Bound at the Wrists

Chapter One

By Moony

Cassie Sandmark was awake, yet dreaming. Caught in the place just before waking up, she could hear the owl that lived outside her window landing on the limb that led to his abode. For some reason, Cassie's body just didn't want to work today. She felt achy and tired. She hadn't felt like this since she got her powers. Cassie managed to arouse herself, and leaned forward in bed.

"Come on, Cass!" her mother called. "We haven't got all day and you're going to be late!" Cassie moaned and rolled out of the bed, prepared to fly to the bathroom, instead she tumbled to the floor. The thud sent her mom running.

"Cassie?" Helena cried when she found her daughter on the floor. "What happened?"

"I don't know!" Cassie cried. "I just did what I normally do, you know fly to the bathroom, but…"

"Fly?" Helena laughed. "What are you talking about?" She turned to leave. "Sometimes you're a riot, Cass."

"Mom?" Cassie cried. "What are you talking about! You know I can fly, don't go on some denial trip on me now, it's kinda late."

"Okay, I'll play your little game," Helena said. "So who gave you the power to fly?"

"Zeus! Come on mom you know that!" Cassie said, now fully awake and filled with confusion. From the look of sheer astonishment on her mother's face, Cassie could of sworn her mother had no idea what she was talking about.

"Cassie are you feeling okay? What in the world made you think all of this up?" Helena said.

"What is this? April fools!" Cassie cried. She fell back onto her bed and mumbled to herself. "What's going on?" First, she just fell out of bed when she was trying to fly, which had never happened before. And second, her mom had no idea what she was talking about.

"Honey, I just think you had a very vivid dream and you're confused. Give yourself a few minutes and get ready for school okay? I need to finish a report for the museum and I can't stay up here and argue with you."

Cassie paled. Her mother left the room. 'Oh gods! She thought frantically. I've lost them… No, don't think like that. Don't jump to conclusions. She's just messing with you and falling out of bed, well maybe to day's just an off day, but…' She thought and leaped off her bed to pick up the phone on her desk. She dialed Titan Tower.

"I think you have the wrong number," the voice on the other line said after one ring.

"Cyborg!" Cassie cried. "It's me, Cassie. I was just…"

"Excuse me? I'm sorry, but I don't know any Cassie. This is the Titan Tower. I suggest you take that number, tear it up, and forget it."
"Cyborg! This is not funny! It's me Wonder Girl!"

"Young lady, I have only known one Wonder Girl in my life, Donna Troy, and she's dead. I think what you're little joke is pretty heartless. Good bye." The line went dead.

Cassie stomach flipped. She hung the phone up and picked it up again after pacing for a moment. She dialed another number.

"Who is this?" the person on the other line said.

"Tim, it's me, Cassie, Wonder Girl!" Cassie explained. "Something really strange is going on. My mom and Cyborg claim they don't know who I am!"

"They're not the only ones. I have no idea who you are. There is no Wonder Girl." Tim said. "And how did you get this number?"

"You gave it to me, way back when I joined Young Justice! Come on Tim!" Cassie was getting hysterical.

"Sorry, but I really don't know who you are." He hung up. Cassie slammed the phone down. She was on the brink of tears. There was one more number to call, but she was so scared he too would be playing this horrible game and it was becoming much too real to hear him say he had no idea who she was.

"Con…" Cassie whispered.

"Cassie, let's go!" Helena cried. "If you're not dressed and down here in five minutes I'm going to just leave you and you can explain to the Cheerleading coach why you're late!"

"Cheerleading?" Cassie said, very confused. "I'm not a cheerleader!" Cassie decided the only way to figure this out was to fool her mom into thinking she was going to school, then fly (apparently by airplane) off to San Francisco to fix this. She knew the Titans would be able to do it. She quickly threw on a t-shirt and some jeans, and threw a head band in her hair. She pulled open the drawer that she stashed her Wonder Girl costume in and found it full of old socks.

"Why?" Cassie whispered. "Donna gave that to me…"

"Cassie, you have five seconds and counting! One…" Cassie, completely frustrated, slammed the drawer shut and ran down stairs as fast as she could, which she was shocked to find, was very slow. Helena was waiting, brief case in hand, at the door. Cassie quickly passed her, trying to make sense of everything. Some how she found herself in the front seat of a nice car she had never seen before, let alone her mother driving. She was even more shocked to find her mother dropping her off at the school that so tactfully kicked her out for saving the students lives. Every part of Cassie wanted to run away and hide, she stepped out of the car and thanked her mother for the ride.

"You'd better hurry or Miss Dunn will have you running laps," Helena said before she zoomed off to the museum. Cassie looked over the school. It was just as she had remembered it before the Silver Swan attacked, as a matter of fact, it was the exact same!

"I have got to get out of here!" Cassie said to herself. She looked up to the sky and jumped and landed right back on the ground. She did this three times before she was convinced she could no longer fly. She had to at least try. She even ventured to lift a car up, but found herself straining her entire body, not to mention drawing a crowd. It looked like if she wanted to get any answers she was just going to have to use her feet and her brains.

