It's in the Family
Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect or Batman. They are owned by Bioware and DC Comics respectively.
Nomad-117: This story is a series or not necessarily connected oneshots. Basically it's a what if Cassandra Cain (Batgirl) was in ME and adopted by Shepard without being a true crossover between ME and DC universes.
Summary: Shepard is not the only Shepard. Her sister though is not what you would call… ordinary. Not that that matters, one way or another the two will always have each other's backs.
Chapter 1: Debut
Normandy SR-1
Citadel Alliance Docks
Eden Prime. A name that would continue to hound Shepard for years to come. What was intended to be a simple pickup mission turned into a nightmare. Nihlus the Spectre sent to watch and evaluate her was dead, and if the witness were to be believed by nothing less but another Spectre.
The fact that the prothean beacon she was supposed to extract had been destroyed didn't help things. To make matters worse the ancient beacon had uploaded some kind of vision into her head and knocked her out for fifteen hours. Which according to Captain Anderson was just one more reason to talk to the council.
Which was why they had just docked to the Citadel, the heart of the galactic civilization and one of the safest places in the galaxy if the stories were to believed. In addition to this they were in specified Alliance dock that was guarded and furthermore could only be accessed by going through a C-Sec security checkpoint.
All of these factors should have made it practically impossible for anyone to reach the Normandy without proper authorization. Emphasis on the 'should', because Shepard wasn't surprised to see that Cassandra had managed to evade all of them and was now waiting at the Normandy's airlock.
That was not to say that she wasn't surprised to see her, merely that she wasn't surprised that she had managed to slip by unnoticed. Her surprise was shared by both Anderson who froze for a split second before he regained his posture and the two Marines behind her, Ashley Williams and Kaidan Alenko, who she could practically feel tense at the sight of the intruder.
H-hey." Cassandra greeted them haltingly, her trademark stutter ever present in her voice.
"Cassie." Anderson greeted her warmly and spread his arms to hug her, a gesture the woman returned wholeheartedly. "How are you?"
"Good, ho-w ab-bout you?"
"I am fine… but I guess you heard what happened." The Captain stated shrewdly and sighed heavily.
"All over the ne-ws." Cassandra replied with a shrug. "Was worried." With that she turned to Shepard and smiled in relief. "Jane…"
"I am fine." Shepard was quick to assure her and moved to hug the younger woman herself. Not that she thought even for a moment that Cassandra would believe her. After all she could read body language to an almost supernatural degree, and while she was fine in the strictly physical sense, Cassandra could easily see that something was weighing heavily on her mind.
"Commander?" Kaidan questioned softly from behind her. "Uh… who is she?"
Grateful for the distraction Shepard released Cassandra from her embrace, only to put an arm around her shoulder and give it a soft squeeze. "Ashley, Kaidan, I want you to meet Cassandra Shepard. My sister." She declared proudly and grinned at the two marines who were now busy looking skeptically from one of them two the other.
Not that Shepard could blame them. Cassandras soft eurasian features, black hair and green eyes seemed to be at odds with her own paler skin that was marked by freckles and the red hair, only the eyes seemed somewhat familiar even though the shade of green differed from one another.
"Cassandra is the Commanders adopted sister… though who adopted who still isn't exactly clear." Anderson decided to explain with a wry grin. "Considering the Commanders upbringing on earth… well the story they tell about their first meeting changes from time to time so who knows?"
"Us." Cassandra deadpanned and grinned up at Shepard who returned the gesture with equal fervor.
"Yep, they are sisters." Ashley remarked dryly and crossed her hands arms in front of her chest. "I got three of them, so I know the look they are giving us."
Shepard just shrugged in return. For her it didn't matter what anyone else thought, Cassandra was her sister, period. If others felt less confused by the knowledge that they adopted each other, sort of, good for them but for her it was just another unnecessary label.
And speaking of sisters, Cassandra poked her in the side and looked up at her for a moment before she began to ask Jane via their very own sign language. "What happened? You are worried, and you feel guilty about something… talk."
Knowing that she wouldn't let the matter drop until she got an answer Shepard sighed heavily and began to gesture back. "Mission was a bust… lost one of my men. Young, inexperienced… good kid."
She could feel the confused stares of her team and the less confused one from Anderson. Unlike the other two he could decipher at least some of their hand gestures.
"I am sorry, can I help?" Her sister signed back and looked at her expectantly. Shepard wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry at that. A prothean beacon got destroyed, a colony was attacked and it looked like one of the council's top agents was behind it and here was her sister who just turned twenty one last month asking if she could help her.
