A/N: Inktober Prompt #7: Exhausted
Sleep
Cass shut the door of the safehouse behind her and sagged against it, letting out a long, deep sigh. She dropped the duffel holding her costume beside her feet and fumbled behind her for the lock and deadbolt.
She was tired.
Cassandra Cain was one of the top-three best living human martial artists. She could take on any human fighter and most metas in a fair fight.
Fair fights were usually one on one though. Thirty people at the same time? After a whole night of searching and fighting?
Was tiring.
It was an important case. She didn't regret the trip out here to Chicago. But it was true that she always preferred not to leave Gotham.
It was strange, really, in a way she didn't really have the words for.
But the recent influx of drugs in the Narrows had been her case, and when her investigation led to Chicago, she came to Chicago.
But the past few nights had been tiring.
And now the gang she'd been tracking would know she was here, for sure. She'd be sleeping with one eye open tonight.
Again.
She'd spent ten years sleeping with one eye open, but right now the thought almost made her want to cry.
Chin up. You got this. She pictured encouraging smiles, hugs, hands on shoulders and approving nods. Pushing herself away from the door, she dragged her duffel through the tiny sitting area, which consisted of only a sagging two-person couch and a scratched coffee table, and into the closet-sized bedroom.
She kicked the duffel under the bed, too tired to consider a better hiding spot, and besides, Cass never had been the most careful with her secret identity.
More careful since Bruce adopted her. But she knew she still drove him crazy sometimes, anyways. But Dick and Tim and Barbara usually covered for her if she messed up.
She glanced around one last time.
Door, shut tight.
Dresser, scuffed to match the coffee table outside.
Bed, with an unremarkable foam mattress and blanket, but a pillow stolen from Dick's apartment.
Lamp fixed into the wall by the headboard, like in a motel.
One small window in the adjacent wall, covered with thick purple-gray curtains that made her think of a word Barbara had used once. Musty.
The room really was smaller than her closet at home.
Cass didn't really like small spaces.
She decided it was worth it to pull back the curtains over the small window and throw up the panes, letting cool night air brush against her face.
As she stared out into the gray Chicago sky, though, something caught her eye.
Someone was sitting on the rooftop opposite the building she was in.
Two someones.
One in black and blue, the other in red and green.
Even from here, she knew they knew she was here.
The smaller one stretched out, arms raised towards the sky. To most people it would look like he'd had a long night and was feeling crampy.
To Cass, it was a wave.
She smiled, and shut the window. A little careless, maybe, but she wasn't stupid.
She pulled back the curtains again, and flopped down on the bed. Closed both eyes.
Tonight, she could sleep.