Story by Darksuperboy

Written by Zor-Alov


"Everything I've done for you has prepared you for this! Led up to THIS moment... and now you disgrace me!"

The girl was shaking with nervous tension, clutching the katana in her small hands. An angry man hovering over, looking as if to strike her.

"I didn't raise a weakling, a coward! Do as I say and finish him!"

The angered man pointed to a figure, on his knees holding his hands behind his head. His eyes closed, and his face dretched with sweat... he reeked of fear. Around him laid his dead soldiers, various martial artists with weapons and bones broken at the hands of the girl's father. Now it was her turn.

Cassandra turned back to the man clad in a ninja mask, showing only his cold blue eyes. The girl was beginning to weep.

"I-"

Before the timid girl clad in black could get out a syllable, she was slapped viciously in the face.

"NOOOOO TALKING! THE SHADOWS DO NOT SPEAK!"

The salp stung her red trembling face.

"I GAVE YOU AN ORDER, CHILD! YOU'VE DISGRACED ME ENOUGH ALREADY, DON'T TAINT THIS KILL WITH THOSE PATHETIC TEARS!"

Cassandra closed her eyes and shook her head, racked with quaking apprehension. She couldn't kill this man, this target.

"We do not flinch in the face of our duties, we do not betray the contract or the mission! You're not showing him mercy child, YOU'RE ONLY SHOWING HIM YOUR WEAKNESS!

I WILL NOT TOLERATE WEAKNESS, SO EITHER FINISH THIS TASK THAT I HAVE ORDERED OF YOU... OR I SHALL HAVE TO EXECUTE THE BOTH OF YOU TO REDEEM MY HONOR!

Cassandra clentched her teeth, as the muscles in her hands began to tense with terror. She opened her eyes, then let out an animalistic yell as she used all her might, all her rage, and swung the sword down upon her victim.

A scream of panic filled the air as a young woman hurtled to her feet in sheer terror. She was breathing heavily as she clutched a small piece of wood in her hand from off the floor, ready to strike. But the row house was as dark and abanonded as usual, save for her.

Just a nightmare, the kind that usually haunted Cassandra Cain's waking moments... rather than those peacefully asleep. She dropped the plank in her hand, slamming it back down into the floor. In her darkest dreams she was holding that... blade. Another part of her past she wanted to forget.

She breathed heavily laid back down on the mattress, beginning to compose herself. She wiped the sweat from her brow and got to her feet. She slept without a top because of the heat, but now she grabbed an undershirt to cover herself. From the neon and street lights, rays crept through the shuttered up building. Enough view to see out into the world. Cassandra walked over... and peered through the boards into the grim cityscape.

Gotham City
May 27th, 2017
9:27pm EDT

After throwing on jeans and a hoodie jacket, Cassandra crept through the boards that sealed the rowhouse. She slide them back into place, appearing like the decrepit house was still sealed up.

She couldn't sleep, she just needed to take a little walk to feel the night air. Not that anyone living on the streets can really sleep.

The dark deco architecture littered the allies and backstreets of Gotham. Like the gothic world of gargoyles slowly being devoured by modern art, only to fade and collapse under a constant recession. This was the landscape Cassandra survived in for the past four years, scraping by as she could and avoiding the gangs and costumed villains that roam the dark corners of the city.

The madness and crime usually known for Gotham had dwindled since the invasion. Only the hardcore psychos were still operating, the usual suspects and petty criminals were feeling the love as it were, embracing new life paths after surviving an alien attack on the entire planet.

So in relative terms, Gotham was semi-safer than usual.

But as Cassandra saw while walking through the neighborhoods, their were still parts of the city decimated and ruined by the attack. Hard to tell most apart from the usual delapitated structures in Gotham. As she strolled through, the faces she often recognized of fellow downtrotten and homeless... were starting to dwindle. More and more of the usual faces sleeping in boxes, begging for change or rummaging through the garbage. Cassandra wasn't exactly a people person, but it was disconcerting to see the folks on the streets disappear. Something in her gut said something was going on.

Past one alley she saw a frequent occupant, a long-haired man mumbling to himself. He hand a beard to match as the disturbed man kept to himself. Cassandra wanted to give him a bit of change she scrambled for herself. But as she reached into her pocket, a street lamp nearby started to act up, intensifying in noise and light. The man twitched and screamed as she crawled behind a trash bin. Cassandra never knew anyone as scared of bright lights as that poor sick man, cowering like a beaten dog. She backed away with a dejected look as she went on her way. She needed some grub before attempting to turn in again for the evening.

On the corner of a desolate intersection, she looked up into the nightsky, red with the haze of the cityscape. She stared into the stars, almost losing herself in their radiance. She wanted to see more of the worlds out there, less of this one as she then crossed the street. The only traffic was a gangbanger on a bicycle that stared her down as she crossed. Cassandra kept steppin, and he rolled on.

She sighed some relief, for she'd survived this long with having to utilize her lethal skills. Skills drilled into her most of her life.

A young Cassandra's fingers blistered red as she slashed away, relentless at sack after sack, after sack... of cement bags being thrown at the young girl. Slash after slash, but the heavy bags kept flying. Sweat and blood was beating down her face and palms, as she cleaved the bombardment of cement in half.

Cassandra kept on steppin. She wanted above all else to escape that life.

Around the corner of an all-night diner, a garbage boy tossed into the dumpster a plastic bag. As he slammed the metal door behind him, Cassandra crept on in and swiped the bag. What they consider garbage, was a goody bag for street-folks like herself. Day-old bagels and pasteries no one had touched or ordered, still warm and fresh enough to Cassandra's standards. She licked her lips as she bit into a blueberry muffin.

She nowned down on a muffin and two apple strudels by the time she made her way back past the alley down the street. She left bran muffins for the beared man, who peeked behind the dumpster he was huddled behind. A weak smile streteched across his face.

Before she turned to corner to head back "home", with the plastic bag over her shoulder like halloween candy, she thought for a second and headed down another alley. She crisscrossed in and out of the steam-filled back passages, closer to the shorefront district. Smell of fish made that clear.

A stray dog passed by as Cassandra approached an overpass on the edge of the water. Sitting on a sleeping bag and clutching a backpack was a blonde-haired young woman, 14. As Cassandra approached her, she let out a whistle and tossed a bagel in the air.

The girl jolted awake from her short snooze and grabbed the bagel like a baseball catcher. Startled at first, she looked up and smiled at her friend. Cassandra elated the closest she could give for a smile.

"Thanks!" Stephanie said as she took a bite. Cassandra leaned against the support of the bridge and sat down beside the fellow vagabond, to rest her feet for a second.

"N-n-eh..." Cassandra struggled to reply softly back in engrish. She only attempted english for special occassions, reading and writing didn't come any easier to her. Instead she gave a thumbs up, to which Steph laughed off then took another bite.

The two talked for a bit... well, Stephanie talked for a bit while Cassandra nodded and smiled. She enojyed the company, and Stephanie reminded her a little bit of herself. Except she had what passed for a normal childhood before she ran away from her father.

She met Stephanie a year ago in a homeless shelter, and they hit it off every since helping each other out whenever they could. They were both shoulders the other could cry on in many ways, and while Cassandra would never admit as much, she was the closest she's let any get to her in a long time.

A half-hour later, as police sirens wailed in the distance, Cassandra finished off the bear claw in her hand, then got to her feet. She bowed her head as a farewell greeting, and thus was quite suprised when Stephanie instead gave her a great big bear hug.

Cassandra wanted nothing more than to uncling from this warm moment of friendship. She finally gave up unlatching from Steph's grip, and timidly patted her hands on her friends back to return the hug. With an annoyed sigh.

"I know you don't have a lot to say, but the fact you don't mind that I do means something."

Cassandra felt a tender twinge of emotion on that not. Against better judgement she leaned in a little more to reciprocate her friend's hug. She then patted Steph's shoulder and flung the bag of pastries back over her shoulder.

"Stay safe" Steph then hollared in a final parting for the evening, as Cassandra waved goodbye. She had a grin on her face as she turned away, for most parts she put on the tough girl act around Stephanie and still had a rep to keep. Even if the closest thing to a friend and sister had gotten to her.

Cassandra was alone again walking back to her rowhouse abode. The night was chilly for May, even in Gotham, as Cassandra returned down the street. She was deep in thought, as a newspaper blew by her, with the headline reading "Neighborhood Congregation Leader Making Waves"

It was then as she made her way in between two storefronts, through a thin alleyway... a scream off in the distance grabbed Cassandra's attention. She dropped the bag of food over her shoulder and ran off into the night.

She ran faster than she'd ever has before as she hopped over parked cars and garbage cans. The stamina was unrelenting as she rushed her way back over to the underpass. Cassandra arrived just soon enough to see three uniformed police officers trying to calm Stephanie down.

"We're not trying to hurt ya, s'all right. Everything s'all right!" one tried to reassure her.

Another tipped her hat as she approached Stephanie, who was backed up against a wall. "We want to take you to a shelter, you look like you could use a nice place to stay for the night."

"No, no I'm fine. I... I just want go now..."

"Come on, dearie. We insist!" the third officer said as he bucked in front of Steph, blocking her from leaving.

Cassandra knew something was off, the british accents threw her off to start. But she read their body languages while leaning beside a parked car. The three "officiers" were not standing with authority, more like an intimidating posture one would have... scare tactics. They crowded around her as one reached for the pistol in his belt holster.

