BEHIND THE MASK
4th SEPTEMBER 2011
AUTHOR'S NOTES
A short Drabble about Cassandra Cain- the third (and best) Batgirl.
This takes place before One Year Later, just before the Andersen Gabrych run on the Batgirl series.
'Italics' are narration- description of Cassandra and the challenges she faces, i.e. Pain that no one understands...
Normal writing are events unfolding, i.e. she descended upon the criminals without mercy...
Horizontal rulers (lines across the page) are page breaks.
-X- means small time skips.
DISCLAIMER; I don't own Batman, or any of the characters or ideas involved. This is non profit.
As Batgirl, she is inhuman terror, she is powerful, in control, seemingly unstoppable...
A black blur demolishes a dozen armed thugs, knocking them down with the force of a hurricane.
But behind the cowl and cape, gadgets and Kevlar she is a young woman known as Cassandra Cain, and to her;
Words are confusing.
Strange and imprecise and infuriating.
She wishes words came to her as easily as movement. As fighting. As violence.
On patrol she stood above the unconscious bodies of a dozen thugs armed with knives, crowbars and hammers. She took them all out in seconds without breaking a sweat. She turned and saw Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown talk excitedly to one another. Her heart dropped when she realized;
she had nothing to add to the conversation.
Cassandra can't do small talk- the tiny, irrelevant conversation with no productive purpose that people find so invaluable.
Cassandra and Barbara Gordon walked down the daylit streets of Gotham talking- actually Barbara was talking; about life, love, the world, people, the past, the future. All Cass could do was nod and occasionally say "Yes" or "Yeah" when her companion turned to her.
When people speak- so free and easily, the information is lost- Cassandra can't process it and truly grasp it. Understand it.
Strategizing in Oracle's tower; the entire Batfamily stood together after hearing threats of an advanced cyberterrorist attack. The "Technobabble" as Nightwing calls it flowed over Cassandra past her understanding. The young woman understands only that they are bad guys who need to be taken down.
Things so easy for others are so difficult- even impossible for the third Batgirl. She sees this as she walks down the street in baggy, ill fitting civilian clothes watching how different people are than her.
Though her unique training Cassandra can see the inner most feelings of others but finds it hard, sometimes impossible to express her own feelings.
Barbara (or Oracle as Cass generally calls her) encourages her, Batman stands by her, Nightwing reassures her, Tim... doesn't point out he finds her... wrong... but at the end of the day the young woman known as Cassandra Cain she still feels bad, angry, like she is...
"I know you think you are failing, but you're doing well."
Barbara had been showing Cassandra books, introducing her to music, drama and dance among other things...
"And you always have another day to try again..."
END PART 1
AUTHORS NOTES
The idea behind this fic is to portray Cass as I feel she was supposed to be shown in canon; a person with real emotional and psychological problems including confidence and a sense of self.
I intend to post more chapters on different obstacles/challenges Cassandra will face in life.