It's about time I got a Cass only fic done! Thanks to whomever suggested this one. it was actually rather good. Beware, fluffiness and violence below. Question after. Pre-Dami

Cass-9

Sins of the Father

This normally didn't happen. Cassandra normally wasn't the one taken by madmen or assassins. That was usually Tim or Dick. Those just after money or to threaten their father went after her. And yet here she was, half drugged, duck taped around her wrists, ankles, and mouth, thrown to a floor haphazardly. And a mad assassin was to blame.

Mouth covered and other bindings keeping her in place, it was hard for her to move. The drugs didn't help either. She tried to look around, get a feel for the place, but all she could really tell was it was old, made of wood, and dark. Some kind of old shed? There were tools all over the place, garden variety. Some fertilizer too. The person who took her must have killed the gardener who owned it. She could see parts of a hand over in one part of the room, and the horrible smells weren't just from the manure.

"Are we awake now precious?"

Cass tried to even out her breathing, make it look like she wasn't. Rule 5. She normally wasn't kidnapped (broke arms, noses, insteps and guns to stop attempts) but when she was she followed that one rule to the letter. Her dad made it for a reason. Psychotic assassins were key among them no doubt.

But this wasn't your typical psycho or killer. This one was smart, and didn't fall for her act. "Oh, you are. Good. I want you awake for as long as possible." He took a sickle off the wall and took a step closer to her. "I want you to know, for your dad to know, exactly what kind of pain he put me through. Put my wife through."

She barely managed to roll away from the thing striking her. Her heart threatened to race out of her closed throat but she focused on keeping it at a steady rate as her training taught her. The man made another swipe at her, barely missing skin but tearing her clothes. Fumbling to turn her watch, to activate her alarm, she split her attention between evading attacks and trying to get his swipes to cut her binds. Wasn't working too well.

A few more wild swipes later and blood was drawn. Cass didn't even wince as something little deeper than a cut appeared on her arm. Wincing, flinching, crying at such minor wounds, that was taken out of her a long time ago. Fear though still came. Especially when the crazy above her grinned like a maniac. "How does that feel girly? Good? Bad? I bet that hurts. I hope it does. But what your old man did to my Shawna was much, much worse."

'Shawna?' Part of the girl thought long and hard about the name as she continued to try and dodge the sickle, bound and injured. Had her father ever dated anyone named Shawna? The detective part of her, the one skill instilled in them by their adoptive parent they all shared, nagged at her that this was important. Somehow. But try as she might, she couldn't recall any Shawna ever entering the manor. A kick to the gut stopped her train of thought, and her dodging.

"Hold still brat!" He grabbed her by her hair and yanked her up to face him, the dull part of the sickle brushing across her face. Cass glared at him coldly, which made the man smirk, amused. "You know what? You look a lot like your mom. Shame she threw her hand in with that cretin. I actually respect her."

'Crap.' For once in her life she desperately wanted to talk to the man. Maybe she could convince him to leave her alone, to hunt down the man really responsible for whatever happened to Shawna. A second blow to her abdomen drove what breath she had out of her, making her see stars and not the sickle as it drove itself against her leg. Feeling the long gash going beside a major artery, she actually did flinch a little. Her school uniform would not survive the afternoon, whether she did or not.

"Much better you brat." She could hear his insane smile. "Now be a good little girl and we'll see how well you fair after fifty lashings."

Again he brought the sickle down, tearing through her blouse and scraping against her chest. Shallow, a graze. Another strike tore muscle in her left shoulder. A third, deeper cut across her chest. A fourth, swipe across both her thighs just above her knees, flesh only.

As he raised his hand for a fifth go, a high pitched scream, ultra-sonic even, blasted through a crack between wooden boards on the wall, sending the madman flying into the opposing wall. Both walls now bore gaping holes, letting the late afternoon sun pour in and frame two individuals rushing inside. The blond woman came to her side first, looking Cass over and removing the tape across her mouth.

"Oh my Lo—Honey, are you alright? Can you tell me what's going on? Talk to me!"

The girl just gaped at the woman, slightly in shock. Wasn't this Black Canary? And the one behind her chasing down her assailant Green Arrow? Didn't they work in Star City? Barely joined the League about a month ago. What were they doing rescuing her? They hadn't even met yet. It should have been…

Blood loss and the remaining drugs in her system finally took hold on her, adrenalin draining. Total blackout.

"Is she really going to be alright?" a woman asked, very concerned.

"Miss," a familiar grandmotherly voice replied, "I assure you, she's going to be quite alright. You don't have to stay for her father to a—"

"Yes I do!" the lady insisted angrily. "Madsen insisted he was only righting the wrongs her father did when he was attacking her! He has to answer for his crimes!"