"Please, I just want to... NOOO! NOOOO!" Steph screamed as the female cop grabbed her by the arm and continued to reassure her with false pladities.

Cassandra saw the wolves in sheep's clothing, as they tried to drag her into the van they drove. You don't drag people by force into "homeless shelters".

Just as the third officer was about to strike Stephanie, one of the cops hollared "Watch-"

The baton-holding creep was belted right in the face by a kick from Cassandra, followed by a sweep off his feet with another kick. Stephanie screamed as she tried to break loose, but the female cop held her in a griplock.

"Assaulting an officer, huh!?" the cop with the gun snickered, "In for a world of hurt now, ya little street rat!"

Just as he was about to pull the trigger, Stephanie made a daring move and punched the cop holding her down with an elbow shot. She was knocked back, while clutching her nose, as Stephanie jumped up on the other cop. She struggled to grab the gun out of his hands, as Cassandra punched him in the gut. The gun went off as it slipped out of his hands. Cass then punched him square in the face and he keeled over.

"What the hell's wrong with these guys!?" Stephanie screamed in her paniced state, but Cassandra grabbed her hand as they both tried to run.

Steph however, was pulled back with a scream by the first officer as he grabbed her pretty yellow hair. Cassandra viciously turned back around and tried to attack again, this time with a lead pipe she grabbed off the ground.

But the second officer opened fire again, forcing Cassandra to duck on the other side of the overpass support. The bullets richoched off the metal beam as Cassandra tried to come up with a bright idea.

"Let's go! This brat's more trouble than she's worth!" the female officer yelled, bleeding out the nose, as they grabbed Stephanie's arms and threw her into the back of the van. Cassandra could only helplessly watch as her friend was tossed into the van by the three thugs masquerading as police officers. Before she could move an inch, the cop got a better weapon out of the back and began blasting away at her with an assault rifle.

Cassandra looked for any sort of firepower to fight back, at which point a rock caught her attention.

She picked it up then tossed it up in the air. Then with a mighty swung she turned the corner of the support beam and hit the rock straight out. By the time he started shooting again, she ducked back in. And just as she intended with the trajectory of the hit, the rock whalloped the creep right between the eyes and knocked him into the van. The other cops hauled him in and slammed the doors.

Cassandra tried to charge them, but they fired again at her with a pistol. She ducked this time behind another car, as its body and wheels were punctured by the bullets. The alarm went off in the air, causing many a dog to howl around them.

By the time she got back to her feet, the van was speeding away, down the block.

Cassandra clentched her teeth in a furious rage. They weren't getting away that easily.

She chased them on foot and out of sight to the end of the street, but as they made a sharp turn, she sped off in pursuit down an alleyway. Now neck and neck with them on the sidestreet beside them, she used great agility to leap a locked chainlink fence in her path, she couldn't let anything stop here.

She knew she was on their tail, the sound of the engine's turbines had a distinct enough rhythm to Cassandra's well trained ear.

Her pursuit down the back alleys brought another chainlink obstacle. With stunning agility, she parkoured across the sidewall of a building. A running jump up and over the fence, as she then tumbled back down to the ground. However, by the time she touched back down, her adrenaline was running ten times as fast. So were her trained senses. Enough that she realized the distinct engine of the van she pursued was no longer within range. It must have made a turn before she could cut it off.

She ran up the alley to the main street, it was just as she feared.

With no time to lose, Cassandra ran back down the alley and hurtled off her feet into the air. She caught the fire escape ladder with the tips of her feet as she launched up and over into the air.

Like an acrobat, she flipped onto her hands as she thrust the ladder down into position. She then did a back somersault as she landed feet first on the fire escape. Cassandra was short of breath by the time she raced up to the top of the metal girder escape. On the rooftop she ran to the edge to get a good look.

Looking in all directions, she sniffed the air for the distinct smell of diesel fuel emiting from the van, the smell of the exhaust. The wind was in her favor, as she picked up the van's whiff due west back toward the waterfront.

Despite better judgement, Cassandra took a deep breath, then from a running start a ways back, jumped off the rooftop and across the street. The forceful thrust through the air should never have worked. Yet Cassandra slammed into the roof of the building across the way.

With the momentum and adrenaline going, Cassandra jumped from rooftop to rooftop following the select smell of the van. She dodged satellite atennas and cables a plenty as she lept buildings in a single bound. Sorry.

They had to be close now, she could hear the engine once again as she neared the docks. Running out of rooftops, she took to her acrobatic skills once more and run along the power lines connecting the entire block. She ran over them with the greatest ease, she could put some of the Robins to shame with her agility.

Just then, as she stood atop on telephone poll to get a view, she spotted heard the clicking of the engine as it shut off. Cassandra turned to the direction of a warehouse along the docks. That was where they were.

She squinted her eyes to see if she could spot anything. A glimmer of red light seemed to shutter within the windows, like the taillights of the van. That was all the proof she needed, as she scuttled her way down the telephone poll, and landed on the ground below.

She pulled the knife out of her pants pocket, then made her way over to the warehouse.

Cassandra's heart was racing, short of breath and quite in a rage against these would-be abducters. She peered through the now shut doors of the warehouse, but within the corner of her eye she spotted the thugs. They were stripping out of the police uniforms and into regular clothes.

But there was no sign of Stephanie from where she was. Cassandra needed another way in, and fast.

With that in mind, she clutched the knife between her teeth, and climbed up the side of the warehouse. She crept onto the roof and made her way towards the nearest open window.

She skulked in like a trained killer without notice. She would have to restrain that instinct, even if Cassandra wanted to kill this vile repribates for what they've done.

She managed to climb down from the rafters, behind some crates. As the "officers" threw their uniforms in a pile and proceeded to burn it.

"But the boss told me to rent 'em!" one of the thugs lamented.

"Yeah, well say good bye to the insurance deposit" the female thug cackled, as she threw a match on the pile, after the other cop finished with pouring lighter fluid on the lot.

As the three watched the fire rise, they were quite shocked to see the fearsome face of the young woman they had just escaped... burst from it and armed with a hunting knife.

They gasped, as Cassandra drop kicked the man whining a moment earlier, knocking him to the ground.

"WHO IS THIS CHICK!?" the other thug cried out, as she slashed his hand before he could reach for his gun. She then punched him square in the jaw. Before the female thug could make a break for it, she was kicked in the nose once more and feel to her knees. Cassandra then held a knife to her throat and silently thrust her head up.

She looked dead into her eyes, cold and calculating... without a word. The female thug let out a light laugh.

"You're too late...heh heh heh" her thick British accent said between her teeth, as Cassandra looked up with a shock. The van they came in was empty. No sign of her friend, only a set of handcuffs and some assault rifles left over.

She released her grip on the woman's throat, in the swift process accidently ripping a band-aid off the back of her neck with the force. The thug was knocked to the ground as Cassandra ran to the van and searched every inch of the van. Nothing. She kicked the tire in a rage, then stared down the female thug as she twirled the knife in her hand and marched back over... ready to use it.

But before she could let her anger out on the woman, the thug got to her feet in a daze and held up her hands.

"Hey, hey, now I don't want any... ahhh... what the hell..." she screamed, now in a Baltimore accent, "How'd I-"

Cassandra belted her in the nose again with the butt of her knife as the woman keeled back over. It was then hanging off her belt, Cassandra noticd, a set of keys.

She swiped them and glanced them over. Nothing out of the ordinary, but she quickly determined they were not to keys to the wearhouse. A logo she'd seen before was on them. A heart shaped out of a cat and a dog.

Her eyes widened with the realization, more so... when she spotted a set of tracks that lead out of the back of the wearhouse.

She'd been careless not to see or hear the second van. But she followed the distinct tracks through the dirt and out the warehouse as far as she could. They disappeared off the docks and into the main road, heading west.

Cassandra knew she had no time to lose, especially now that she knew where this 2nd vehicle was heading.

In a vital moment of restraint, in her mind she knew what she needed most if she was going to rescue her friend.

Leaving the three thugs wrapped up like a christmas present for the police with telephone wires, while also slashing the tires of their vehicle, Cassandra raced off into night.

The three thugs were bleeding and disoriented, especially the woman of the group who acted as if she had lost a large amount of time.

Just when they figured things couldn't get worse, a shadow unfurled itself and began to approach them. It's pointed ears stretched across the floor of the warehouse as it came closer.

Back across town, Cassandra had used all her stamina and speed to race back the rowhouse she had spent the last few weeks in for shelter. She thought to hell with stealth, and kicked in the planks covering the doorway that she'd snuck through until now. Catching her breath for a second, and while trembling with each step toward a cabinet in what was left of the kitchen... she pulled out a large case.

She closed her eyes and with a deep breath, pulled out a long katana sword. She threw it over her shoulder and zipped up her jackie, pulling the hood over her head.

She stormed out of the house like a one-woman army, ready for anything Gotham City could throw at her.

Gotham City
May 27th, 2017
10:04pm EDT

In a clocktower clear on the otherside of town, was a safehouse of sorts with walls and walls of computer screens and equipment. A whole network of interocnnected feeds and links, a database and arsenal at the fingertips of one young woman.

Barbara Gordon, formerly known as Batgirl.

Now she worked from a safer locale in conjunction with the Justice League. The ORACLE network provided intel and updates to superheroes and vigilanted a like.

