Themyscira
April 11, 09:18 EEST
The short white stola that fell just above Cassie's knees flowed with her movements like water as she dodged and parried the thrusts of her opponent's sword. Her heavily armored wrists and shoulders brushed up against her shield that raised high above her head, her bare feet gliding across the arena's rough ground. The sun's powerful beams grew warm on Cassie's helmet-clad head. All of her hair had been tucked away inside, making her feel like her head was being cooked. Still, she powered through it, tightening her grip on her weapon as she circled Artemis, one of the island's greatest champions Diana had once told her.
The woman's face hidden underneath a golden helmet, her long and gorgeous red hair spilling out of the top of the headgear where a plume would have been. The ancient warrior nearly burst from laughter when Diana had requested her to wear some of her armor during that day's sparring match, but she complied with her princess's demands.
Even though Cassie had been on the island for a short time, she had excelled at hand to hand combat with the other Amazons, and her skills at the short sword were improving. So much so that Diana decided to test the young girl's might against one of the fiercest woman Cassie had ever seen.
Without warning, Artemis came rushing at the girl with her xiphos ready to rip her apart. Cassie spun her sword once in her hand as she readied herself for Artemis's vicious attack. What she wasn't prepared for though was Artemis turning her weapon's gleaming steel up towards the sun so that a bright glint of light would bounce of it into Cassie's unguarded eyes.
Flinching away from the blinding light, she brought her shield up to her head, forgetting that a bloodthirsty Amazon was careening towards her.
The armored redhead brought down her blade, aiming for the girl's bare legs. Cassie was able to see the shining metal hurtling at her, therefore she was fast enough to block the blade.
Yet that was exactly was Artemis was hoping for. Without quarter, she raised her leg against the girl's still raised shield and pushed her down to the ground.
The force of the kick made the shield collide with Cassie's helmet, knocking her down to the rocky floor. Her helmet fell off as she was came into contact with the hard surface beneath her, blond hair spilled like ink from a vial. She wasn't hurt badly, but Cassie did not want to suffer the embarrassment that she knew would come if she got up. So naturally, she decided to lay on the ground for the rest of eternity.
"Come on little warrior," a rich, deep voice called to her. Cassie lifted her head to see Artemis's hand extended to her. The older woman took hold of the girl and helped her up to her feet. "That can't be all the fight in you."
Cassie looked down upon her feet, the heels of them were cut, and bleeding profusely.
"Your body is soft," Artemis stated loudly. "We must make every part of you strong. If you wish to ever earn the title of Amazon."
Diana had marched herself up to the two, watching as Artemis cleaned up the young blonde's disarrayed clothing.
"Good block," Diana spoke. "But you let your shield become a liability instead of an asset. Your shield and your sword are an extension of you. They are a part of you; don't let them tear you apart."
Cassie heard the words, but took no interest in actually listening to them. She would not let herself be made to look weak, "Let's go again."
Her two counterparts looked at each other, creating facial expressions Cassie could not read. Artemis walked away, picking up her sword as she continued to the broken remains of a column on the edge of the arena. Letting herself get comfortable as she drew a whetstone to sharpen her dull blade.
Diana looked upon Cassie, "You need rest. You've done well. Not everyone can last 3 minutes in a fight with Artemis."
"Would have been shorter if I was allowed a real blade. Not a child's toy," Artemis canted.
A sharp look from Diana was thrown at Artemis, Cassie could understand this time; she is here to learn, not to die. With a stern hand placed on her shoulder, Diana led her away from the empty arena.
"Ignore Artemis's utterances," Diana said to Cassie as they walked out of the arena and onto the pathway that led back to the forum. "It has been a long time since her assistance in training was required."
"That was her helping?" Cassie asked. "Felt more like she was beating me around like a rag doll."
Diana looked towards Cassie's little feet. The pads of them had begun to leave behind a trail of red footprints. The girl did not look as though she was in pain, but her condition still worried Diana.
"We shall go to the priests to have your feet mended."
