Golden eyes flickered open from her position on the bed. Heaving a deep sigh Cassandra slowly stood up and stretched before making her way to the kitchen. Cass's pace was slow as her feet slid across the floor, silent even when groggy with sleep. The eighteen year old was not a morning person. Who is? She quickly flipped on the coffee machine and collapsed on a kitchen chair. Only to be jostled out of her thoughts as her phone started blaring horror music. Answering it, she spoke before anyone else could.
"It is far too early in the morning to be calling me, Travis," she grouched. Travis, on the other end, had the nerve to laugh.
"G, it's like 7:30! Get your butt moving! We have a job!"
Cass plopped her head on the table and groaned. His fast talking combined with his accent sounded far too happy for this early in the morning, and Cass was in no way motivated to move until her coffee was done, job or not. As if knowing what she was thinking, Travis continued.
"I have that special coffee you like," he wheedled.
Cass perked up slightly.
"From the place on 7th?"
"Where else?" He paused for a minute, "I'm downstairs in the lobby."
As if expecting that to be enough incentive, Travis hung up. Cass shook her head in defeat before moving towards her room to get changed quickly, she flipped the coffee machine off on the way. Re-entering her bedroom, she quickly moved towards her large walk in closet. Inside were numerous outfits of different types of styles and occasions. Travis thought she was a shopaholic, she wasn't, she just wanted to be prepared to take on a new identity and personality at a moment's notice. At least, that's what she told everyone. The truth was in fact, that she was a bit of a shopaholic. After all, with her job she got a very nice paycheck. Her penthouse suit and extravagant closet were testimonies to that fact. Not knowing what job Travis had arranged, she dressed as she usually would to go out. Her outfit was simple; a red tank top, light skinny jeans, combat boots, and a cropped leather jacket. She slipped some colored contacts over her golden eyes so that they looked to be an ice blue. There wasn't much she could do with her hair, which was a bright, eye catching white. Most people, however usually just assumed it was dyed. Contemplating the benefits of dying her hair, Cassandra quickly braided it before grabbing her trusty, fingerless, gloves and running towards the hotel lobby. Hopefully, Travis had taken mercy on her, and her coffee would still be warm.
"Hey, G!"
Speaking of Travis, Cass thought with some amusement. She elected to ignore the greeting though and skipped right to the coffee she located in Travis' hand. She nearly spit it out after the first sip.
"This is not my coffee."
"No, that's mine. This, is your coffee," Travis said.
He pushed the cup in his other hand towards her with a grin. Grabbing her black coffee from Travis with a glare, she stalked towards the door. Cass chose to ignore the eye roll that Travis sent her.
"What's the job?" She asked quickly.
"No 'good morning Travis? Nice to see you Travis. How's your day been Travis?" She gave him a flat stare out of the corner of her eye. Travis gave an exaggerated sigh.
"I'll tell you when we get to the warehouse." Cass paused for a moment.
"This is so big you have to wait till we get to the warehouse?" She questioned, skillfully ignoring the glares she received from pedestrians around for her sudden stop. Trav gave another sigh. Cass absently noticed that it was becoming a habit of his.
"Yes. It is." With that he gently grabbed her elbow and pushed her forwards through the morning New York traffic. Reaching a corner several streets down from Cass's apartment, he stepped towards the curb. One sharp whistle latter and a bright yellow taxi was pulled in front of them. He opened the door and gestured for Cass to get in.
"Ladies first," he teased. Cassandra rolled her eyes and climbed into the taxi. It wasn't until after he had climbed in and given an address to the cab driver did she giver her retort.
"It is a good thing someone is not considered a lady based on their scream," she smirked, "or you would most defiantly be considered one."
This time, Trav was the one glaring.
"It was one time! And you would have screamed too!" He exclaimed while pointing a finger at her.
"I was there, Travis. I did not scream at the sight of a mouse."
"It wasn't a mouse, G! It was a full size mutant rat! I'm telling you, there's something in those sewers!" He sputtered.
"Right," Cass drew out the i, "and I'm secretly a superhero." Travis laughed and played along.