'Brains!' Cassie suddenly thought. 'The ones I don't have! I need call Wonder Woman!' She made her way into the school to a pay phone, but after reaching in her purse and to her amazement finding a cell phone. How was her mom affording all of this? She quickly dialed. Of course she got the answering machine. Wonder Woman was never really in the embassy, but Cassie had all intentions of leaving a very detailed message of what was going on. After leaving a message, she then flipped the phone shut.

As she was about to leave the school, a girl she very much remembered having a mutual dislike for, approached her with uncommon friendliness.

"Cass, what are you doing out here?" she asked. "Miss Dunn is asking about you. You'd better have a great excuse, like your mom died in a tragic fire that's burned all your stuff or something."

Cassie wiped the amazed look off her face and replied as she turned again to leave, "I don't have time for this crap," and exited the school.

At the air port, Cassie found the credit card in her purse very useful. Helena had left a note with it reminding her it was strictly for emergences, but Cassie was sure after all this was cleared up, that her mom would understand just what kind of emergency this really was. Soon she was on her way to San Francisco to figure out this whole mess. But she was afraid it was too late for her and the title Wonder Girl.

"You got a call from this girl too?" Robin said to Cyborg as he and the other Titans collected together for an emergency meeting.

"Yeah, and get this," Cyborg explained, "I contacted Wonder Woman, and she got a message from this kid too, sayin' the same story, that she was really Wonder Girl. Diana said she knew the girl because of her mother and that her mother ran the Gateway City museum and specialized in Greek history, but other than that, she knew nothing about her."

"If she didn't have so much information about us, I wouldn't be worried, but she's obviously got three very secure numbers that are not given out liberally by any means and that makes her a serious threat," Robin replied.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Superboy exclaimed. "Let's get out there and find her and make her tell us where she got this info from."

"That may be just what she expects," Starfire countered.

"Exactly," Cyborg agreed. "Raven, is there any way that you can locate where she is?"

"No, I've never met her or seen her or even know where she's calling from to get any sort of idea about how to find out," Raven said.

"Well I do," Robin stated boldly. "I traced her call. It came from Gateway City; one Helena Sandmark with a daughter Cassie Sandmark and Miss Sandmark currently used her credit card at the Gateway International, and is on her way to San Francisco as we speak."

There was a pause of silence. Robin continued "I figure there are three reasons why she's doing this, but keep in mind she still must be very intelligent either which way. One, she's lost a few upstairs; two, she's got a malicious scheme and is on her way to becoming another villain; or three, she's telling the truth and something really is going on."

"I'm personally going with number one," Superboy said.

"I'm with him," Beastboy agreed.

"It is not uncommon," Raven said. "I have felt many people who wish to be superheroes. Perhaps she has convinced herself that she is so that she doesn't feel the pain that comes with those thoughts."

"Whatever the answer is," Cyborg concluded. "We take her with caution. Robin, I want you at the airport the minute she lands. Follow her, find out what she's up to, until then, we have more trying matters to attend to…"

Tim was waiting patently for Cassie to exit her flight. He was disguised by a red wig and brown contacts. From the files he pulled while he waited, he found a picture as well as all her school history. She came from a single parent home, a straight A student, active in school, on the cheerleading team, founder of the Greek club, and president of the local Wonder Woman fan club; an all around typical teen. Tim found no signs of how or why she was making such claims. Perhaps submerging herself in Greek culture had brought it on.

A blond exiting the latest plane from Gateway City caught Tim's attention. She was just as pretty in real life as she was in the picture. She seemed to know where she was going, and took no time in making her way to the doors. Tim was surprised at how she maneuvered around the city. He had no documentation of her ever coming to the city or the West Coast for that matter and it looked like she was heading straight for Titan Tower. The girl rounded a corner ahead of him. He had been very cautious not to be noticed, and as far as he could tell, she hadn't, but as he turned the corner he found her in his face.

"Tim!" she exclaimed. "I knew it was you. Zeus, where did you get that awful wig?"

"I…I," He said quickly, completely off guard, feeling like a complete idiot. He was the World's Greatest Detective's protégé and this girl had caught him! "Have no idea what you're talking about. My name's Ron."

"Please, Robin, I know it's you." Cassie rolled her eyes and tried to remove the wig, but Tim caught her arm. Cassie recoiled quickly. "Zeus! You really don't know me, do you?" Oh how she wanted to believe he did. "Why is this happening?"

"That's exactly what I want to know. You're coming back to Titan Tower with me and telling me how in the hell you know who I am and how you have so much information on me," Tim said and caught Cassie's arm up again, and began pulling her down the street. Cassie fought him at first, sure she could at least rip her arm out of his grasp, but found his strength over powered her own. That broke her. Cassie was absolutely sure now her powers were completely gone, if they had even existed at all. Tears flowed steadily down her cheeks, though there was no other indication of her inner turmoil. She had long ago decided never to give into the wailing and tantrums that tears usually brought to most women. Instead she allowed Robin to lead her to the destination she had previously been fixed on, Titan Tower. Every hope that had kept Cassie going, that name, that suit, those wrist bands, were gone and she had no idea how or why.