"No," Cassie interjected. "They'll be fine. I just need to put my sandals on."
Diana looked sadly upon her, "You will be returning to Man's world in a few days, I do not wish to return you to your mother with an injured body."
Cassie could easily tell what that meant for her; Diana knew she didn't have powers. For the first few days, Diana threw everything at Cassie. Hand to hand combat, sword and shield training, even Ancient Amazonian history was thrown in. This was the typical flow of the day; waking at sunrise, food, sparring, more food, training, and lectures. To top it all off, at the end of every day, a test to awaken Cassie's dormant powers was waiting. Everyday it would end the same, Cassie going to bed disappointed in herself.
'What is wrong with me?' she thought. 'If everyone thought I had powers why can't they show up?'
She could feel as every day went by, Diana's resolve in her diminished. Her smiles faded, her voice grew softer, less full of hope. Cassie figured that by the end of the week, she'd return home as what she thought she always was; a normal human being.
After she returned to her room, her bandaged feet aching and her body sweating from the humidity outside, Cassie was in need of a quick rest. Even though the whole time she had been on the island she hadn't gotten a good night's rest. She had plenty of time to try and sleep though. Diana was kind enough to let her take the afternoon to relax before her test that night.
Flopping down onto her small daybed, Cassie's eyes drifted over to the small balcony that was connected to her room by three large archways. Whenever Cassie entered the room, she could look across the room, out onto the balcony, and out to the sea. The pristine waters during the day would at night time turn into a glittering mirror reflecting the moon and thousands of stars. For now though, Cassie was focused on shutting her eyes and falling into a deep sleep.
That was cut short however, as while she was settling in for her nap, she felt a small bump digging into the side of her thigh. With eyes closed, Cassie reached down for the object while turning herself over onto her back. She gazed up at the earpiece that always seemed to play hide and seek with her.
Turning it over, she realized that a little red light on the contraption was blinking on and off. She pressed the button next to the light to, then brought it up to her ear, listening in seeing if there was anyone on the other end of the comm.
A light static was heard, then nothing. Cassie grew concerned that the red light she saw was just a figment of her imagination.
"Cassie?"
The air had suddenly left the room. That meek voice that she had immediately recognized as the Boy Wonder had caused her breath to hitch in the bottom of her throat. Lying still as possible, Cassie listened in on the comm once again.
"Cassie are you there?"
Afraid and unable to say anything, Cassie's lips moved around letting groggy air noises escape from her. Luckily though, she was able to finally let one word slip out, "Yes."
"It's me...Robin. Remember me?"
Clearing her throat, she spoke again, "Of course I do. You gave me the comm link remember?"
Gotham City
April 11, 03:38 EST
Halfway across the world, Tim sat stiffly on the ledge of one of Gotham's dozens of skyscrapers watching those who were still awake scuffle around the city.
It had been a while since he had spoken with Cassie, and she hadn't turned on her comm in days. Usually she was the one to start their conversations, letting Tim relax as starting conversations was not one of his strong suits. He wanted to talk to her though, so he gathered his courage and sent out a call to the comm, hoping she would answer. Thankfully he was right.
"How have you been?" he asked.
"Alright," her voice sounding incredibly drained. She sounded as though she hadn't slept in days.
Tim grew a little concerned, but hid it well away from her, "You sure?"
"Yeah," her words gave way to a large yawn that took her almost a minute to get through.
Although his gut told him to question her on her obvious need of sleep, he decided to dance around that subject until later. "How has Themyscira been?"
Cassie did jump back rather quickly as she snapped, "Fine."
Unknowing how to go on from the clear displeasure she got from his question, Tim stuttered, "I'm sorry I-I didn't mean to-"
"It's okay. Just...let's not talk about that right now."
"Oh," Tim muttered. "Okay."
The awkward silence that fell between the two made Tim realize that even though Cassie was mad, more or less upset about what was happening on Themyscira and demanded that he not ask about it, there was something in her tone that felt as though she really did want to talk about it.
