AN: I do not own any recognizable characters or settings.


Distant Fire Light

Cassandra had heard everything that had gone down in her father's room. She'd seen it with the infrared camera she had set up. She was standing against the wall and had the barrel of a Hellsing ARMS 13 mm Jackal up against it too, aimed in the direction of the other mans voice. It would tear through the plaster easily and then through him, whoever he was. She didn't make it a habit to accompany her father on his assignments, she didn't like to see her father work. It was by chance that she was there covering him. The men in the next room began to move, footsteps heading out and into the hallway. They stopped in front of her door. She hid. Her father had a card key, he could get in if he needed to.

The door opened, Cain stepped in and moved aside for the other man to enter. He was a tall, bald, dark man with an eyepatch. She knew who he was. Cain had a thick file with his picture in it.

"Cassandra." Cain called out to her. She got out from underneath the bed with her gun still pointed at Fury. He didn't sound distressed and his body language wasn't tense, he was perfectly at ease with this man. She lowered it but still held it in her hand.

"Nick, this is Cassandra Cain. Cass this is Nick Fury." David said clearly.

The first thing Fury noticed was that the young woman looked exactly like Lady Shiva. Long black hair framing her heart-shaped face, creamy skin, high cheek bones, wide slanted eyes with dark lashes, it was all Shiva. The only thing remotely Cain about her was her slim straight nose and the weapon in her small hand. A Jackal had always been one of Cain's preferred guns. The second thing he noticed was that her eyes didn't stay on one fixed point, they flashed all over him, as if she were registering everything he could possibly do. Just as quickly as he noticed it, her eyes stopped and stared at his good eye. It was a cold and calculating look. Nick had seen looks like that before, he had given that look before, and it wasn't a look he wanted to be on the receiving end of.

"Now let me see if I get this straight, you want me to hire your daughter to guard me from her mother? Why?" Fury figured there was an ulterior motive the second he heard the word 'price'. He turned to speak to him.

Cain sighed, "You have resources, I don't."

"Resources for what?" Fury was tired of David tip toeing around what he really wanted from him.

"For bringing some semblance of normalcy into her life. Look at her Nick, she barely understands a goddamn word I'm saying."

Fury stopped him, "She doesn't understand english? Did you think I wouldn't notice later wh-"

"It's a side effect of abusive training, Cassandra developed learning functions differently. She was brought up deliberately without speech, she learned body language instead. She's had as much trouble learning spoken and written language as a normal person would have in learning body language. She knows basic things 'no,' 'yes,' 'me,' 'you.' It's an Achilles heel, but other than that she's perfect. She guarded Ra's Al Ghul since she was nine up until his death." Cain tried to explain that Cassandra's only obstacle was language.

Cassandra knew they were talking about her and she knew that they were both frustrated. She could feel it coming off of both of them in waves. She also recognized the name Ra's. She gripped her pistol a little tighter.

"The fact that he's dead isn't reassuring." Fury countered.

"His death was his own fault. He tortured Cassandra to the point of near death, a mistake that costed him his life." Cain spoke vehemently. He wasn't obligated to explain that particular incident any further and he wouldn't.

Fury looked at Cassandra. She still had that look on her face. She hadn't moved an inch. He saw the merits of having someone like her around. He'd seen the results. "I'll want to conduct tests."

That was all David Cain needed to hear.


"Her individual moves are controlled and precise. It's her aggregate speed that's borderline inhuman. Look - humans can throw a 100 miles-per-hour fastball, smash concrete blocks with their heads, and run 4.2 forties. What they can't do is all of that at once. It's not so much physical as… as mentally impossible. Too much to coördinate. But with what we've seen… " The scientist in Fury's office trailed off as he played back the footage of Cassandra Cains time in the training room where her skills were being analyzed by a group of government experts. The room was programmed so that it created holograms of dangerous situations to test the abilities of the subject. Cassandra demonstrated indisputable skill.

The scientist continued, "The language centers of her brain are all over both hemispheres. Not centralized like with most people. When she tries to read or write, her brain doesn't know how to keep it cohesive." He handed Fury his report on the young woman.

"Send her up." Fury went through the report, it was all scientific research, the doctors put no personal comments or opinions in it. There was no historical background, which was cause to be wary. He knew nothing about her. He knew her parentage but that didn't put him at ease. He had Agent Maria Hill personally dig through Cassandra Cains past and she had found absolutely nothing. Not even a birth record. She didn't exist. There was no footage of her anywhere, except what they had recently recorded. The advantages of having a blank slate were too many to pass up.

After his meeting with David Cain he left them alone a minute to speak. When Cain came out he asked him for a drop off point. Fury gave him the location of a mobile Shield base currently in east Texas. He had set up a team of doctors and scientists to be there. Fury was no fool. To bring her to the Triskelion in Washington too soon would be idiotic on his part. He was eager to see how she would operate but it could wait until she was put through every security measure possible.

As of now, the only people who knew she existed were David Cain, Lady Shiva, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, and a small discrete group of doctors. Fury made a strategic move when he decided he wanted to keep her off record. He had the footage and files erased, the doctors had a stack of non-disclosure paperwork to fill out, and a small chip injected into Cassandra's arm that allowed her access everywhere Fury had access to without having to identify herself. He alerted head of security and said they were trial testing some new tech. It would have been considered a more serious security risk if she wasn't illiterate. Agent Hill would be her handler for the time being.

Cassandra Cain was on a plane and headed to Washington three weeks later.


AN: I was in fact referencing the Black Widow when Fury was deciding to help, and also Hellsing. The other Marvel films obviously happen before CATWS and since she's Nick Fury's personal bodyguard at the time, she'd have to be somewhere during all the other films. I was thinking of writing some one-shots, (not many people would be interested in them) let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!