The wheelchair bound woman had closed her eyes for just a second, as terabytes of information were being de-coded.

Just then an important email came in, blinking and flashing enough alerts to get Barbara's attention. She rubbed her eyes and put her glasses back on.

Typing in a few codes to wake up the system, she logged in and took a glance at the email.

No name, a simple message saying INVESTIGATING FURTHER, THOUGHT YOU'D BE INTERESTED. Attached to it were crime scene photographs and readings. Three armed thugs, restrained and bloodied. Burned up uniforms, a stolen van, track marks of a possible second vehicle.

NEED ME TO CALL FOR
... Before Barbara could email him back, the minute she started typing she got a second email.

DON'T NEED HELP

"Bruce" she said, while shaking her head.

The Justice League barely sees their founding leader any more, ever since the Red Hood incident at Arkham Asylum two months ago. Even she and Dick barely caught glimpses of him out of the Batcave.

He was hiding down in there, drowning himself in casefiles and work to distract himself. Most times it was unreleated to the murders committed... by Jason.

She tried to reach out to him on Nightwing and Robin's behalf. But she was through trying to get the stubborn old man to handle his grief in the normal manner. Now she was the only one minding the store as it were, while everyone was on the Watchtower preparing to induct new members of the League, and of the Team.

"You usually don't send me your handiwork, so... someone else did this" Barbara realised as she analyzed the photos. She had a connection and a number for every known vigilante and Justice League member on the East Coast. If someone new was operating out of Gotham, someone with a ruthless streak.

While simultaneously trying to match the tire marks, she got a lock on the faces of the three. But something was off about them. The three thugs were known criminals and gangmembers. But they were also part of THREE SEPERATE GANGS. Rivals to boot, they'd never be working in business together... not unless the aliens were attacking Gotham City again.

Masquerading as cops, with handcuffs and restraints. An abduction by three bitter enemies, but no sign of their target. The second vehicle Barbara realized.

But as the image started to form on this baffling little puzzle, something else popped up from the attached files. A band-aid discarded on the ground. From one of the thugs, before they got their asses beaten by this new player.

"What is..." she squinted and leaned into the screen. She enhanced the picture and zoomed forward on the bloody band-aid. Something... microscopic, with a needle. It was a chip, of intricate design. Implanted into the thugs... when Barbara went over the photos again, the other two had band-aids at the base of their spines as well, on their necks like the girl of this rotten bunch.

A startling revelation formed in Barbara's mind at this ket point of evidence.

"Oh my god... not him."

Gotham City
May 27th, 2017
10:16pm EDT

The Gotham City Humane Society, the animal shelter left abandoned in the wake of the invasion from Apokolips. The caved in facility (that served the animal needs of the eastern district) now was under new management. The GCSPCA key, left by the goon back at the warehouse, meant as much.

Cassandra knew as such from the two armed sentries (hoodlums to say the least, of rival gangs) patrolling the outside, casually trying to hide they were armed and on watch duty. They could easily make the quiet neighborhood very loud, very fast.

She trapezed like on a tightrope across the remaining cable wires, onto the rooftop. As she did she spotted tiretracks in the mud. They matched the same patterns from the van that got away, Cassandra could make it out even from so far off the ground. She silently made it onto the roof, clutching the sword still in its sheath. With easy footsteps she approached a skylight and peeked down below. Her teeth gritted as she held back the rage boiling within her, at the sight below.

Young women of all shapes, sizes, and colors... in cages. Like animals. Gangbangers armed with heavy automatic rifles were the guards of this reprehensible make-shift prison. Cassandra could see the fear in all their eyes, as they remained locked up in kennels used prior for dog pens. Dirty, with bowls of food and water, and barely a pillow to sleep upon the stone floor.

Cassandra was starting to recognize a few familiar faces of those living on the street like herself and Stephanie. Scared and weak, these poor girls were likely to be sold off to who knows where. Her anger grew as she slowly looked around the compound, and failed to see Stephanie with the lot of imprisoned young women. If she had been shipped off by these fiends, so help them. No. No, she sensed it in her gut. Her friend was still here, still in danger either way,

Cassandra wasn't about to let this nightmare continue... not for any of them. And for the first time in four years, the accursed sword was drawn from Cassandra's sheath. She felt the strength return to her fingers as she clutched it with both hands.

She steeled her temperment, no room for rage or error with someone girls' lives on the line. Takedown the guards quick and precise.

But just as she readied to burst it and free the captured girls, a commotion was going on that caught her attention. Two ghastly looking thugs marched in pushed aside the guards. Cassandra knew something was up, as the made their way past the kennels. The two were bulky and balding, nearly impossible to tell the two gruff-looking blokes apart from each other. They effortlessly knocked one guard aside and into the cages, causing a few girls to jolt back. The scene was making others cower and cry.

Cassandra was going to make the lot of them pay.

The other armed henchmen tried to mindlessly stop the two twins, in almost unison... but the closest one rapped on the door at the end of the lab, the entrance to the main foray/adoption center at one point. Right next to the door was a mannequin, cloaked in a tattered bunch of black leather that was stitched together like the infamous cowl of the Batman. The stab marks meant someone was using it for practice.

The bulbous looking fiend groaned as he knocked once more on the door, with his twin standing right beside him.

"I told you mimsy imbeciles QUITE clearly, that I wish NOT to be disturbed!" a voice said from behind the door.

"Sorry, boss" the bald goon said in a cockney accent.

"Between you claudes, and the caterwallowing of those females... it's getting to where I can't have a moment's peace!"

"Again, apologies boss. It's Dee and me, Dee and me ya see. We has somethin important to tells ya"

"You THINK it's important enough to interupt me, do you?"

"Well... ya" he nervously replied

"When the muscle starts to think, it soon becomes time to amputate!" the persnickity British voice barked back from behind the door.

"It's dreadful sir. It simply cannot wait!"

"Ooohhh very well! Very well!" the voice said angrily and annoyed, as Cassandra watched carefully from the skylight above. The armed thugs all thrust themselves into position and froze like Buckinham guards. They didn't budge a inch, it was inhuman.

The two meatheads backed away, giving each looks as the door kicked outward. A thrush of mist from a fogmachine leaked out into the kennel area, along with green and blue strobe lights.

Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee folded their arms and stood at the ready, while trying to not look thier employer in the eyes as he strolled in a fiery tizzy. His mood was soured enough, but the bad news they carried wasn't gonna to help them.

Cassandra couldn't understand half of what was going on, as this yellow-toothed man with greasy grey hair commanded so much fear and respect. This short raggidy-man was clad in a green tattered suit, torn gloves, and a top hat larger than his neckless head. From above the hat covered his rat-like face, all but perhaps his portruding nose.

"Interrupting my tea party... huh-ho, this had BETTER BE GOOD!" the villainous little worm said with a pointed finger to his hired henchmen, as his caged captors backed away in terror at the sight of him.

Cassandra knew enough english from the Gotham news bulletins to recognize the this wretched man. Not enough to pronouce Jervis Tetch, but enough to silently say "M-meh-...Mad...Hat" as she bit her lip in anger.

The Mad Hatter was indeed the ringleader of this human trafficing operation.

Gotham City
May 27th, 2017
10:35pm EDT

"Well?!" the yellow toothed-man hissed, as he poked Tweedle Dee in the gut. "Suddenly you two have nothing to say, ehh?!"

He paced around them like a vulture about to swoop down on its prey. For such a small man, Cassandra thought to herself, he instilled quite a bit of fear into his henchmen... especially the armed guards. The angry young woman noted the rest of his goons at attention, not even a flinch of emotion. Almost in a trance as they lined and waited in front of the cages racked with abducted girls.

"Ahhh...ya see Mr. Hat... SIR..." Dum stammered to speak.

"So the cat hasn't got your tongues... Well GOODY! Now out with you before I have to ask twice!" the Hatter cut back with a kick to the backside that pushed Dum over to the floor. Dee fearfully pulled his brother up to his feet.

"The three blokes we had dolled up like cops... they got pinched on that warehouse on the Eastside docks."

Jervis let out a small chuckle as he rubbed his chin, barely a chin really given his thick neck. "Is that all?" he sarcastically then said.

The Tweedles looked at each other suspiciously. "We figured it might be a problem, seeing as they could spill the beans on every-"

The Mad Hatter pulled Dee by the collar down to his height.

"You idiot! Those guttertrash hooligans won't be able to remember the last three weeks, let alone who was ordering them about! A safety procaution I installed, in case the microchips implanted in ther spines were taken off by force!"

"...Oh" Dee said with relief. "Forgot that I suppose, guess we're in the..."

Jervis knocked the bald bloke aside. "We're not out of the proverbial forest yet, dodobirds. Just HOW exactly were these Eastside wretches nabbed by the police... if I may boldy inquire?!"

"Ahhhh..." the Tweedles tapped their fingers like frightened children in the principal's office.

"Just as I feared... the BATMAN" Mad Hatter quivered at the thought of that flying rodent.

"We didn't think..." Dum tried to explain.

"If you didn't think, you SHOULDN'T SPEAK!"

The towering Tweedles coiled back. "Must be a slow week for him and his blasted Super Friends! No alien invaders to repell, if he manages to find the time to crackdown... on my petty operation!"

