communicate with her. "Alright, so first off; I saw you fighting those guys back there." She told her while pointing at the ally she just came from.
She tilted her head in slight confusion. Barbara smirked slightly, "Alright that's adorable." She was sure she heard that word before. Adorable. It was another word for cute. She felt a lot better being called cute by Barbara than those morons from earlier.
But more importantly, she didn't notice Barbara during that fight. She was sure she'd be able to tell if someone was watching her, even during a fight. And that wasn't much of a fight to begin with. So her attention wouldn't have been that divided between her opponents and her surrounds. She squinted her eyes at the red head.
"Curious how I was watching you, huh?" Barbara asked with another smirk. She crossed her arms and continued glaring at the chair bound woman. "Yeah, this is going to be a great fit." She said under her breath. She pressed a button on her chair and a glowing image appeared before her.
She jumped back in surprised with her eyes wide. This was new. To say the least. She had never seen anything like this before.
Barbara giggled slightly, "Never seen a hologram before?" She shook her head, still staring at the...Holo...Gram? The red head gestured for her to come closer. She hesitantly came closer to the glowing image. When she was close enough, Barbara began using her hand to switch between different images, until she saw the ally. "I have cameras...uh, way to see, set up all over the city. I've actually been watching you for a couple weeks now."
Watching her. She reached out and mimicked Barbara's hand movements to switch between the images. She noticed most of them from around the city. But she also saw a few of her places. This woman had been spying on her for who knows how long. She swatted her hand at the image, but it passed right through. Surprised for a second, she quickly remembered her anger towards Barbara and started to walk away.
"Hey, wait." Barbara rolled to keep pace with her. "Look, I get you might be a little...Upset." She stopped and glared at the older woman indignantly. Barbara sighed, "Alright. You're pissed. And you have every right to be. I've been doing this for a while now, and I guess I sometimes forget that privacy is, y'know, a thing that people like."
Was that an apology? She understood most of it, but she still wasn't sure. "Okay, so here's the thing. I know you're homeless. I'm just curious how long you've been living on the streets. A year, maybe two?"
She hadn't really thought about that. I had been so long ago. But she still remembered it. Getting off the flying thing. A plane, she late learned it was called. It was after she realized she couldn't stay with her teacher anymore. So she snuck on to the first plane she could find. Her teacher had taken her on one before, so she knew it would take her far away. And that's what she wanted, to get as far away as possible. Coming to Blüdhaven was completely random.
But how many years had it been? She never kept track. Not like she could at first. Counting, thankfully, was easier to figure out than reading or speaking. She figured out while she was still with her teacher that the weather got warmer and then colder in a cycle. She assumed once the cycle repeated itself that constituted a year.
Counting the number of cycles that occurred since she came to the city on her fingers, "Seven Years!?" Barbara blurted out once she stopped counting. "You've been on the streets, by yourself, for seven years!?"
She wasn't too surprised by her reaction. She was sure that if she didn't have her training, she wouldn't have survived nearly this long.
"Wow...wow, okay. You're a survivor that much is certain." She still looked a little dazed from the information. But then she ran a hand through her hair with a smirk on her face, "This could work. This could actually work."
She tilted her head in the same confused way as before. "Okay, look. I know you might still be angry, but I think I can help you." She gave Barbara a wary glare. She still wasn't sure if she accepted her apology, or even if what she said to her could be considered an apology. But she could still see the trustworthy posture she'd had since she came to her.
"I have a friend at the Blüdhaven Police Department. And he's noticed you giving a lot of information to the department. Really good Information, too. And apparently you've been doing it for a while, now. We talked about it, and I had an idea; if you up for it."
Barbara looked at her expectedly. After a moment to consider, she nodded.
The older woman smiled gently, "Like I said, I've been watching you. Not only can you find people faster than most police officers, but your fighting skills would make Jackie Chan jealous. And you're what, fifteen?"
She blushed slightly. She had never been complimented so openly. The most her teacher gave her was a pat on the head, if that.
Come to think of it; I was only fifteen when I started." Barbara mutters to herself. She shook her head and turned back to her. "I also noticed that no matter how badly you beat down a criminal, you don't kill them, right?"
She nodded with a serious look on her face. "Well that's just what I need." She gave her another confused look before Barbara asked, "Have ever heard of Batman?"
She thought about it for a moment. She did remember overhearing a few people here and there talking about someone, or something called the Bat-Man. But she couldn't figure out exactly what it was. And for once not just because of her limited understanding of language. There were so many different idea of just what the Bat-man was, even if she spoke perfect English she probably still wouldn't know what this thing was.
But...had she heard of it? She nodded.
"Well..." Barbara began, "I'm pretty sure you've also heard a lot of different, probably really confusing stories about him." She nodded again with an amused smirk. "Most of them aren't true. And I should know. I kinda work for him." That was defiantly surprising. And the look she had did little to hide that fact.
Barbara chuckled softly, "Yeah, I work for him. And he needs help." She looked down at the ground for a second before continuing, "Batman had a partner; he was like a son. But, he died recently." Barbara took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes, the death of this person had greatly affected her apparently. She put her glasses back on, "Uh, sorry. He may have been an annoying little brat, but god did he try. Anyway, Batman hasn't exactly been taking it well. He blames himself, I'm sure of it."
Barbara took a deep breath, "He's been taking a lot more risks, acting more brutal than usual. Even though I wasn't sure that was possible. He needs someone to watch out for him. Someone who will hold him back from doing something he'll regret. And I think that someone is you."