"I don't know how." She settled on saying, for she truly had no idea. On one hand she knew that Cassandra had endured things no one should have to endure and was far more capable than people would think at first glance. But she wasn't a soldier, she hated the idea of killing someone and Shepard had no doubt that there would be lots of killing involved down the line. "But enough about me, how did you get here so fast?"
"Had a job on Bekenstein." Her sister answered and cocked her head to the side, obviously knowing that there was a lot she was not saying. "I was hired to look into Donovan Hock."
"Is it dangerous?" She couldn't help but ask in worry. No matter what happened, she would always worry about her sister.
She got a small smile in return, Cassandra had easily picked up on her worry and was grateful for it. To others it might have been a bother but to her it meant that her older sister cared, and that was all she needed to know. "Nothing I can't handle."
"That doesn't reassure me." Shepard signed with an eyebrow raised in disapproval. In reply Cassandra merely hugged her and looked up at her innocently. "Okay, perhaps this reassures me a little." She joked weakly, this time audible since her hands were inaccessible.
"Do they do that often?" Ashley asked loudly and shot a questioning look at Anderson.
"Do what?" He asked her mildly, an amused smile on his face.
"Have silent conversations no one can understand?"
"All the time." He was quick to assure her with a laugh. "But if it puts you at ease, they didn't talk about you two."
"You know sign language, sir?" Kaidan asked and turned to look at his commanding officer in surprise.
"I do, although these two have their own little language I am afraid and I am far from fluent in their particular version of sign language." The Captain admitted with a bashful smile.
"I c-an teach you." Cassandra offered him once she released her older sister from her embrace.
"Perhaps another time Cassie, but I am afraid Shepard and I have some business to take care of first." He admitted with a small grimace, he held up his right hand to forestall her question. "And before you ask, I can't tell you more. As much as I like you, and even though I am not going to mention to anyone that you sneaked into a secure facility where you shouldn't be, I can't. It's classified."
Cassandra let out a disappointed sigh at that but nonetheless nodded in agreement. "I un-nderstand." With that she turned to look at her sister once more. "You call, if you need he-lp."
"I will" Jane Shepard promised her softly before a smirk found its way on her face. "And the same goes for you, alright?"
"Okay." Cassandra readily agreed as she slowly walked backwards, towards the end of the airlock. With a grin she lifted her right hand and gave it a peculiar twitch.
Shepard's eyes widened in surprise. She hadn't seen that sign in years. It was one of the first they developed together. Back when they barely knew each other and Shepard hadn't taught Cassandra to speak yet. It meant as much as 'Bad guys around, I got your back'.
In their early days together they had used it quite often. Back then when one misstep could bring the wrath of a gang down on you. In a way her finding Cassandra had ended her career in the Tenth Street Reds. Of course it had been more complicated than that, but at the end of the day the only had had each other.
With a wry grin she lifted her own hand and gave the reply signal. 'Right behind you and freedom to hunt'. The half forgotten ritual brought back many memories, many of them bittersweet at best but she wouldn't trade them for the world.
She had created those memories with her sister, and no matter how much pain accompanied them they were still something to be treasured. Cassandra seemed to think so as well for she gave her a wide smile, stepped out of the airlock and walked around the nearest corner.
With a slight chuckle she followed her sisters proverbial footprints, already knowing what awaited her. When she stepped out of the airlock, Anderson beside her there was no trace to be seen. As if her sister had never been here in the first place.
"What the… where did she go?" Ashley asked loudly and looked around wildly. "She was here just a moment ago."
"Show off." Shepard muttered amused, she took the chuckle she got from Anderson for her remark as an agreement as the two of them made their way to the elevator, which was still waiting for them and the only visible way to leave the docking bay.
"Commander, is your sister a Ninja?" Ashley demanded to know and shook her head. "I thought the only place where you see something like this is one of these spy movies."
"Chief got a point." Kaidan was forced to agree and gave the docking bay one last look. "Never seen something like this before."
"Cassie works as a private investigator, or occasional bounty hunter." Shepard replied with lazy smile. "She is very good at her job."
"I'll bet." Kaidan muttered just as her Omnitool pinged once and the elevator descended. Opening her latest message she was unsurprised to see it was from Cassandra. It was short and to the point, typical for her sister.
"Looking for leads about Eden Prime, contact you later."
"It's good to see that she is as stubborn as ever." Shepard mumbled lowly and shook her head in exasperation. "Still, good to know that someone is looking out for me."
She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to meet Andersons gaze, who merely smiled wordlessly at her and lifted his other hand only to give it the same twitch Cassandra had earlier. Wordlessly she lifted her own hand and gave the reply.
Author Notes:
Nomad-117: Welcome to crazy idea number… nevermind. Important is only that this is one of the less crazy ones and that I hope you found it enjoyable. Till next time.