Disclaimers all around!
THIS IS THE FIRST EVER YOUNG JUSTICE CROSSOVER WITH CASSIE/WONDER GIRL AND JASON TODD/RED HOOD THINGY ON THIS SITE! WHOOOO HOOO! called it! (giggles because author is crazy...)
I love Cassie :) she is awesome. I haven't really started watching Invasion yet, I'm almost done with season one, but I already love her to death! thank you for reading:) reviews are welcome!
"Are you sure about this, Wonder Girl? You don't have to go home by yourself - I can go with you, if you want."
"No thanks, Miss M - I'm okay. I'm just going to fly home. It's okay. You look like you could sit down."
"Flying doesn't take so much energy, Wonder Girl."
"Exactly. But I'm sure Lagoon Boy would lo-ove to see you. Besides, it's not like it will take long."
Miss Martian raised an eyebrow, her arms crossed over her chest as the Team boarded the Bio Ship, leaving only the martian and the teenager on the rooftop.
"Well... radio any of us if you need anything."
The blonde-haired hero threw her a lopsided grin and a mock-salute. "Will do."
Cassie watched as Miss M waved before boarding the Bio Ship, and before she knew it, they were flying away, and she allowed herself to embrace the noisy sounds of Gotham City.
Ugh.
Wrinkling her nose at the distant smell of car exhaust and other things wafting up from the factory below her feet (they'd saved a Toyota factory from being iced over... again), she lifted herself about an inch off the ground, smiling at the slight tingling she felt running through her arms.
There was nothing quite like flying.
A few drops fell from the sky, and in a blink of an eye, it was pouring. Oh, how she hated Gotham's weather.
Cassie sighed, lifting her arms a bit, mimicking a bird and just doing a few loops so close to the roof that her nose nearly grazed the concrete. It felt good to be done with a mission - it felt like she was lighter than usual. Of course, her body ached from the combat, but at least Icicles Junior had been sort of a challenge with the aid of Killer Frost (it had been a while since Miss M had seen those two, apparently).
Grinning freely, she lazily flew around the rooftop, and then wrinkled her nose again, and shot upwards, twirling around with as much grace as... well, not exactly a ballerina, but she wasn't clumsy or klutzy at flying. But Wonder Girl sure didn't smash into things... most of the time.
Looking around, she spotted the Bio Ship disappearing into the distance, indicating the direction she should take to get back to the Cave.
Taking her time, she began flying high between skyscrapers, above the streets - so she didn't get yelled at by any League members about causing any "unnecessary" destruction.
Cassie felt relaxed, even though she was having trouble admitting that her eyelids were growing heavy.
"Maybe a ride back would've been better," she muttered, seeing a building with the name WAYNE of it. It was a lot taller than the rest.
She probably should have just flown faster, but a detour couldn't hurt, could it? Her hand went to her ear to radio Miss Martian about being a bit late but she found it missing.
Oh, crap.
She'd lost it in combat against Miss-I-can-do-random-crap-with-ice and had forgotten to mention it.
Wonder Girl soared up the side of the building, shaking her head, deciding that a lecture was worth the cleared mind she had now because she didn't even have to think to fly. Of course, the League's member's voices rang through her head - never lose focus, always be on the lookout, yaddah yaddah yaddah. Breaks were needed, right?
Unfortunately, she knew Nightwing would probably talk to her about being late.
And losing her com link.
Ugh.
Nightwing would murder her for this. Cassie could practically hear him lecturing each and every one of them about always keeping radio contact outside a mission while still on patrol or still suited up - just in case.
"It's very important to keep communications," she mimicked his voice, lowering her own as the roof was under her feet, but she did not touch it. She burst into a fit of laughter, that eventually led to tears trailing down her cheeks.
"He'd say that," she said to herself, "Nightwing'd totally say that," she wiped her eyes, a few snickers getting past her lips. She adjusted herself so that she was upright instead of on her back in midair.
"You're probably right."
Cassie snapped to attention, turning herself around, her fists ready to fly when she spotted someone in the shadows. She couldn't see who it was, and frankly, it was probably best that she didn't.
Now, she realized, would be an awesome time to have an extra com.
Idiot.