"Cassie, are the Amazons not treating you well?"
"No," her voice betrayed her.
Tim waited for her to continue.
With a deep breath, she revealed all, "It's wonderful here. The island's beautiful, the people are kind Diana...she believes in me."
"And that's bad?"
She butted back in, "It is when I'm failing her!"
Tim waited to see if she was going to say anymore. When he knew that was not going to happen, he asked, "How are you failing her?"
Another few moments of dead air passed, "She's just been so patient with me, and I'm constantly letting her down. She and everyone else is pretending that nothing's wrong and my powers will just show up. I-and- I can't eat, and I can't sleep!"
Now the blonde's sobs could be heard through the other end, Tim's overwhelming wish to be able to console her took him out of their conversation for the moment, but he relapsed back again, hoping that if he kept her talking, he could help her.
"Have," his voice drifted as he didn't know how to go on with his question. Curiosity got the best of Tim, he did not like that his friend felt the need to lie to him. "Have you been sleeping since you got to Themyscira?"
The long silence on both ends did not go unnoticed, "No."
"Are you having nightmares?"
"I guess," her quiet confession coming through. "I keep having the same dream over and over again."
Tim waited without saying a word.
"I'm flying," she whispered. "I can't see myself flying but...I feel it and," her voice trailed off as she gathered herself together. "I'm happy."
A cool breeze hit the back of Tim, letting his cape get caught up in the wind. He could only imagine what the wind would have looked like if it blew against her hair, and probably her tear-streaked face.
She slowly breathed out, "And then I'm falling."
A hemisphere away, Tim grew uneasy with her words.
"I-I'm falling, faster and faster. My limbs reeling my head...screaming...but I can't move. I can't do anything."
Tim let out a soft breath, "People who dream about falling are usually afraid that they are going to fail at something."
A pained chuckled fell from Cassie, "It must be nice being right all the time."
Only then did Tim realize that pointing out how someone was hurting and being smart about it was not a good way to comfort them. He really needed to get better at that.
"I'm not right all the time," he admitted quietly. Still, the other end of the comm was still silent. He had to do better than that. "Do you want to know my worst dream, or I guess, the most unsettling one I've ever had?"
Cassie nodded, but quickly realized her error and said, "Yes."
"Well...I'm in Gotham. At least I think I am, and there's a building. A bridge, being built. I could feel that everyone was excited about it. They needed this; this would help them make their lives better."
Cassie didn't feel as her anxiety melted away, all she could do was listen to Robin's lulling voice and the seriousness of his story that seemed pointless. So why was she so invested in it?
"Yet as it's being built," Tim hesitated to speak, she could hear his voice getting caught in his throat. "I'm scared of it."
Raising herself up onto her elbows, then shifting to sit up properly and stare out onto the sparkling sea. Not knowing what to do, she could only look out at the empty waters that spread to its' vanishing point. In her mind, thoughts of what time it was in Gotham and what was this soft yet vacant voice going through. The inability to reach out or even look at the boy who seemed so sad and confused left an empty pit growing in her stomach.
"Not scared really," He spoke up. "But I feel nervous just by looking at it."
Cassie's eyes closed, trying to lose herself in the story as she did moments before. She doubted that that could happen again, but she would do her best.
He breathed in, then let the air rush out from him, "It's a normal-looking bridge. There's nothing really odd about it's design. However, it's made out of something that looks like steel, yet there's a reflective quality in it. Like a mirror. The whole thing's reflective."
The worst part was that Cassie could imagine this diabolical bridge that he was describing. Down to the last bolt and wire. The bridge's construction had begun and ended within moments of each other. She could help but be in awe of the spectral bridge in her mind's eye.
"When it's finished, there's this ceremony for it. A christening. And everyone's there; rich and poor. After they cut the ribbon and clap, everyone is suppose to walk on it, make it official. But no one can do it," His voice turned from lulling into something that wasn't angry or frightened, but resentful. "Everyone feels the way I do, no one wants to walk on it. They're uneasy and uncomfortable."