"Miss, I know Bruce Wayne very well," the older woman stated firmly. "He would do nothing to endanger the lives of his children. Even stopped his wild years, his favorite activities, just to raise them. Whatever that villain said, I am confident they're the ravings of a mad man!"

"Wrong father." Cass would have groaned in pain if that too wasn't taken out of her when she was younger. She learned to groan for other things though living in an entirely different lifestyle. She could hear the other two women jerking around at her voice and felt a needle poking into her left arm, along with a lot of gauze, bandages and stitches. Worse yet, she felt lightheaded, nauseous, and weak. She hadn't felt this bad in a long time.

"Don't move Cassandra," the older woman started, putting a light hand on her chest to keep the girl there. "You lost a lot of blood and there was a tranquilizer in your system."

"Fun." Now was a time she would groan, finally opening her eyes. Sarcasm was one other language she understood with ease. Body language and voice tones were the key to it all, and that was her first method of communication. Too bad she was too tired and worn to care. "Where?"

"My clinic of course." The girl looked over to the familiar voice and pieced it together. Leslie Thompkins. She hadn't seen her since her last round of shots, at least that she could remember. Leslie was after all an old friend of her father's. "You do remember who I am, right?"

Cass nodded, then leaned her head back to avoid feeling anymore dizziness. Too soon to move. "How?"

"This young woman here brought you," the doctor stated calmly, pointing to the blond. "I'm afraid I didn't catch her name."

"Black Canary," she introduced herself, trying to be as calm and sweet as possible for the girl's sake. "It's nice to meet you Cassie. You're a very brave girl, not showing any fear to that monster."

'Cassie?' She turned her head slightly to get a better look at the woman, giving her a confused look. No one called her 'Cassie' unless they were trying to make friends for their own benefits. Or was Jason, once in a while.

"Now I know this is hard," Canary started, trying to be reassuring, "but I need to ask you a few questions."

"Personally I think it'd be better to wait for the police or her father first," Leslie near growled.

"It's her father I want to ask questions about," the woman rebutted with a slight snarl. Clearly this was what they were arguing about.

"Wrong father," Cass repeated. Black Canary looked at her confused while Dr. Thompkins gave a growing understanding gaze. Calmly she continued, keeping perfectly still as she explained. "I'm adopted. First father, very bad man. Mother too. Dad now good man. Where?"

"He'll be here shortly," Leslie insisted in a soothing voice, smoothing out her hair for reassurance. "Had to make sure your brothers wouldn't tag along first. You know they won't let you rest."

That won a smile from the girl. Boy did she know it. Dick would be all hugs and pampering, Timmy would be fretting about, occasionally hugging and asking if he could do something for her, and Jason would be demanding details on the assailant in order to try and track him down to pound him on his own. It was nice to have brothers who cared, but she needed quiet to heal. The IV drip she was on wasn't a pain killer, but a blood transfusion. She really shouldn't be bothered.

"Wait," the vigilante started, confused, "what's this about bad parents and a second dad?"

"It means," a very welcomed male voice started as he entered the room, "that her biological parents are criminals who abused her and she was removed from their custody and placed into mine."

Cass lifted her head up to see the man better, her heart lifting as soon as he was there. "Dad."

"And I rather leave their identities a mystery if you don't mind Black Canary," Bruce continued, striding over to his daughter's side. "For her sake. How are you feeling Cass? Little sick?"

She nodded, some tears coming to her eyes. She could read his body with a glance now, but when they first met he was a hard person to read. But then and now, he told her the same things without meaning to. 'I'm sorry you were hurt. I'll do everything I can to make you feel better again. You did nothing wrong. I'm here for you. You don't have to talk.'

"Do you need to throw up?" A slight shake of her head told him no. The worried father looked over to his most trusted doctor. "Is there anything you can give her to help?"

"Not yet," Leslie stated quickly, bringing up a chart. "According to the toxicology screens, that man had used a tranquilizer on her. It'll pass through her system completely in about an hour, then I can prescribe some medication. Any idea who that man was and why he would—"

"I'm having people look into it." Bruce looked over to Black Canary again. "You saved her right? You and Green Arrow?"

"Right." The woman folded her arms, taking a good long look over the billionaire. "We were seeing what the rest of the League had invested in this town then heard an old 'friend' of GA's was in town. Didn't know he kidnapped anyone until after checking out his hideout. Green Arrow's booking Madsen right now. He should get death row for what he did to that gardener.

"What I still don't understand," she continued, her eyes narrowing, "is why he went after your daughter. He doesn't usually go after people without a contract on their heads, and never kids. Why was he—"

"Like I said," he turned back fully to his daughter, wanting to scoop her up and take her home, "her biological parents are really bad people. Same business as his I fear."

