Since her official adoption by Bruce a few months earlier, Cassandra had spent her days being slowly home schooled by Alfred. It was agreed to be the best arrangement, since Cassandra lacked the social skills to properly go to school the way the Robins had and she could still get the information she was looking for. It was their hope that maybe someday, she would be able to out and interact freely in Gotham the way the rest of Bruce's family did.
Alfred was slow and patient every step of the way with teaching her how to read and write. In spite of everything she had already played a part in, it was the simple meaning and coding behind the symbols on every page that continued to confound her. Bruce had promised he would always find her another way to receive case files and investigate, but Cassandra continued learning for her own benefit. She wanted there to be more to her life than her horrid youth and time as a vigilante.
With the previous night's oddities still in her mind, Cassandra quietly interrupted Alfred's lesson on the placements of I's and E's to say, "Alfred, can I ask a question?"
"Certainly Miss Cassandra," he said. "What did you have in mind?" She reached into her pocket and produced the beaded necklace Father Ryan had given to her, holding it out for him to see. Alfred gave her a curious look as he ran a hand over it. "Where did you get this?"
"Someone I helped last night," Cassandra said.
"Interesting… This is a rosary Miss Cassandra. Did the man have any affiliation with anyone?"
"Said he was a… Mon-seen-your," Cassandra said, trying to remember exactly how it was pronounced.
"A monsignor?" Now Alfred was intrigued. "You may have helped a very important man last night Miss Cassandra. The rosary is an important object of prayer amongst members of the Catholic Church. You're supposed to say a certain prayer on each of these beads here, you see… I don't have much more specific information than that I'm afraid. I'm not a Catholic myself."
Cassandra knew all of the words he had said, but still didn't know what to make of the gift. "What is a Catholic?"
Alfred gave her a sad little smile, "I don't think I could just explain it to you now Miss Cassandra. Maybe another day." He was about to continue his lesson when there was a loud ringing at the door. "Excuse me a moment."
Cassandra was left alone in the Wayne Manor study as Alfred made his way downstairs to the door, the unquestionable voice of a bubbly Stephanie Brown echoing through the halls and into her place.
"Hi Alfred!" She said. "Is my costume finished with yet?"
"Of course Miss Stephanie," Alfred replied. "I must go down to the 'basement' to retrieve it however. You may wait in the study with Miss Cassandra if you please. Is Master Tim going to be late tonight?"
"Tim is trying to nab some extra credit tutoring kids after class. All our teachers think he's out all night, every night partying."
"Well, I suppose it isn't an altogether inaccurate assumption."
In minutes the perky blonde was tossing aside her backpack and sitting next to Cassandra, flashing her a big smile. "Hey Cassie. What are you working on there?"
"English." Cassandra said before referring to the rosary. "And this."
Stephanie's look almost matched Alfred's. "Huh… You're a Catholic now?"
The word was beginning to crawl under Cassandra's skin. "I don't know what that means!" She complained, Stephanie laughing a little.
"Cool your jets. Where'd you get this?"
Cassandra again repeated her story, though this time her listener agreed she was not sure what a "Mon-seen-your" was. When her story finished, Stephanie's response was, "Well, good work as always."
"But what does it mean? What does any of it mean?"
"You'll have to be a little more specific," Stephanie replied. "But even then I guess there's a big obvious question in there too… How much do you know about religion?"
"It's… Praying, right?" Cassandra said. "You talk to someone in your head… And that is the someone who created you, right?"
"Well, that's the basics," Stephanie said. "You've never done it, have you?"
"My father and mother created me," Cassandra said. "I don't ever want to talk to them."
Stephanie laughed, "If that was it, I'd never do it myself. I don't need to talk to my old man and Mom's a cell phone call away."
"Do you do it?" Cassandra asked.
"Yeah, sometimes," Stephanie said. "I mean, I don't really do it like I'm supposed to. But I've been in some bad, bad spot before… That's when I've done it, mostly." She leaned back and sighed a little, "Don't ask me much about that though. I'm a Methodist."
"Another label," Cassandra muttered. "What does any of it mean?"
Stephanie looked around on the table a little before grabbing a sheet of paper out of one of Cassandra's notebooks. "Let me try and draw you a picture, okay?" She said. "Now let's say right here," she drew a picture and a capital G, "Let's say this is the world's first superhero, okay? We'll call him 'Goodman', because I just had a full day at school and my originality circuitry is a little fried," Cassandra nodded, looking at the page intently. "Now, let's say that 'Goodman' was the biggest, best superhero ever, and every hero who came after him wanted to be just like him, but they didn't agree how to do it." She drew an oval around the G, "Now Goodman and his virtues are an umbrella. Down here," she drew a line and a crude bat, "Is Batman, who uses some of Goodman's tactics, but not all of them. And over here," she drew another line and then an S, "Is Superman, and he uses other stuff Goodman said. And farther over here," she drew a W, "Is Wonder Woman, who uses other things Goodman said. Every one of them wants to be the new Goodman, but none of them can agree how."
"Alright," Cassandra replied. "What does Goodman have to do with people in your head?"
"Maybe this wasn't such a good example," Stephanie admitted. "But let's just put it like that. The guy you saved last night? He's a Superman Goodman follower. I'm a Batman Goodman follower. Same inspiration, different practice."
"Then what am I?" Cassandra asked.
"Umm… See, this is why this is a bad example," Stephanie said. "You're… Not under this umbrella." Cassandra looked at her, "You're Batgirl okay? This is just association, I can't take that away. Know what, this is stupid," she crumpled up the paper and tossed it aside. "Don't even worry about it."
"But I want to learn," Cassandra said. "I want to know why he called the hospital before the police. Why he wanted to be sure they were safe after they attacked him."
Alfred returned with Stephanie's uniform, "Good as new," he assured her, handing it off. "Are you two well?"
"As one can trying to explain spirituality to Cassie." Stephanie took her costume from Alfred and gave her friend another smile. "I'd stick around, but I have to hide this thing before Mom gets home from work. I might see you out on patrol tonight, okay?"
"Of course," Cassandra said, giving her a happy little nod, as if to tell her goodbye. Cassandra turned back towards her work and the rosary, still wondering about the man.
And making the decision to see him again. She still had too many questions not to. The only question left was if it would be Cassandra, or Batgirl who would pay that visit.