The way that his voice just drops gets Cassie as uncomfortable as he described himself in the dream.
He continues on, "Years later no one has gone on the bridge. Some people feel that it is too strange for the city, ill-fitting, others flat out feel that it is too good for Gotham. So there it stands.
It just stands there. Til the end of time."
As the boy finished his tale, all the fear and dread that he felt when he first had that dream came pouring into him. Another fear that Cassie would not understand him and his plight grew in his belly. He could only wait as she once again remained silent.
She did speak though, "What do you eat before you go to bed?"
Tim felt as laughter rose up through his stomach, spiraled in his throat, and burst through his mouth louder than he could ever have hoped for. He laughed so hard he felt the tears he cried get stuck on the edges of his mask, and fogging up his vision.
On the other end, he finally heard Cassie giggle aloud. She must have covered her ridiculous smile as her laugh became distorted and hard to hear.
"Sorry, that me opening up to you is weird," he said while his laughter began to die out. He listened as she quieted down. Only for there to be radio silence. "What is it?" he asked tentatively.
"Are we...allowed to do this?" Cassie questioned him. "Won't Batman be a little ticked that his sidekick has a friend who's normal?"
Tim chuckled at the notion, "I think we both know you aren't exactly normal."
A huff of air came from her end of the comm, making Tim imagine her with a demure smile.
Then, a moment of bitterness tarnished the image of the blonde. The idea that Cassie didn't have powers and would be sent home without another word took Tim for a loop. They could not really be friends. She lived in D.C., him in Gotham. If she ever wanted to hang out with him, he would have to think up some cockamamie scheme just to be around her. He knew for sure that there was no way Cassie Sandsmark and Tim Drake could be friends. The minute Bruce would figure out Cassie had met his secret identity, he could kiss his days as Robin goodbye.
For now, he could only ask, "What do you think will happen if you don't have superpowers?"
"I don't know," Cassie replied. "All I know is, I remember growing and watching Wonder Woman on tv taking down the bad guys, saving the day. She was strong and fierce and...that's what I wanted to be."
Tim nodded in earnest, "You wanted to be Wonder Woman."
"Oh, like you didn't want to be Batman?"
That cut at Tim. When he was little, sure, being Batman was everyone's dream. As he was going through Bruce's training, Tim got to spend time with Dick, learn from him. He was able to talk to someone who wanted the same things he wanted; to be Batman. He had never been so happy as to know that Batman's legacy would be carried on through Dick.
He was wrong though. One night during a mission, he got hurt. Really hurt. When they got back to The Cave and he had healed a little, Dick nearly went on a rampage with him. He told him that he nearly put him in, "an impossible position". Tim couldn't understand why he got so mad. That got cleared up however when Wally told him about a "no-win training scenario" gone wrong.
Dick confessed to everything; the fear of leadership, the loss of friends, even the loss of his desire to become Batman. That was the moment Tim realized what level of sacrifice Bruce had and still has to go through in order to be Batman. He also realized that Dick could never be Batman.
Tim was no Batman, but neither was he a Nightwing. He didn't know what that meant for his future. Whether or not he'd be in the cowl.
Cassie didn't realize that she had probably opened a can of worms on the poor boy, she was merely joking with him.
"I don't know what I want to be," she spoke clearly. "I just know that I don't want to be pushed back into the shadows."
Tim's attention came back to the conversation. Leading him to answer in his usual calm tone, "If you are going to be a sidekick, then you have to get use to the shadows."
Mount Justice
April 11, 07:03 EST
Dick had called Tim back from patrol right at sunrise. The older bat wanted him in on a mission that day, but did not go into specifics over the radios. Tim figured that stealth was the name of the game and couldn't up and refuse going on the mission.
As he turned down the hall that was connected to the Cave's heart, he could see everybody assembled in the middle of the room. Beast Boy, Lagoon Boy, Bumblebee, and Superboy all stood together looking up at the room's main holo-screen, with Dick standing directly under them.