She stood there, unsure of what to do. This random woman comes to her, says she's been spying on her, and then asks her to help some strange bat person. She should just walk away. This wasn't any of her business. So what if the Bat-man killed someone. One less criminal she'd have to deal with.
But then...This is what she'd been trained for. To stop criminals. It's what she'd been doing for years now. And this Bat-man did it without killing.
"You'd be using you skills to help people." Barbara said, bringing her out of her reserves. "That's what you want, right? It's why you've been helping out the police?"
She was part right. Part of it was to protect innocents from criminals. Another part was...Something else. Something that made her feel sick. It was the first time her teacher took her on the plane. It was to find a man, and kill him. Her teacher showed her what the purpose of her training was before. Like she did here, he would have her stop criminals as they committed crimes. She would stop them, and he would kill them. He did so without mercy. Without remorse or feeling. It was easy for him, so she assumed it would be easy for her.
But, when she found the man, and when she killed him, it was horrible. The way his body jerked and convulsed, the way he struggled to stay alive for just a few more second. Only to go limp and lifeless with that empty look in his eyes. It haunted her to this day. She knew she could never take another person's life. And she could never forgive herself for doing it even once.
That was the reason, the real reason, she did what she did. To make herself feel better.
"Hey." Barbara had come closer to her, and gently brushed a few tears out of her eyes. She didn't even notice she was crying. "It's okay. We all have personal stuff to work through. I say this is for Batman, but I think it'll be good for you too. You'd have a sturdy roof over your head. A hot meal every day. And someone to talk to. When you learn to talk of course."
Sincere, all of it. She could tell Barbara meant every word (The bits she could understand at least). She wanted to help her. And maybe she could.
She smiled, and nodded. Barbara's smile lit up the night when she realized what that meant. "So you'll do it? You come with me?" Again, she nodded. "Okay, great! Welcome abroad the Bat team." She said shaking her hand again.
Barbara gestured for her to follow as she rolled down the street. "I have a friend with a car just up ahead. We'll take you to Gotham to meet Batman. Fair warning though: He can be a bit...cranky."
She looked at her confused for a second, and then nodded. She started to regret agreeing to this. But then again, it couldn't be too much worse than sleeping in abandoned buildings. Right?
"Oh wait." Barbara stopped them as a man with black hair standing next to a sliver car came into view. She had never ridden in a car before. She took the bus once, but not a car. Wait, what was Barbara saying? "You don't have a name." She nodded confused. Didn't already know that? "Well, you need one. So I guess I could give you one. If that's okay."
She thought for a moment. She'd finally have a name, something to call herself. A little excitedly, she nodded her head.
"Okay, okay. Calm down. Let's see." Barbara looked her up and down. Trying to get a feel for her to come up with a good name for her. "How about...Cassandra?"
She rolled the name around in her head for a bit. Cassandra. Cassandra. My name is Cassandra. Hello, I'm Cassandra. She inserted the name into other greetings she'd heard and imagined herself saying them. And she liked it. She really liked it.
And Barbara could tell she how much from the smile slowly growing on her face. "So I guess we'll stick with Cassandra then?" She said.
She...Cassandra, nodded.
"Alright then Cassandra, let's go." They continued until getting to the man. "Dick, this is Cassandra. Cassandra, this is Dick Grayson."
Dick walked up to her and shook her hand, "Good to meet you Cassandra. I'm guessing she said yes then."
"That's right. Now let's get back to Gotham." Dick helped Barbara get into the front of the car and then put her chair into the storage part at the very back of the car. Cassandra didn't know cars had those.
Dick then opened one of the back doors for Cassandra and bowed to her, "Mademoiselle..."
She just looked at him strangely. She'd never heard that word before. Barbara yelled from the front, "Dick, she can barely understand English. Don't bring French into this as well."
Dick chuckled nervously and scratched to back of his head before gesturing for Cassandra to get in. She was about to climb in, but had the feeling she was being watched. She turned and looked up at a nearby building and saw what looked like a hooded figure staring at them. Was that the Batman?
"What is it, Cassandra?" She looked at Dick for a second and point at the building she saw the figure, but it was already gone. "I don't see anything."
Blinking, Cassandra shook her head and climbed into the car. Barbara turned around in her seat, "Hey is everything alright?" Cassandra gave her a reassuring look and nodded. Dick sat in the driver's seat, gave Barbara a concerned look, and drove off.
I knew I had to have a Bat on the team. At first it was just going to be Nightwing again, because you think Teen Titans, you think Dick Grayson. But I thought about it and realized that there has never been a Batgirl on the main Titans team. There was Betty Kane in the seventies, and Cass was on a Titans team, but In both cases it was Titans East. And let's be honest, no one gave a shit about Betty Kane until she became Flamebird.
In the comics, Cass became Batgirl during the No Man's Land story arc to help Batman keep Gotham from tearing itself apart. But here I basically had Cass take Tim Drake's place as the person to pull Bats out of his post Jason death funk. The decision to have her stay in Bludhaven at first was to give Dick and Barbara something to do. You can guess this is during Dick's on going series, and I love the idea of Dick realizing that Cass could be a Batman's new sidekick to help get him back on track. I always had the idea of Barbara talking Cass into becoming Batgirl, and I will be expanding on that relationship when we come back to Cass.
Next up: The Star