"You never know! You could be a superhero working deep undercover to infiltrate a terrorist organization."
"I am obviously very bad at it. I just blew my cover."
"No, you did the opposite. You just assured your cover as a superhero hating assassin."
She didn't bother to reply. Though, Cass was very glad that the glass separating the cab driver and the passengers was soundproof. She did not need another body added to her list this early in the morning. Surprisingly, Travis was quiet the rest of the ride. Either this job was bigger than she thought, or Trav knew her better than she thought. Neither were favorable options. Still, Cassandra enjoyed the quiet while it lasted. It would end soon. In fact, the moment they reached the warehouse on the outskirts of the city, Travis started talking full speed.
"Okay, so this job is a little more complicated than usual." Travis gestured with his index and thumb fingers slightly apart. He quickly entered the entrance code and stepped inside, walking backwards so he could still talk to Cass.
"How is it more complicated?"
"We don't have a name. Well, that's not true. We have a name, but it's not a name you're going to be able to use."
"What do you mean?" Travis ignored her. Moving over to their briefing table, he quickly brought it to life by sliding his hand across it. Instantly various files popped up.
"Okay. Don't need you," he swiped a file off the screen. "Or you, or you," Travis mumbled under his breath as he repeated the action.
"Travis," Cass stressed his name.
"Yeah hold on, just a minute! This thing needs a clean-up. Ah-ha! Here it is!" Travis flicked the file up, so it was projected as a hologram above the table.
"This is our target." Cassandra stepped closer to the table to get a better look at the picture. It was a little blurry – taken from a cellphone, but she could still make out the dark cowl and cape that covered the tall figure.
"You're kidding, right?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow. Travis briefly wondered if Cass practiced that look in the mirror, or if she just gave it to him enough that she had the look down to a T.
"Um, no. Unfortunately I am not kidding."
"We're supposed to kill Batman! The Batman!" She stated more than questioned.
"Actually, no. We're supposed to get his secret identity." That got Cassandra's attention. Her head had snapped from the file to look at Travis was a genuine look of surprise upon her face.
"How are we going to get The Batman's secret identity, Travis? We're contract killers! Well, I am. You're, you. But my point remains that we are not detectives!" Cass's voice echoed off the warehouse walls as she yelled.
"That's why this is so complicated. Any ideas, G?" She sighed and shook her head.
"None yet. First though, what do we have on him?"
"We have practically nothing. We know his alias, the fact that he resides in Gotham, that he's part of the Justice League, and that he is a bada**." Cassandra shook her head again. This mission was insane.
"Please tell me you didn't accept this job." Travis rubbed the back of his neck.
"Well, yeah. I kinda did." He took a deep breath before quickly continuing. "Butonlybecausewe'regettingpaidhalfupfrontandtheonlydownsideisthatwedon'tgetpaidtheotherhalfifwedon'tcompleatethejob'causethesepeoplearen'tcompletephycos."
"Say that again, slowly please." Grimacing, Trav tried again.
"I only took the job because we're getting paid half up front and the only downside is that we don't get paid the other half if we don't complete the job 'cause these people aren't complete psychos."
"What if Batman finds out who we are, Travis?" Cassandra spoke slowly, as if to a child, and glared at him.
"He won't! You're too good for that!"
"In case you haven't noticed Travis, but my features are kinda recognizable!" She gestured towards her face and hair.
"So? You already have the colored contacts; we'll just dye your hair too. Plus it's not like you'll be going out with nothing coving your face. You do have a uniform you could wear once in a while."
"I hate your logic."
"I'm aware. Now go grab your go bag. Our plane leaves in an hour and a half." Cassandra spun around and headed for the kitchen. Grabbing her go bag from one of the cabinets, she stalked towards the door with a scowl on her face.
This is going to end badly. I just know it.
And there is chapter one! Okay, my grammar is not the best, so if you see something call me on it. I'll try to get it fixed. The same goes with plot holes. Now, since I have this story completely done already I'll try and update once a week. :)
-Echo