While Tim strode towards the group, he caught sight of Gar and La'gaan side-eyeing him. The hint of a smirk on both their faces.
"Talking to your girlfriend?" Beast Boy whispered to Tim in his usual mocking but playful manner.
The lenses of Tim's mask widened only a little, but his cheeks took on a deep blush at Garfield's words, "Shut up."
"Alright, that's enough," Dick interrupted, his tone harsher than usual. "To reiterate; this mission is stealth only. You are to enter this recently discovered Intergang hideout and gather information on what they're up to. Your mission starts at midnight, you'll all meet back here before sundown. Clear?"
Everyone else nodded their heads, "Clear."
Metropolis
April 11, 18:16 EST
The warehouse seemed deserted. All the windows on the small two story building were boarded up with paint and wooden boards. The exterior walls held a serious amounts of cracks and all of it's doors looked as though they had rusted over years ago. Luckily the ventilation shafts were in near perfect condition. Easy for everyone on the team to slip inside the building without making a sound.
Superboy, La'gaan and Beast Boy secured the upper section of the building, letting Tim and Bumblebee scurry down to the bottom level, a garage with a small office attached.
The guards protecting the office's entrance were easily dispatched by Tim. Whereas Karen slipped under the door of the office to unlock it from within. She would also get a quick recon of the interior to see if there was any information that would be vital for them.
As he knocked out the last of the guards with his swift staff, Tim heard the door's lock click, letting the door swing open. He turned around to see Karen buzzing around the open doorway waiting for him.
"Rob, you're gonna wanna take a look at this," her voice lined with worry.
Tim stepped into the room, following as Karen flew towards the back of the office. Yet as he moved to the back to her, he looked at several tables covered in layers of oceanic and topographical maps. Each map appearing more strange than the last. Tim couldn't help but become enraptured by the strange hieroglyphs lining every page. Though mostly unknown to him, he could recognize most of them as ancient Greek.
"I don't know what most of these words mean," Karen spoke. "But I know what this means."
The tiny heroine tried pushing a clipboard that had been resting on one of the file cabinets towards him. Tim's eyes skimmed down the page till he found exactly what she had been talking about. His eyes could only widen at the emboldened letters: Themyscira.
Garfield paced back and forth on the catwalk waiting for Robin and Bumblebee to return. The longer they spent in the warehouse, the higher the probability of them getting caught grew. Gar had only been on the team for a few months now, and as much as he had adapted to stealth missions, he still did not have the level of patience to fully succeed in them. They had been gone far too long.
Meanwhile, La'gaan watched with a tinge of glee as the little green boy grew more anxious by the minute. He had no desire to get involved with Robin's infiltration. He was more irritated by the fact that he was sent on this mission in case of a fight breaking out. To the contrary however, the mission was going smoothly and wouldn't require his help. Instead, he had resigned himself to resting up against one of the back walls while Conner was out checking their perimeter. Gar hoped he wouldn't run across anymore guards.
A quick break of radio silence rang in Garfield's ear, "Robin to Superboy. Come in Superboy."
Another voice was heard over the comm, "I read you. What did you find?"
"Huge plans," Robin responded. "But we need to get back to the Bio-ship."
"Acknowledged. Everyone rendezvous back at the Bio-ship. Remain unseen."
La'gaan lifted himself off of the wall while Garfield signed in relief. The boy relaxed himself, allowing his body to begin transforming into a small green hummingbird. Before La'gaan could stop him, the bird had slipped away up into the vents above them. The Atlantean shrugged at the kid's enthusiasm, then jumped up to the vent's mouth to follow his young comrade.
Inside the vents, La'gaan finally caught up with Garfield, who had shifted back to his human form. More like his monkey-human hybrid form that he was found of using. La'gaan was a bit taken aback by the thought that the energetic child was kind enough to wait for him.
"You waited for me," La'gaan murmured. "I'm touched."
Instead of a "you're welcome", Gar raised one of his furry fingers up to his lips, silencing his counterpart. He then pointed downwards towards a slat inside the vent that allowed them to see down into the room below.