That shut the woman up, especially as she looked at the girl starting to tremble slightly then she brought up the psycho and her dad brought up her parents to shut her up. Wayne was holding onto her stronger hand, stroking it soothingly in an attempt to comfort her. Canary had a feeling if the doctor allowed, he'd be holding her right then to ease her troubles away, but her injuries were too extensive for that yet.

Feeling a little guilty, Black Canary backed off. "I see. In any case, I think my work's done here. Be careful going home you two."

"Same to you," Bruce murmured, not looking at her.

Before the woman could leave though, Cass spoke up. "Thank you. My life saved. Thanks to you."

The heroine looked at her grateful face and smiled graciously. "You're very welcome."

Bruce was able to take his daughter home later that night thankfully, but by the time he arrived the boys were already in bed, too tired to welcome them home. Slowly he carried Cass up the stairs towards her bedroom, hoping to get her to rest peacefully that night. The tranquilizer the madman gave her had worn off and now Leslie's prescription was working wonderfully in keeping the pain away. It helped to keep her still so her wounds could heal properly too.

Cass snuggled up under her father's coat, going in and out of consciousness as they traveled. It was warm and safe there, and she knew this man wouldn't force her to do anything she didn't want to or wasn't good. Except maybe make her go to bed when she was quite comfortable where she was. She grunted loudly as he tried to set her down in her bed. The man shook his head, slightly amused.

"Cassandra, you need to rest."

"Stay. Warm. Comfy."

Bruce gave a soft sigh. "I can't wait until the medication's no longer needed and you make normal sentences again."

"Dad, please stay with me." Her brown eyes bore straight into his grey ones, begging for him to remain where he was. She knew with all that happened that day, the memories that were stirred at the mentioning of her biological parents, and the medication in her body, that she would have terrible nightmares. Only the strength of this man, this man who was more a father to her then the one who consumed the first six and a half years of her life, could chase them away. She needed him to stay.

Seeing her plea, the man relented. "Alright." He kept her bundled up in his jacket a moment longer as he took her from her room and to the giant bed in his own. Kicking off his shoes and not bothering to change, he carefully tucked the two of them in. Part of him tried to remember the last time he had done this, but the occasion was fairly rare with her. Gently they laid down and he kissed her head to encourage her to sleep.

"Dad?"

"Hm?" Her weak voice always drew his attention, even when they were bone tired.

"Why did that man do this? Why hurt me? What I do wrong?" The question had been buzzing in her mind somewhere for a while now, but she hadn't dared force it. She understood that it was that other man's fault, but why attack her? She had nothing to do with him anymore.

Bruce gave a long sigh before trying to explain. "Some people think the sins of the father can be atoned by taking out their rage on their child. You did nothing wrong, nothing at all. Madsen was just insane from grief, blamed David Cain, and thought he could hurt the man by hurting you."

"Did it work?"

"We'll never know." He lost track of that assassin quite some time ago. They only met once, when Bruce assured him that his daughter would be well cared for from now on, and even then it wasn't face to face. The man escaped custody, but did nothing to claim back his child. He had more contact with Cass' mother than him. "I don't keep tabs on him, just make sure he can't get to you."

She nodded silently, glad that was the case. After a moment more of silence, she asked, "Does watch work?"

"I'll check it in the morning. Get some rest." Really, late nights, nine year olds, pain killers, and she was still talking, albeit incoherently.

"MmHmmm…" Her head rested fully on his shoulder. "Love you Daddy," came her voice at a near whisper.

Bruce couldn't stop from smiling with that. "Love you too Cass."

A/N: awe! yeah the ending's a little too fluffy and sickening sweet, but it's better than leaving it at Canary saying 'you're welcome'. Now that I've established that they know who her parents are, I think I'll let David Cain rest for a while. There is a later arc, much later, where he's involved but it doesn't have a title yet. If you can figure out what particular cannon batman story it'll cover, say so. If you're right, I'll be asking for any material you have on it because I can't find it physically! *pulls hair* and it feels so important for them!

*breathes* so, the question: I want to bring in the Arrow family, but haven't figured out exactly how to bring them into the League. They, being Ollie and Dinah, might be the only non-founders who know the truth for a long while, mostly because I really like those two on TV *waiting for Arrow to come out and see how they pull it off*. So, Ideas? I'm thinking of Hal talking to Bruce or maybe Bruce talking to Ollie or Dinah... details are so vague there I haven't figured it out. I want to get them in the League before bringing Roy into the kids' lives a bit and this has to happen before 'Sacrifice'. Ideas? Please share.

I think I may have covered everything. Any more ideas for Cass fics is still good. And if you know how to do a good song fic (there's two songs I wanna put in here eventually because they're awesome) tell me. thanks! ^^V