"I'm not in the mood to play hide-and-seek right now," she said, her hands on her hips, her feet refusing to touch the ground. Gravity would only remind her of how exhausted she really was. "So either get out of my way, allow me to kick your ass nice and easy, or show yourself so I can see which option I need to take."
"Sounds far enough."
When the figure stepped out of the shadows, Cassie was beyond shocked. Shocked enough to allow her feet to touch the ground and her hands to drop to her sides.
Oh, craaaaaap.
Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap craaaaaaaaaaaaap.
Cassie had to chip her tin as high as she could to actually look up at the guy's face and found that out too late that she should have just gone back to the Cave with the rest of the Team.
It took her a moment to realize that the Red Hood was standing right in front of her.
Why was he here? Oh, right: he basically owned almost half the city's crime (the other half had won some territory back from him, somehow). Why was he here, though? Didn't he have anything better to do than bother Wonder Woman's sidekick? She thought about the answer to that... and came up empty. He should be fighting her or something, right? Trying to kill her and all - wasn't that what he did for a living, besides scaring the heebee-jeebee's out of criminals and citizens alike? Wasn't she a bother - being a hero and all? And - and why the hell was he just standing there?
There was a reason the Team had not fought with him.
The shock on her face seemed to get him to talk again.
"We haven't met before, have we?" this was hardly a question.
Cassie leaped back, in the air again, fists clenched, but they weren't out in front of her - although she was itching to roundhouse kick his ass into next week (she'd heard he was a bad egg).
"I don't..." Cassie, for once, had no real retort. Nightwing had warned the Team once, and only once, that if they should ever encounter the Red Hood, they should immediately contact a member of the Justice League - preferably Batman or Nightwing - and should not engage at all.
Now, Cassie tried to follow orders, she really did. But that order? Now that she was here, she was beginning to doubt that she could take him on - and she was going to try to obey this order to the letter.
"So we haven't."
Cassie swallowed hard, glancing around, her fists clenching and un-clenching. Dear God - this wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. She needed to find someone - anyone would do - but dammit, she was without a com, and apparently she wasn't supposed to fight him.
This majorly sucked.
"What? You're not going to fight me?"
It was a bad idea.
This was a really bad idea.
Cassie refused to get on anyone's bad side - she screwed up enough stealth-missions as it was, and although everyone knew being sneaky wasn't her effin' forte, she felt bad about it - so she made up for it by kicking major bad guy ass.
But this...
This might get her on the entire Batclan's bad side permanently.
And that? That was... not a good thing to think about.
The Red Hood crossed his arms and continued to stare down at her.
Cassie lifted herself a bit more, so that she was a few feet above him and from him, keeping her distance, repeating the phrase "don't piss off Bats, don't piss off Bats, bad idea, bad idea" over and over again in her head.
"So you're Wonder Girl?" he asked, tilting his head a bit, as he was assessing her.
Which he was.
Her suit was a bit wrinkled, her hair was disheveled, and she looked positively exhausted. But she was invulnerable, wasn't she? So why not try and get her to try to get the first hit in?
"Yeah," she replied, "and I know you're a glorified, murdering, oddball of a crime lord, but really - " she dropped her fists and relaxed them but her eyes were on him the entire time as she began to inch away, farther and higher away from him - slowly, carefully - " - but I really would just like to get out of here, leave you to you're murdering ways..."
The Red Hood uncrossed his arms. In return, Wonder Girl shrank back further. The Red Hood looked like he was expecting her to fight - why wouldn't she? - and he was probably getting suspicious.
She needed to get out of Gotham.
Now.
"Aw, come on, Cassie," he said, his voice quieting and lowering a bit. The teen snapped to attention, on high alert, her eyes now burning holes into his helmet. "I'm just asking for you and me to spar." Pfft - yeah right. Was that code for kill you and hide the body so no one will ever know it was him who killed you in the first place?
Waaaaaait a second...
How.
In.
The.
Effin'.
Hell.
Did.
He.
Know.
Her.
Name?!
Cassie's eyes narrowed dangerously. Her fists were back in place, but she still kept her distance, preparing herself to kick or punch or dodge or run the hell away.
She decided on the latter.
Cassie felt a swarming feeling of guilt and shame as she turned abruptly away from the crime lord (who was currently trying to figure out what she was going to do) and began flying as fast she could, not even looking back to see what he was doing.
Idiot.