La'gaan watched alongside Gar as several armed Intergang thugs sat around the room, some chatting while others sat waiting for something. Each man was equipped with more firepower than the two heroes had ever seen. Intergang was planning something, big.
"Can't believe we get all this tech," one of the goons sneered.
Another goon turned to the one who spoke, "Yeah all it took was Ugly getting down and kissing Luthor's boots."
Gar and La'gaan looked at each other, shock permeating their faces. The green boy's lips mouthed the word "Luthor?"
Nodding in agreement with what he heard, La'gaan went back to listening to the men below them's conversation. Everyone had seemed amused with the snide comment on how their boss acquired their new toys. They laughed and pushed one another around with smiles proudly on their faces.
That was until the door to the room swung open, revealing a stunning young woman with deep red hair pulled back into a low ponytail. Whisper A'Daire.
"And what's your job around here sweetie?" one of the idiots asked her. The man got up and staggered towards A'Daire until he was invading her personal space. His mouth dangerously close to her ear, his voice trembling with desire. "Cause I got one for you if you need something to do."
Without batting an eyelash, Whisper calmly replied, "I got a job sweetie," her knee coming into direct contact with the lower half of the man's body. "I'm the boss."
La'gaan and Garfield flinched as they watched the moron fall to the ground, mewling in pain.
Their fear grew as the two felt the vent move after several minutes of their shared weight weakening the shaft. Moving was not an option since that would make the vent break apart, but they could not stay still since their weight would still cause the vent to fall. They were doomed either way.
"Let's go boys," her voice as clear and monotone as possible. "We've got a job to do."
"Where are we going boss?" one of the meeker thugs asked. "Ugly didn't tell us nothing!"
After a moment, Whisper turned back to her men. A reptilian smile appeared on her face, tainting her striking features.
"The home of the Amazons."
As the words fell from her mouth, the bolts holding up the ventilation shafts burst. The shaft broke in half between La'gaan and Garfield, sending the latter tumbling towards the ground. A thick cloud of dust gathering up around where the remnants of the vent fell.
Moaning in discomfort, Gar clutched at his head as he got up from the ground. He was a little groggy, but he knew he could not just lay down. As his mind cleared, several large black shapes moved towards him. He had to squint to be able to see any detail of what was in front of him.
Garfield's eyes nearly bulged at the sight of twenty guards pointing the barrels of their guns down at his face, "Whoops."
Themyscira
April 11, 20:34 EEST
Cassie was being led by a slow moving procession of guards towards the same arena where her butt got handed to her by Artemis earlier that day. The long conversation she had with Robin did help her relax a little, but not as much as she would have hoped for.
This was her final test. The last trial. If her powers failed to reveal themselves then she would be escorted back home by Diana.
"No pressure," her subconscious reminded her.
The hundreds of torches that lighted the enormous entryway of the arena gave the place a near spiritual feeling. The bright lighting mixed with the dark shadows perfectly highlighted every corner of the almost five story building. The whole complex's beauty made Cassie's heart ache. If only her mother had gotten the opportunity to see Themyscira. She would have fainted.
As the group passed through the entrance, the sound of people cheering lifted the young girl's spirits a little. At least her sisters were trying to be optimistic about her test.
When they entered the ring of the arena, the whole crowd's cheering grew to an almost deafening level. Cassie smiled as best as she could, but her gaze was fixed upon Diana and Queen Hippolyta herself, standing in the dead center of the floor with two masked archers flanking her and a large marble stone wall right behind her. She also noticed two braziers alight with flames standing within arm's length of the archers.
Cassie's gut turned at the sight, "This sure looks promising."
The masses commotion did not end until Cassie stood only feet away from Queen Hippolyta. Her majesty was the spitting image of Wonder Woman, only she was fully garbed in deep purple and gold trimming. The golden staff with a proud eagle perched atop was held tightly in Hippolyta's grip.