Cassandra watched the wormy little man engage his top henchmen on the roof, and from their violent conversation she knew it regarded her "interrogating" his other mind-controlled accomplices. They'd be moving out shortly, with all the girls in tow. But Cassandra wasn't about to let him get away with Stephanie or anyone else he's abducted off the streets of Gotham.

She knew this was the time to strike.

Cassandra drew her sword and crept in through the window on the roof, and down into the rafters... just like in the warehouse. Slowly and stealthly she snuck in, while the explosive and repugnant little man blasted away at his terrified minions. The rest of his mind-controlled gunmen didn't notice a thing either as she walked along the support beam, into the main part of the animal shelter.

"Should we move out, sir?" Dee nervously asked.

"There's that THINKING I was talking about from you claudes!"

Both the brothers flinched to duck a punch they thought was about to be thrown.

The Mad Hatter flung out his arm to instead... adjust the brim of his hat. His fingers caressed it, and the swift movement turned on a blinking digital light. An electronic band that circled around the top of his hat, that sent a signal to his brainwashed enforcers.

"Not quite yet chowderbrain. I want the girls and this entire facility packed and ready to go... we shall leave at dawn's first light. Heh-heh, our nocturnal friend may not have our scent just yet, but I think either way it would be a safer course to move in daylight."

"That makes sense" Dum acknowledged with a dumb look on hif face. Bot the Tweedles nodded in agreement, while Dee let out a gulp. "Sorry for interrupting your party, sir. We just..."

"Tut, tut, tut." The Mad Hatter patted his henchman's back. "All is forgiven this time. I may have been a little off the handle in my distemperment, but I do understand the haste at which you two wanted to deliever this news. Even if the rules did slip your minds, I thank you for that important update."

Dee and Dum sighed with relief.

"Just remember... if it slips your minds again, I'll have those street rats bash your skulls in!"

And just as quickly, the two gulped with fear.

"Yes, well... I can't keep my party guests waiting any longer. You two run along and make sure..."

Just then, the lights to the animal shelter shuttered and died. A few of the caged girls let out cries of panic.

"Quiet..." the Hatter raced over and slammed on the cages. "QUIEEET! Good little girls should remain seen... NOT HEARD!"

The girls cowered back, shrinking away in terror of their vile little abducter. He slinked back and adjusted his cuffs with this narrow intimidation of the young girls. He then turned his attention back to the brain-controlled goons at his beck and call, whilst they remained in pitch blackness.

"Will somebody find the blasted power breaker!?" Jervis screamed aloud to his mindless minions, "Honestly, I should order you worthless lot to go jump off the Kane Bridge! Least the thugs in the Western District are more capable than you miserable..."

Gunfire erupted down the hall. All eyes turned to the doorway leading to the rest of the shelter.

"What the-" Mad Hatter inched closer to the door, only to jolt back with more blasts of gunfire. As well as the yelling of his minions.

The gunfire was drawing louder, amidst the sounds of punches and fists thrown.

Someone was getting closer. Paniced cries for help were swiftly slinced by blunting and vicious strikes.

Jervis began to creep backwards, behind the Tweedles for cover. He feared who was behind the metal door, the unstoppable force of nature that was coming... for him.

The goons in the room slowly coverged on the door, their guns drawn and ready at the entrance-way.

"Well... what are you two waiting for?" Hatter beckoned his goons while cowering behind them like a schoolgirl.

The Tweedles exchanged a quick look. Then they looked at the door, then back to each other. The back to the door.

Dum raised his fist, as did Dee. Three shakes, and Dum hand a rock... Dee had scissors. Dum's dumb little smirk roused his brother Dee to punch him in the shoulder. The Mad Hatter slapped both of them upside the head before it could descend into one of their usual "battles".

"SAVE IT FOR HIM, YOU MORONS!"

A scream perferated the air as another guard was taken down, this time slammed into the other side of the door. The rest of Hatter's henchmen flinched a little, then retrained their guns on the door.

The twins then cautiouly approached the door, while Dum whipped out a pistol stuffed in the back of his pants. Dee then gave everyone of the brainwashed foot soldiers a look. Fear was creeping through their emotionless visages.

With a quick thrust, Dee flung the door open as they all proceeded to open fire into the darkened hallway. Amid the gunfire, the blasts illuminated the space for brief glimpses. Except for the guard lying unconcious on the floor... it was empty.

"Hold your fire!" the Hatter then screamed, as they all stopped shooting simulanteously. Dum, with his eyes closed, peaked his head out then opened them to no forseeable danger. Dee shined a flashlight and confirmed as much.

Dee stepped back with the light still pointed at the hallway. As he was about to turn to the baffled and befuddled Jervis, one of the mindcontrolled goons saw his unconcious comrade come to.

He gave him a hand and helped him back to his feet.

The Mad Hatter did a double take, "NO WAIT!".

As soon as he did, the guard was grabbed by the arm... by a figure that was hiding under the unconcious man on the floor. He was bashed upside the head and thrown into the darkened hallway with a scream.

The Tweedles and the goons opened fire again, but the figure disappeared in swift motion.

Panic filled the room of every man and woman carrying a gun. Especially for the Mad Hatter, as he looked in every darkened direction. The clanking of pipes, any small noise put the villains on edge.

One of the mindless enforcers fired off into the ceiling, frightening the girls and increasing the tension of the room. Especially since all he hit was air. He wiped his brow and tried to stay alert. As the Hatter stood between the Tweedles for protection, the gold-chained thug took an uneasy step backward...

When suddenly the grate on the floor ripped open. A pair of hands dragged him down as he screamed, disappearing into the drains with sound of fist against his ugly face. The rest of the goons, and the Tweedles, blasted the metal drainage. Nothing. Dee peeked down and say only the now unconcious minion.

"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat..." The Mad Hatter mockingly sung, as he nervously looked around the room, "How I Wonder What You're At..."

"This can't be happening!" Dum nervously twitched as he took a machine gun off the dispatched guard from the other side of the door.

Before Dee could tell off his brother, the guard standing beside him was struck. A slash to the ankle that sent him screaming to floor... the work of a large katana. The figure wielding it then knocked him upside the head with the tip of the handle. Hatter caught a quick glimpse of the myserious swordsman, enough of her face that is.

"Holy..." Dum screamed, as he tried to fill the sword wielder with lead. By the time his clip emptied, the hoodied figure had disappeared behind a set of crates.

"How is he doing this!?" Dee huffed in terror as he checked on the downed guard. Only two left now, plus the Hatter and the Tweedles.

"How is SHE, to be more precise." Jervis then corrected his bald lackey.

"She?!" Dum said with suprise.

"We have a Bat infestation, make no mistake... but it's a Girl that's at work here."

"No one's seen her since the Joker's last prank, am I right?" Dee turned to his brother.

"I think so, though I can't recall she likewise had a sword before than."

"Didn't she also have..." Dum puzzled to himself aloud, "Red hair?!"

"I thought it was always black. Well dark auburn... ya'know brown"

"No, no. It was surely red."

"Contrariwise, Dum. I don't think-"

"WILL YOU TOO KNOCK IF OFF!" The hatter screamed, before his befuddled Tweedles could come to blows.

Speaking of blows, as the three argued amongst each other, a guard standing idly bye watched in instant horror as the tip of her gun was sliced clean off. She turned up to see the blade holder swing off the rafters like an Olympic gymnist. Kicked clean in the face and knocked out cold as the swordswoman stuck a hard landing in her gut. She then leaped over both the heads of the bald brothers, her hands grasped the tops of their skulls as she knocked them together.

They rubbed their brusied noses, but before the Tweedles could turn and fire, the hooded girl had her sword to the Mad Hatter's throat.

"Wait, wait you fools! Heh-heh, let's not be too hasty my dear!" Jervis tried to worm his way out of the situation, by Cassandra saw through his pacifying demeanor. She could see who he really was. Just by looking around the girls clammering up to the chainlink doors, of the cells he put them in.

"Who the devil are you then?"

Not a peep from Cassandra, just a death stare as she took the hoodie off her head, slowly as the Tweedles still were aimed at her.

"You've certainly been busy tonight. I assume I have you to think for the docks, as well as this rather violent scene with my minions, hmh? Now, what could I have possibly done to YOU... to deserve this kind of-"

Cassandra put the tip of her blade right up to his Jervis' large nostril before he could finish that sentance.

"Certainly not afraid to use that, hehheh... you're violent streak means you're definatly not one of the Batman's little brats!" Jervis was not as nervous as he should be, Cass read that in his expression. "Did the Black Mask send you, because I can assure him I still intended to give him his usual cut for tonight's shipment of-"

She viciously slashed at the cage door beside him, creating sparks as she flew into a rage, at the very idea of selling this young girls. With a quick movement, Cassandra know had the sword right at Jervis' throat, along with arm around it squeezing the little coward.

The Tweedles nervously tried to keep a lock on her head, without also shooting their employer.

"Easy now. Don't do anything you'll regret my dear!"

"S-s-...Steph-anie"

"Who?"

"STEPHANIE!" Cassandra yelled, with the blade's steel cutting in closer to the Hatter's throat. He bit his lip with a twinge of panic, until he glanced around at the young girls huddled up to the cage doors, then back to a steel door behind him. Near the shot up dummy of Batman.

"Ohh.. yes, I see. You've come for your friend. Curiouser and curioser..." a mischievous and evil grin crossed the Hatter's face. "Why didn't you just say so?! Your friend has been invited to a little party..."