"Remember," she told herself, turning "you're following Nightwing's orders, doing the right thing - "
"Where do you think you're going, Cassie?" before she could react she felt something wrap around her ankle and grunted as she felt herself being yanked back with a force a hell of a lot stronger than what she was accustomed to, and before she knew it her back had met a rooftop - an even higher one than the Wayne building - and something slammed into her gut, sending an excruciating pain through her body. It felt like a Taser, but supercharged, and when it was abruptly pulled away from her, her fist - without thinking about it - connected to a hard chest plate, and she could hear glass breaking below her.
Cassie heard a grunt and leaped to her feet, and found herself face to face with the Red Hood.
"Now we're getting somewhere," she heard him murmur as she threw a punch; he dodged, grabbed the wrist she was pulling back so the other could swing at him full force, and flung her into the air, and before she knew it, her body collided with a brick wall, and she was lying half over an edge, half not.
This wasn't good.
Cassie struggled to get to her feet, but a hand crabbed the back of her shirt and yanked her backwards, releasing her as her back met the concrete, creating a crater in the roof. She groaned, her eyes squeezed shut, a whole new ache encompassing her body.
Dammit.
Wonder Girl opened her eyes and found herself staring into the mask of the Red Hood, but found that she was just too tired, too sore, to fight, and remained where she was. But she wanted to - she was not a coward and he so had it coming to him - but orders were orders, weren't they?
"My, my, not much of a challenge, are you, Wonder Girl?" he chuckled. Rage boiled within her, and her adrenaline began to flow again, giving her the boost she needed to be up in the air, fists flying, kicks missing their target.
"Is that the best you can do, Cassie?" the Red Hood shouted and - being much faster than her - managed to grab hold of her ankle, and throw her into the nearest wall. She picked herself up, ignoring the aches all over, and with something akin to a battle cry went after him again.
She had her orders: if she ever encountered the Red Hood, do not engage. Call Batman. Or Nightwing. Or someone. But no getting into fights - run away if you have to. But here she was. But she had orders...
Screw orders.
He was going down.
"Hold - still!" she yelled, her strength wavering, but satisfaction brought her back from the brink of unconsciousness as her solid hit caused glass to shatter all around them, showering down on them like rain.
The Red Hood made impact with the roof, a grunt escaping him as he lay motionless for a few seconds, with her standing over him, her chest heaving up and down, breaths uneven, her heart pounding in her ears. A groan reached her ears, and she swayed a bit.
Cassie figured she needed to get some sleep - soon - and sighed, relief beginning to creep in, but this feeling was cut short when an arm wound itself around her throat, another kicked at her shins, knocking her down onto her knees.
"I'll say," his voice was low in her ear. She seethed, but she was too tired - waaaay too tired - to fight back. Four days of sleep hadn't done her any good - she would rather be with Miss M right now - and all she could do was be angry at him as he held her in place as a metallic tang could be tasted in her mouth. She didn't get this exhausted often. But when she did, she was pretty much useless.
"You're not so bad, Cassie." What she didn't know was that he'd seen them all fight earlier. Honestly, it had been entertaining, but he couldn't let her know that, now, could he? No, that would ruin all his fun. And this - fighting Wonder Girl - had been fun. He hated to cut things short, but he had a city to try and scare - a job to do. Maybe some other time he could hold a rematch when she was at her full strength and then he could have even more fun.
But that would have to wait.
Wonder Girl stiffened, but was shoved face-first into the ground. He'd pushed her away, and was now standing over her, arms crossed over his chest.
"You pack quite the punch," he chuckled. She rolled herself onto her side to glare up at him. "Here, Cass."
He pulled something from out of his coat, and dropped it onto the concrete next to her. She picked it up and squinted. It was a com! But why would he give it to her?
Cassie looked up, and gawked at the empty space in front of her.
No.
No.
No way.
He just... vanished.
Vanished.
And he'd given her her com. The young hero was getting more and more confused. Her brain was too tired to process all the questions that were bubbling up insider her. So pushed them down.
This was all very odd. He was a killer. Crime lord. Official pain in the ass...
But how in the hell had he found it?
Cassie shuddered, sitting up, his words echoing in her ears. "Nightwing? Um... hey..."
"You're not so bad, Cassie."
"Here, Cass."