Hippolyta must have caught wind of Cassie's staring, as she raised her staff, letting it stomp on the ground several times creating a large ringing sound throughout the arena. She then pointed to the wall behind her.
"Our most sacred and protected tradition," she began. Her voice booming as if it was pure thunder. "For millennia we have trained and fought not only with sword and shield, but with our hearts and our minds. We hold honor, bravery, wisdom, and compassion as some of our most important beliefs. And there is honor in the ability to protect what we stand for. Thus we are warriors. Thus we are Amazons!"
The arena burst forth in cheer, encouraged by the benevolent queen. Yet Cassie got a front row seat to bask in the radiance that was the empowering woman.
Raising her hands to silence the crowd, she spoke again, "Our sister Cassandra has come to us from Man's world to learn our ways and embrace her heritage. And as a test of her skill, we invoke our most sacred of traditions to bring her one step closer to our world," Hippolyta cried out as a masked woman came towards Cassie holding a pillow on which laid two silver bracelets.
"Our bracelet, forged from the Shield of Zeus, in memory of our years of enslavement. Our sister shall don the bracelets and protect herself from the flaming arrows."
Cassie's face took on a look of pure regret as she watched the two archers assume their positions, placing the tips of their arrows into the flames igniting them.
The woman carrying the pillow pushed the bracelets towards Cassie, "Sister, are you alright?"
Realizing she was being rude, Cassie snapped her head back to the masked woman, "Sorry I kinda zoned out...when...sorry. She said flaming?!"
Diana hurriedly placed the bracelets onto Cassie's wrists before she had time to question her any further, then tugged her in front of the marble wall.
"You will be alright," Diana spoke with kindness. Placing her hand onto Cassie's shoulders in reassurance, she began to back away as the two archers stepped forward.
Cassie did her best to prepare for the two's assault. While they pulled on their bowstring's, the young girl wasted no time in protecting herself. She raised her two gauntlet-clad arms up, similar to how she saw Wonder Woman had on television. Shutting her eyes and breathing deeply, she readied herself.
The two were holding position, Hippolyta lifted her staff before letting it hit the ground creating the ringing sound again. The archers fired.
Strangely enough for Cassie, her mind must have somehow went into shock. The two arrows that had been launched into the air moved as though they had been put into slow motion. The feathers of the flames fanned and recoiled in a twisted dance that would have been beautiful if Cassie's heart wasn't racing.
"What in the hell?" Cassie's mind raced.
The arrows flew towards her making the girl realize that she could defend herself. Moving the bracelets were they needed to be just as the arrows were inches away from contact, Cassie shut her eyes and braced for impact. Two fast moving objects hit her, scaring the living daylights out of the blonde.
But she was not dead.
Opening her eyes, Cassie watched as the whole audience went into an uproar. She did it.
Then out of nowhere came two more archers.
Before she could even utter a syllable, four flaming arrows came hurtling at her. Unlike the last time though, Cassie's mind didn't slow down. The arrows were coming in and they were coming in hot. Not knowing what to do, she backed up against the wall screaming her head off as she braced herself for the pain that was inevitable.
"Enough!"
Cassie only dared to open one eye as she saw all four arrows had hit different parts of the wall that were dangerously close to her. She saw Diana standing defiantly in front of her, blocking any more arrows from their target.
Hippolyta, standing her ground quietly spoke the words that spelled the end for the young girl, "She has failed."
The hush that fell upon the audience would haunt Cassie for the rest of her days. Every Amazon stared at the scene before them with only the wind beating back the banners that had been strung around the arena creating any noise. It was as though all of Themyscira had entered a crypt.
Diana had turned back to Cassie, reaching out her hand only to be smacked away as the girl fled the arena in shame.
She could hear the crying of her name as she ran deep into the jungle, just as well as she could feel the tear streaming down her face. Cassie didn't care though.
She had failed.
Author's Notes: Hey, hope you all enjoy this new chapter. I have a wonderful beta now so there probably won't be as many problems as before. Comments and reviews are always welcome,
EKG