The Hatter shot Dum a quick look, to which he then nodded with fiendish delight. He his brother dropped their guns and seemed to be surrending.

"Shoes, ships, cabbages and kings... oh we have many things to talk about! In fact, she'd be absolutely delighted if you'd join us!" he barked, as Cass tightened her grip around his throat. Cassandra would not have believed it herself then, as she watched the fat lumbering henchman lept off his feet... and bounced off the ground with tremendous force like a rubber ball.

In the air he curled like such a ball, richotched off the ceiling and slammed right into Cassandra. The Hatter wriggled his way out of Cassandra's grip as they ot to their feet of the ground. Only for Dee to join in and bounce off the cages and straight down into her with a piledrive. The sword fell out of her hands, but the worst part was this powerful blow felt like an elephant stomping on her.

Cassandra let out a gasp for air as she crawled to her feet, with the pain of being barely able to breath after those last two assaults. Before she could react, giving a venemous look to the smiling Jervis, she was grabbed by the arms and hauled up to her toes. Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee proceeded to punch her repeatedly in the gut as they cackled.

"Let's not be so rough, boys!" The Hatter waved them off with a hand as Cassandra struggled to break free from the grip, as Jervis crept closer with an impish and self-righteous grin on his face.

"Mad...heh heh... you have to be positivly Mad as a March Hare, to think you can watch wits with me, girlie!"

Cassandra tried to kick and bite her way out, the Tweedles grip was too strong. But then in the corner of her eye, she saw the two take their free hands and proceed to cover their eyes.

"No matter..." he said as he grabbed something out of his coat pocket. He held her sword with the ragged gloved right hand, all with with his left he searched around for something in his pocket. A gold watch on a chain, which he opened right in front of her face with the press of a button.

"WE'RE ALL MAD HERE!"

A flash of green lights blinded Cassandra, while her retinas were blasted by a series of blinking little lights... green... red... green... green... yellow... red... red...

The room began to spin, it felt like it was dissolving all around her. The blinking lights turned into a spiraling daze of technicolors.

"TIME TO TEACH YOU SOME MANNERS, YOU VICIOUS LITTLE BRAT!" the Mad Hatter's voice cackled, as he disappeared right in front of her. Cassandra was released from the Tweedle's grip, but she could barely stand as she fumbled and punched at the air. She turned around only to see the Tweedles morph into monstrous and contorted shapes. They oozed into a single purple ball. The walls around her collapsed into nothingness, the ceiling fell around her, as Cassandra ducked the debris, which hit the floor and turned into whiffs of smoke. The ball began to roll towards her. Ready to crush her.

Cassandra tried to run but her feet sank right through the floor, like cracks in thin ice. She feel backwards as she plunged into the stone floor, with the Tweedles tumbling ever closer to her. But when her body hit the floor, it collapsed in on itself and turned into playing cards. She fell and fell through the air, the cards tumbling and turning alongside her.

Cassandra struggled to grip anything to stop her fall, as the bright lights continued to daze her, while the whole world seemed shake the booming tic of a clock. It pained her ears as much as her chest, hard to breath as she was falling for what seemed like forever.

Eventually by the tips of her fingers, Cassandra caught the edge of the one of the playing cards. She reached up and tried to climb on, only to meet eye to eye with the Mad Hatter. His eyes were as bright yellow as teeth, as he grinned from ear to ear.

"Don't fret, my dear... you're not crazy..."

He stomped down on her fingers with his spat-covered shoes.

"MY REALITY IS JUST DIFFERENT FROM YOURS!"

The Hatter cackled as he stomped at her fingers until they turned red, Cassandra refused to let go. She tried to continue pulling herself up, until she looked in horror at the Mad Hatter... now armed with a giant axe.

"Now, now... how late it's getting. MUSN'T MISS AN IMPORTANT DATE, MUSN'T BE LAAATE!"

He swung the axe, as Cassandra let go, just missing the blade's edge from cutting off her fingers. She as if weights were chained to her legs, tumbling and falling into nothingness... down, down the rabbit hole she fell.

The voices around her were cackling, like being in an insane asylum. So distracted, she didn't even realize she hit the bottom. Like landing on a pillow. She opened her eyes in a daze, her heart was racing just as fast and loud as that damn clock.

She staggered to her feet now, looking all around for someone... anyone. Giant mirrors covered the room, as it seemed to spin around Cassandra. Her head was killing her as much as her chest.

The reflections in the looking glasses were monstrous and distorted, tall and short, wide and thin. Like ten thousand twisted eyes looking back at her. She closed her eyes and blocked her ears as the clock beat tinkered on, louder and louder.

"LATE, LATE, LATE... MUSN'T BE LATE FOR A VERY IMPORTANT DATE! HA HA HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!"

Suddenly, with but a single peak she saw one undistorted reflection. Something about this one called to her, she was compelled to approach it. Cassandra slowly did. It looked like her and was undistorted... and yet Cassandra was taller. Older even, yet elegant and beautiful. But also lethal, from the cold eyes of this short-haired woman.

Cassandra touched the looking glass, as did her reflection. Their hands met, and the older woman let out a faint smile. The thought crossed her mind, as it has done in the past regarding her parentage. Could this... be her mother?

Before she could get an answer, another figure appeared in the looking glass reflection. An insidious looker caterpillar with razor-sharp tendrils. Before Cassandra could turn around, it entangled her feet. A sharp pain struck the base of her neck as fell forward from the Caterpillar's bite. She fell right through the looking glass, tearing through it like a balloon as it wrapped around her face, making it difficult to breath.

She burst through the mirror and found a madhouse on the other side. A dark forest with a winding path, cackling laughs and grinning teeth attached to no body. Cassandra did the only thing she could... she ran and ran. She ran until her feet were raw and sore, though she couldn't tell where she was going, as it felt like a bag was over her head, blinding her path. A giant Dodo stopped her in her tracks and tried to gobble her up. Cassandra ducked his monstrous beak and dodged his talons as she continued onward.

Through the trees she could see a figure. Her mother. She ran towards her amidst the screetching of carrion beasts. A murder of strange looking birds flew all around her as she raced after her mother, who glew as white as the rabbit of the accursed story she was trapped in.

"WHERE WILL YOU GO, MY DEAR? WHERE WILL YOOOU GOOOO?! HA HA HA HAAA! DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU END UP!"

When Cassandra finally caught up to her in a purple-colored clearing of open grass... she grabbed the woman's shoulder. But then a hand grabbed her back, but it was not a woman's. She saw her father turn around and greet her instead. With the same rage-filled face that she knew him best with. She jumped back in terror as her father approached her, his fists clentched. The sense of something smother her face returned, as it tightened with pain as if it snych with her father's closing steps toward her.

She ran away from in fear, as the feeling crept back into her mind and took shape all around her. Like the little girl living in fear of her father's shadow. The forest returned to darkness as she ran and ran, trying to escape her father's wrath. She looked behind her, only to see her father morph into a winged demon. His neck elongated and fangs ripped out of his face along with a pair of batwings. A Jabberwocky if she ever saw one. It lept into the air and gave chase with a monstrous roar.

Cassandra tripped on a limb and tossed into the air. She fell back to earth, only to roll down a steep hill, bumpy and jagged with rocks.

By the time she reached the bottom, her father's roars were off in the distance. She had escaped him for now. But Cassandra's blood pressure was through the roof as her heart raced. The clockwork ticking of that pocket watch returned louder than ever. Cassandra was on all fours trying to catch her breath, to calm her mind as it raced with wild and frantic images, now as vivid as this nightmare she was trapped in. The ground on which she sat was checkboard like a chess game.

At her feet was a puddle of water, without haste she drank from it with her hands, splashed a little on her face to calm down. But after a few seconds, Cassandra felt something was wrong. She spit it out, but it wasn't posionous (she could detect that). Instead it was tea, a puddle of tea in the ground. She also saw her reflection in the puddle. Her face covered in fur and she had two elongated ears coming out of her head. She recoiled in terror at the sight of this hideous visage, showing off a pair of bucktoothed fangs, like a rabbit.

The sheer shock of this sight snapped Cassandra momentarily back to reality. In a series of green and red flashes, the puddle became a mirror... and her face was not a rabbit. She was cloaked in a poorly stitched mask, like that of Batman's but with pointier ears. She felt her face to feel only cloth, not fur, as her breathing calmed ever more.

"T'was brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe..." The Hatter's voice fiendishly echoed, "All mimsy were the borogroves. And the mome raths OUTGRABE!"

His cackle fileld her with rage. But then a pain in the back of her neck shifted her quite vividly back into the nightmare. She stumbled to her feet as she twisted and turned in every direction. Her feet and body moved, but not by her control... she looked down to see feet walking backwards, even though she saw herself moving forwards. She had lost control of her body it seemed, a terrifying experience.

She moved through a series of doors that got smaller and smaller, as it seemed so did she, until finally a small crack of light guided her way through the endless doors. Her hand stretched out without her control or say in the matter, before her eyes was the sword she thought was lost. It was clutched by her hands, but then like glue refused to yield the blade in front of her. It drew her into the doors like a magnet, all while her feet pushed on.

Cassandra fought and tried to escape whatever force was moving her. She looked backwards to see her mother off in the distance, disappearing beyond the horizon. Miniscule now to the size she started out as, her feet carried her through the very keyhole that bellowed open like a mouth. On the otherside the blinding light gave way to the series of red and green... red... green... green... red... yellow... red... red...

Cassandra's eyes burst open with a gasp of air.

With a daze of colors that snapped her back to reality, the booming clockwork dissapated for a barely noisy tempo on the otherside of the room. Cassandra tried to move, but her hands and feet refused to acknowledge her, as she saw her sword clutched in her palms. She was seated at a long table, covered in smashed teacups and other chinaware.

She was dizzy and out of breath, but she could make out the shape of the the Hatter's giant habidash. She tried to lunge at him, but her body refused to move despite her mind commanding it. Her mind wasn't in control anymore, the Hatter's was.

"Why don't you have a cup of tea to calm your nerves, my dear. You look a girl who enjoys a spot of Jasmine, eh?"

Cassandra didn't say a word, she only gave a deathly glare back to the Hatter, as he sat at the other end of this red-tinted dining room.

"Not a conversationalist." he spat, as he sipped his own fractured cup. "In any event, you've had a busy evening. I must admit it was quite an enjoyable spectacle for me and my droogs, watching you fumble and mantically try to escape... trapped in your own private Wonderland, hehhehhehheh!"

Cassandra swore she'd never kill again, but the Hatter was pushing her too far. She tried to take the sword out of its sheath, but her fingers wouldn't budge.

"No point struggling, I placed a chip at the base of your spine while you were under my little spell. Now I have full control over you, as much as I do those lapdogs out there" he pointed to the other side of the steel door. "Must be a frightful thing, to know see and hear, experience everything and nothing at the same time. To watch your body do anything I ask it... while your mind is trapped and screamed, as if buried alive!"

She wanted to smack the loathsome smile off his face.

"I know you're wondering how I did it. I could tell you how my hypnosis worked to create that vivid dream of ... oh, but then explainations take such a dredful time. Time you don't have..." he swung his pocket watch around on his finger as he sat back in his seat, a cup of tea in the other hand.

"It was fun, I must admit. Even if you;ve been a rude party guest." The Hatter delicatly placed the teacup down on the table as he stood up. "Alice and I are off, you see... after we take care of unfinished business. My droogs will dispose of the rest of those girls, that lot would have barely fetched me a penny anway. Likewise for you... this game has come to an end!"

Cassandra looked in confusion at the table, around the room. But then with shock, she spotted a girl seated at the other side of the table, next ot Jervis. Blonde-haired and in a trance, with a bow in her hair.

It was Stephanie!

Locked away in a similar psychadelic daze like she was, Cassandra struggled to free herself from this mental hold the Hatter had her under. She tried to reach out to her friend.

"It was a valiant effort, but you just weren't good enough!" the Hatter said as he moved towards her, arming himself with a large knife he had been using to cut bread on the table.

Cassandra was impassable, immovable as the Hatter crept closer to her with the knife in his hand. If her fac weren't immobilzed by the chip in her spine, and covered by the bat mask... it would be drenched with fear.

"The Mad Hatter reigns supreme here... no street rat with a sword is going to best me! I've spent too many a night trying to find her again, you'll not take Alice away from me!"

As he lifted the knife in his hand over his shoulder, ready to plunge it into her, gunfire went off behind the steel door.

Jervis turned around in panic, a twinge of terror now crept back upon his brow. Cassandra's eyes shifted to the noise, as more gunfire and screaming ripped through the animal shelter. A banging could be heard as if something pounded against it.

The strength of these knocked the very hinges off the metal door, as it flew open with a smash. Laying on top of it was Tweedle Dee, unconcious and bruised. Not far behind him, flying through the air over him was Tweedle Dum. As if thrown through, the fat henchman bounced and richotched off a side wall and crashed into the table top.

"You've gone too far, Jervis" a gravly voice said, sending chills down the Mad Hatter's spine. He recoiled as a fearsome figure approached.

Cassandra watched as the figure stepped through the doorway, cloaked in shadows. He stomped right down on Dee's massive gut as he crossed the threshold. She knew immedialty who it was based on the fearsome presense... but mostly because of the ears.

BATMAN

"I knew you'd be up to your old tricks, after escaping from Arkham... BUT THIS!?"

He barely passed through, before four of the Hatter's mindcontrolled thugs tried to jump him. Cassandra watched in awe at the other end of the table, as he effortlessly fought the lot of them off in close combat. Punches and kicks blocked with ease as the Bat threw one over his shoulder and pummeled the rest with precision strikes.

Her mask hid her eyes, but behind it they were fixated and amazed at the sight she was beholding.

The form by which he faught with so efficiantly. Krav Maga, Savate, Jujitsu, Shotokan... all types of fighting styles blended into one ruthless individual. One, as Cassandra saw, that was ruthless yet in control. This Batman knew where to strike, but also to respect the life of his opponent. Cassandra herself would have easily killed any number of these criminals, mind controlled or not, because of her rage.

Batman had bottled his anger and fueled instead for lethal agility. He wiped the floor with the hapless thugs, taking them all on at once... and beating them almost instantly with precision. The clockwork nightmare still in her system... illusions of the Batman shifting between reality, and a monstrous Jabborwocky took place before Cass's eyes. It was a terrifying sight, but Cassandra was not afraid of THIS demon.

Returning to reality after several flashs back to Wodnerland, the Batman finished with the thugs. He didn't even bat an eye as he turned then and continued to approach Jervis Tetch. His stern visage cold and palpable with stoic anger.

The Hatter dropped the knife and quickly threw up his hands, a nervous smile crossed his face.

"Easy does it! Can't we talk this over, heh heh?" his miniscule laugh only made the Batman crack his knuckles even louder as he approached the twisted little man.

"Barely a month out, not only weren't you smart enought to leave Gotham... but you've fallen back into your Alice fixation." He then pointed a blistering finger at Alice, "Just how far down have you fallen this time, to justify abducting innocent young girls, Jervis!?"

"I can't exactly explain myself... I'm not myself you see!" he innocently tried to say while twiddling his fingers. "It started as a search and rescue, but then as those idiots kept bringing me the wrong girls... a business opportunity sprang up over night!" Explaining and twiddling away... a distraction while Tweedle Dee rose slowly to his feet with a growl. The fat dope charged the Batman, as Cassandra silently struggled to warn him. Batman didn't even glance behind him... he simply punched Tweedle Dee square in the face without a second glance.

The nincompoop fell flat to the floor as a Batarang ripped out his utility belt. Batman threw it into the table, piercing it as Batman's shadow loomed over Jervis.

"I'm not in the mood for your games, Hatter! You've become a child-abducting sadist!" Batman pointed to Stephanie, still in a daze and sitting at the table with her teacup. "And I have no small measure of sympathy... or MERCY for men like that!"

Jervis was truely scared now, the Bat never threatened him like this. But as the Batman stepped closer, Tetch just smiled away, much to Cassandra's disdain as she strained every muscle trying to move.

"Sticks and stones, Batman! As for games... you can be assured I'm all out of party favors this evening." He waved his hand to the assorted goons and Tweedles the Bat had made short work of.

"As for the March Hare, however..." he then said as he tipped his trim and activated his hat.

A surge of energy filled Cassandra's mind and body, as a signal was sent to her by the Hatter's mental controls. Batman could barely react as the figure he assumed was a dummy... jumped up on the table with a sword that was quickly unsheathed.

Cassandra was on a passenger in her body, as it flung and slashed away at the Batman himself. He narrowly missed the blade's attack, as his gauntlets caught the brunt of the sword's strikes. The Hatter laughed and cackled as Cassandra helplessly attacked the Batman.

He was restrained enough to realize this masked girl was under Jervis' malicious control. Sparks flew with each strike of the blade, each time aimed right for his head and neck.

Cassandra tried to scream out, or say something, but her lips were sealed as he arms and legs slashed apart the tabletop and chairs while dueling with the Batman.

A moment passed between them, their cold eyes met as Cassandra assumed a warrior's stance. Through the mask, Batman read Cassandra just as easily as she could read others. But from her dilated pupils the Batman saw something in her... a glimmer. Like having someone read right into your soul.

"One... Two, One... Two" the Hatter jested while clapping his hands in merriment, "Her Vorpal blade cuts better than mine, ha ha!"

Another slash from Cassandra, as she struggled to regain control. The Bat could sense it as he kicked her aside. She tumbled on the ground and back to her feet in a cartwheel, lunging at the fabled Dark Knight once again.

But this time, after another parry of blocking the blade's attacks... she struck him with a vicious slash in the chest. Batman let out a groan as he feel to his knees, clutching his chest.

"Oh frabjous day! Callou, Callay!" the Hatter squeed with giddy joy. His swordswinging minion had seemingly done the impossible. Even Cassandra could barely believe what her hands had down, as the Batman now lay at her mercy.

"Now let the Vorpal blade go... SNICKER SNAK!" The Hatter said as Cassandra's sword stayed at Batman's neck. She stood idly behind him, ready to behead him at the Hatter's order. She was screaming and raging at the inside, trying to fight back and stop this madness from going any further.

"Bring me that cowl, my dear!" Jervis then said with a snap of his fingers as he stood at a distance.

Cassandra eyes bubbled with intensity, her muscles raged as she tried with all her might... to refuse what the Hatter's brain was telling her arms to do. She raised the sword over her shoulder, as the defeated Batman sat there. It was almost like he... like he wasn't trying.

He wouldn't. He couldn't, Cassandra thought to herself. He gave her only a stoic look, not of defeat or pain like a moment ago. HE WANTED HER TO TRY AND LOB HIS HEAD OFF!

Her brain was wracked with trembling intensity, as her arms unleashed themselves and swung the sword. Jervis ripped and rooted... until he looked on with a gasp.

Cassandra had stayed her blade.

She was inches from his neck, but she hadn't carried out the Hatter's order to kill the Batman.

"What are you waiting for!? DO IT!"

Cassandra arms and fingers would move no further, she felt like her brain was going to explode. By let go using her strength to resist the Hatter's control... and just let her body do it for her. The Batman knew that even under mind control... that this girl would refuse to kill.

Her body was fighting back when her own mind couldn't, if by a deeper subconcious motion.

"I SAID KILL HIM, YOU IMPUDENT BRAT!"

The muscles of her arms were now back in her command, as she held tight and returned them to her chest. All while the rest of her body remained dormant like a statue.

"THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!" Jervis screamed.

"You of all people should know" Batman non-chalantly said, "NOTHING is impossible."

If it were anyone else, he'd have cracked a grin on that note.

The Hatter watched in horror, as Cassandra levied her sword to her side and firmly used every fiber of her energy to refuse his command. Batman slowly got to his feet, his little gambit having worked. It suprised even Cassandra, given that he'd known this strangely dressed girl all but three minutes.

"YOU WRETCHED CHILD!"

The flashes to her Wonderland nightmare returned, shifting between reality and the illusions created by the Hatter.

"I GAVE YOU... A BLOODY ORDER!" he hollared, but to Cassandra he shifted between another form. She changed into someone a lot more menacing right before her eyes.

"NOW DO AS I COMMAND" the Hatter's voice barked, coming out of the mouth of her father David Cain "BEFORE I DECIDE TO KILL THE BOTH OF YOU, TO RID ME OF YOUR STUPIDITY!"

This was the final mental straw for Cassandra. If it weren't for the stitched up mask, Jervis would have gotten the most intense face that even the Batman could muster. Like lifting pounds of sandbags, Cassandra used her strength to lift her right arm.

Jervis' snarl disappeared in a flash, as watched in awe at Cassandra resisting his mental hold even further. He tipped his hat and sent as much energy into her spinal chip as he could... but it only seemed to intensify Cassandra's rage even greater, furthering her resolve to do... the impossible.

She reached the back of her neck and ripped the bandaid under mask clean off. Hatter let out a gasp. A static spark let out from the overload, as Cassandra let out a scream, muffled by the mask but still ear-piercing. it wasn't pain, so much as a scream of agonizing relief... she was finally free of a waking coma that trapped her in her own body.

In a glare now worthy of Batman, Cassandra was finalyl able to turn her head, all while crushing the microchip in her hand that had made her Jervis' slave.

"No, no, no, nooo... NO ONE'S WILL IS STRONG ENOUGH TO DEFY ME!"

From the Hatter's sleeve, a small pistol zipped out from a trip mechanism. He shot Cassandra right in the shoulder in a blind rage against the girl. Batman whipped another batarang at the Hatter that slashed the gun out of his gloved hands... but to the Bat's suprise and Jervis' horror, Cassandra stood there unfazed. She didn't flinch or scream after being shot. She only looked down at the wound, then back at Jervis. Stoically, SHE WAS NOT AMUSED.

With all the returned strength to her arms, she lifted the sword in her hand and flung it into the air. Jervis screamed like a little girl as the katana blade hurled at him like a javelin. He tried to duck for cover behind the seat, but by the time he did the blade had pierced its target.

It went straight through his hat and knocked it off his head. The blade pierced into the wall behind him as the hat crackled with dying electronics.

"What have you done!?" the Hatter yelled, pulling at his hair in frustration. He turned around to see that "Alice" was beginning to come too, as Stephanie's retinas returned to normal. She came out of her daze, and ripped the bow off her head as she found it hard to breath... after being at the Hatter's sick mercy.

In the next room, the goons and thugs coming too recieved a similar reaction, awakening from the trance of the Mad Hatter. Destroying his hat destroyed the signal link that Jervis had over all their minds. They remembered... EVERYTHING. The various gangmembers came to their feet, only to see young women locked up in cages like animals. Even for criminals, they looked around in disgust, as the frightened girls pleaded for help. One thug then did what the others were thinking (with newly liberated minds)... he took out the keys he found in his pocket and started to unlock the doors. They were scared at first, but the shamed young man gave them a hand and helped them out. The other thugs followed suit and started to free the imprisoned girls Jervis was likely to sell or kill without remorse.

Jervis heard the pistol shot, and saw the four thugs coming to in his party room. His first instinct was to run... but before he could he turned to see the chest-emblem of the Batman. The Dark Knight lifted the scrawny little man up by his collar and flung his across the room. While he then proceeded to pound and punch away at Tetch, Cassandra hurried over to the other side of the table, still bleeding out the shoulder but unfazed.

Amidst the sounds of a brutal smackdown by the Bat, Cassandra leaned down to her friend. Still a little uneasy and dazed from the Hatter's control, Stephanie was groggy as her sight returned. She turned to see the terrifying "bat-mask" adorned by the swordswoman. She nearly jumped out of her seat, before Cassandra calmed her with a hand to her shoulder. She slowly removed the mask draped over her head.

With the grim bat having disappeared, Stephanie was startled with... joy, to see the stoic face of her nameless friend.

"Thank you! Thank you" Steph said with tears rolling down her eyes. Cassandra attempted to smile, but was cut off by Stephanie bringing her in for a tight hug. The stoic Cass patted her back to reciprocate as warmly as she could.

"Okay..." Cassandra whispered back in one of the few words she's ever said to Steph, "It... Okay"

The tender moment was interrupted by the Hatter's wailing, as Batman lefted him like a deadweight over his head and threw him right out the doorway.

Smashed down into one of the sides of the kennels, he feel backwards onto his back. But before Jervis could catch his breath, he looked up to see a rather unhappy lot staring back down at him. The thugs and the girls all hovering over... a mob in need of a rope to lynch him with.

"Guttertrash, huh?" one of the hooligans said, now wielding a metal pipe in his hands. Revenge was about to served stone cold to Jervis Tetch. He squrimed back to his feet as the assembled group of abductees readied to rush him.

"Let's not let violence rule the day, now..." he sheepishly said, trying to calm them. A wave of angry faces closed him into a corner. Until they backed up at the sight of the Batman entering the room, silent and stoic as ever.

The grovelling Mad Hatter plopped down to his knees and grabbed Batman by the cape for safety.

"I'D LIKE TO GO TO JAIL NOW, PLEASE!" he begged. Batman remained silent. His head did turn to two individuals standing right beside him. Jervis turned his head to see Cassandra and Stephanie Brown, no happier than the lot out to kill him on the other side of the room.

"No... problem" Cassandra said with a heavy sigh.

"Here's one for the road!" Stephanie said, as she smashed a teapot in her grip upside his balding head.

The Hatter was whipped back to the floor by that blow, now lying groggy and unconcious as the rest of the group stared one. The abductees hoped they could get a few rounds with him before the police arrived. This would have to suffice.

Still wielding the broken handle, Stephanie enjoyed that attack a little too much. She turned around to see Batman squint his eyes with a glare. She sheepishly dropped china.

"Sorry... I kinda got a little carried a-" she turned to Cassandra, who could only shrug her friend a job well doen... sorta.

"It's, ahhhh, its just this is the second time I've been abducted... not exactly a good year for me."

She turned to see some of the dishelved girls giving her odd looks.

"Aliens... last time it was" she innocently explained about the last occurance. But her attention turned back to Cassandra, as her friend tried to clutch for the wall in a daze.

"Oh, god! Help her!" Stephanie tried to catch her, but Cassandra fell to the floor as everyone rushed over to help. She was starting to lose conciousness from the blood loss of the gunshot (and internal bleeding from the Tweedles). The last sight she saw before fading into black was that of the Batman, hovering over her and applying pressure to her shoulder.

When the police arrived on the scene ten minutes later, Harvey Bullock was nearly run off the road by the Batmobile as it sped off down the block with its jet engine on full blast.

The detective stepped out of the squad car as the sirens flared, he was covered in hot coffee after stepping on the breaks.

"Sure, thanks for the help! Ya crazy long-underweared-" the grouchy detective grumbled to himself as he and the others officers burst into the abandoned animal shelter. While taking care of the mess that was inside, Stephanie raced out to the middle of the street, as the Batmobile disappeared form sight. She clutched Cassandra's sword in her hand, while she closed her eyes and prayed her friend would survive the seemingly fatal wound. In the arms of the Dark Knight himself... she figured she had a good chance.

Later that night, as emergency services got all the girls to safety and the police got the on-the-spot testimonies of the Hatter's former minions, Jervis himself was in the back of an ambulance heading back to Arkham Asylum. After what he's been up to, he'd be dead meat in Gotham General.

The Mad Hatter was strapped into a gurney with a large bandage on his head, bleeding out through the wrapping. He let out a groan as he started to come to, but the orderly was not too thrilled.

"Don't worry, ya buck-toothed freak. You'll back in your nice cozy padded cell in no ti-"

Just then the orderly convulsed in a full body shake, while choking and hacking. Jervis was barely awake to comprehend what was happening, he only yelled incoherently to the driver for help.

"Assuming Direct.."
the orderly mumbled, as he continued to deteriorate and Jervis paniced even more and screamed louder.

But the ambulance grinded to a sudden halt, shaking the back of the vehicle and knocking over medical supplies. The driver stopped the ambulance right in the middle of the road, on an abandoned stretch of highway outside the city limits. Just a few miles left to Arkham Asylum.

The driver, looking as if he was in a trance, then passed out and slumped over the wheel.

The Mad Hatter continued to helpless scream for help, while trying to break free from the straps binding him down.

"SAVE YOUR STRENGTH, MR. TETCH! STRUGGLING WILL DO YOU NO GOOD!"
the orderly said, with his head slumped down and his arms lingering motionless like dead limbs.

"What-what what's happening? What do you think you people are doing!? I have right you-"

"RIGHTS? I AM NOT BOUND TO MAN'S LAWS, BUT YOU WERE BOUND TO MY ORDERS..." the orderly replied with a hiss. Jervis was qute confused by the fact that the middle-aged ME was now speaking with a sophisticated (all be it sinister) British accent.

"YOU JEPORDIZED MY OPERATION IN GOTHAM, YOU THREATENED THE SAFETY OF MY CONGREGATION... BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T KEEP IT IN YOUR PANTS AS YOU WERE
TOLD TO DO!"

"Oh dear" the Hatter said to aloud with a twinge of terror, "You're the one I was sending the girls to!?"

Jervis needed someone in the Gotham underworld scummy enough to buy trafficked young girls he discarded, in his mission to find "Alice". He didn't ask questions about what this bunch wanted with them, maybe he should have asked a few in regards to his mysterious partner.

"INDEED, MR. TETCH... AND THANKS TO YOU I'M NOW FORCED TO FIND AN ALTERNATE MEANS OF PROCURING... VOLUNTEERS"

"How are you doing this?!"

"YOUR MIND CONTROLLING TECHNOLOGY PALES IN COMPARISON TO

MY ABILITIES." the orderly declared in the disturbing voice. A dummy to a more powerful puppetmaster.

"What are you going to do to me?"

"I WOULD SERVE YOUR HEAD ON A PLATTER LIKE THE RED QUEEN, BUT THAT WOULD BE GETTING OFF
TOO EASY." the orderly's head popped up, showing off milky white eyes and a nosebleed as this telepath continued on. "I'LL HAVE TO FIND SOME OTHER USE FOR YOUR SKILLS IN MY GRAND DESIGN... SOME SUFFICIENT WAY TO PAY OFF YOUR DEBT!"

"Who are you?" the Hatter lisped through his grimy yellow teeth. The orderly and his inhuman eyes leaned in to Jervis' face, with a monstrous smile wider than the Cheshire's

"YOU MAY CALL ME...
BROTHER BLOOD"

Gotham City
May 28th, 2017
12:16pm EDT

When Cassandra opened her eyes again, it was to the screetching of bats. There were dozens of them overhead, hanging off the ceiling... it was lined with stalagmites. It almost like some, some kind of

"OW!" Cassandra yelled with a burst, as she hiked straight up. She was on a surgical table of sorts... with cushions. She clutched her shoulder, still red from the wound but now looking better than where she left it.

"Apologies, madam" a older gentleman standing right next her then said, holding a cottonswab in his hands. "I was only applying antibiotics. Nasty wound indeed for such a small caliber..."

He tossed the swab away and took a cloth next to him to clean his hands. Cassandra tried to get up, but the grey-haired gentleman trie to stop her with a firm hand.

"I strongly recommend you rest a little while longer. We took out the bullet, but you lost quite a lot of blood."

She sighed as she leaned back in. In a quick study around this large cavern she made out high-tech equipment and lights that should NOT have been in there. It was then that her eye caught out a display case in the back... filled with costumes she knew all too well from the news.

Robin. Nightwing. The Dark Knight... whose case was empty.

She looked on in awe, then back to the steady hand of the older man putting a tight bandage across her shoulder and chest. She realized she was only in her undergarments at this point.

"Apologies. You've been out for a few good hours you see. We mended some fractured ribs and that wicked little suprise from Mr. Hatter"

As she was mended too, she took a quick study of the man. Regaining her strength she feebly asked him in broken english... "Who-who are..."

With a stoic look on his face he replied, "I'm Batman."

She raised a demused eyebrow as sceptisim crossed her face.

"One of these days someone's going to fall for that." Alfred mused to himself.

Cassandra shook her head in subtle humor. But despite his efforts, she climbed back to her feet. Grasping the wound she took a look around the Batcave.

"Oh dear, I must insist you..." but she ignored his warnings as she hopped along barefoot through the complex. She passed by the Batmobile as it was parked, letting out a whistle as she felt the black armor siding.

"Or go ahead and ignore my better judgement." Alfred then gave up as he took up the tray of medical supplies with both hands.
"She'll fit in quite well here"

As he walked away up the stairs, Cassandra was drawn down further into the cave, where she saw a massive computer array on the edge of a cliffside.

Slowly she moved given her exaustion and injuries from the night's events. Across and down the metal railings she came to the level of the Batcave devoted to the so-called "Batcomputer".

Newsfeeds and surveillance on all of Gotham across these screens. Including a strange looking meteorite orbiting in what looked like space. A finger sitting at the computer desk's reclining chair shut that feed off upon hearing Cassandra's arrival.

"Well, glad to see your up and about" a female voice spoke up. Cassandra turned to see a red-haired young woman in a wheelchair roll up to greet her.

"Ahhh..." Cassandra spoke softly, "Hi"

Barbera gave her a hand to shake, which Cassandra returned in greeting. "I caught a glimpse of you in action, you're not bad if I say so myself"

Cassandra was confused again.

"Sorry. I mean that I hacked security feeds on the docks, and around the Hatter's hideout, caught you on camera wiping the floor with those thugs. I'm good like that. It's how hefound you"

She pointed her head over to the chair, where Batman was still silently typing away without a word. Cassandra let out a apprehensive gulp, being in his presence again.

"He's not a people person either" Barbera joked. "This was your first time wasn't it? Fighting crime?"

Cassandra silently nodded.

"Thought from what I figure, you have the training. I mean... not many can take a bullet without flincing."

Cassandra didn't give any gesture or emotion for a moment, letting that sink in while experiencing bad memories of her childhood.

"Not... training... like... game"

Barbera didn't exactly know what to say to that.

"Whatever you want to call it... it was sloppy" Batman finally spoke, still with his back to her in his seat.

"Your skills are good, fighting... but you use them recklessly. You let your rage compromise your control, in your stances and with that sword." he continued, while Cassandra hung her head in shame.

"But" Barbera then added sucinctly in bold. Batman sighed as he finally turned to address the two of them face to face.

"But... you risked your life to save your friend, and all those girls. Had you had better intel on your target, the mission would have proved more successful."

"We cut some slack to the better first-timers, the rest of the lone guns we usually shut down" Barbera said while resting her hands behind her head and leaning back in her wheelchair. "Though in your case... this might of just been a spur of the moment kind of thing. We won't hold it against you if you wouldn't be interested in doing this on a regular basis."

"This is a dangerous line of work, for only those willing to endure and protect with the best of their ability."

As that statement settled in for Cassandra, shock crossed her cheeks as she let out a gasp, "Ste-Stephanie!"

"Ms. Brown is safe" Batman assured her as he stood up, "Now... who are you? I hate to be informal, but the database has no trace of your fingerprints. In any system"

Cassandra looked at her fingerprints to see them covered in ink. She looked back up at Barbera and Batman in annoyance.

"Barbera Gordon" the woman then said to take the first step. "On the street you might of heard of me as the Oracle Network"

After exchanging glances with both of them, after a lifetime of running and trying to remain annonymous...

"Ca-Cass... Cassandra"

"Cassandra" Batman adamently said, finally getting to know the young girl so strong willed and lethal in her abilites. "I want to find out if you're up to working for me... working for the Justice League"

He eyes went wide, in a flabbergasted look at such an offer. A few hours ago she was a street rat, now she's getting the chance to become... a superhero!?

"Are you proud of what you did tonight?" Batman asked her point blank, while stepping forward to the young woman.

"...Yes..."

Now for the real precision strike question. "Was it enough?"

"...No..."

Batman actually let out a faint smile. "Good"

"I'm suprised, Batman" Barbera then said as she rolled in to join the two closer, "You've been hold up in this cave so long, I didn't think you accept anyone's help. Including some new blood."

"It took tonight for me to realize that I can hide from what's happened... I can only look ahead and keep from repeating it."

Cassandra knew that sentiment all too well, and those words had a profound effect on her.

"And another thing, Barbera" Batman then said, as he TOOK OFF HIS MASK, "You might as well keep calling me Bruce, even in front of her. She'll need to know it eventually"

Cassandra stoically tried to hold back the mindblowing occurance before her... the Batman unmasked.

"Wh-what now?" she then asked.

"Now comes the hard work.." Barbera said with a smile,

"To see if your ready for that cowl" the unmasked Batman then said pointing back up towards the top of the cavern. Cassandra turned to see the display case once more. Her eyes lit up towards a case she managed to pass by without a second thought or recognition...

the case which held the pointed cowl and armor of BATGIRL.

"Shall we begin?" Batman then asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Depends" Cassandra then tried to shrug, before recoiling and holding her wound again. She nodded her head back up to the case, as Bruce and Barbera smiled "Come in black?"