A/N: These characters are the property of DC Nation not myself. Thanks for reviewing and reading, sorry about that last cliff hanger, it was just too good of a place to put one. Couldn't help myself, don't worry, picking it back up right here!


Chapter 43:

Thursday; 15 September 2013

9:28 AM

Cassie's POV:

Cat died fast. She probably didn't even know what happened. One second she was trying to be brave and putting her faith in a complete stranger and the next – nothing. Alive one moment and dead the next. Cassie blinks down at Cat's limp body. She fell back and sideways, her shoulders don't connect with the ground because her hands are still bound to the railing pulling her up. Her head dangles backwards above the curtain of blonde hair as if her neck is made of rubber instead of bone, a thin trail of blood trickles over her forehead from a small hole in her right temple. Cassie stares speechless, too shocked to even cry even though she wants to. Her lips tremble and her body goes numb the only thought running through her mind is that she promised she'd save her. She stares down at her hands, clenching her right fist to feel pain and remember she's not dead also. I promised… She looks back at Cat, a pool of slick dark liquid pooling in her hair. Cassie tries not to imagine the exit wound on the other side of Cat's head, it must be big considering the blood loss.

"You're back may need stitches, c'mon." Slade's voice is so calm it's unnerving, as if he hadn't just shot an innocent college student for no reason. Still, Cassie doesn't flinch. She's not sure she can. She's so numb she isn't sure that she's not just a disembodied spirit floating around the room doomed to be unable to save Cat for all of eternity. "That wasn't a suggestion."

"You killed her…" Her voice is a raspy whisper so quiet she can barely hear herself.

"Yes, and now I'm going to keep you from following her into the light." Feeling starts to return to her limbs, Cassie stares at the blood soaking Cat's blonde hair as if sucking the warmth from her. "Get up." He grabs her upper arm and lifts her to her feet, Cassie turns out of his grasp and shoves him away.

"Don't touch me!" The world around her shifts and dips, Cassie stumbles back colliding with the railing next to Cat's corpse on the floor. The metal sends shocks through her right side and she pushes herself off it when the lightheadedness fades. She stares down at Cat, the color fading from her cheeks, her eyes still just barely open watching but unable to see. "You killed her!" Cassie can still hear Cat's sobs echoing through the room, "She was innocent and you killed her!" Anger and disgust pulse through Cassie's body making up for the blood loss, she turns to face Slade her eyes flaming a deep blue.

"You should be thanking me, I just showed you how foolish you're craving to save the doomed is." Slade folds his arms across his chest leaning all of his weight to one side, castigating her like a coach.

"She had nothing to do with any of this!" Cassie throws her right hand toward Cat's limp form, blood from her cut splattering over Cat's awkwardly bent neck. She has to take a moment to steady her breathing, the rage making her blood flow faster. "She was innocent." Cassie turns back to Slade pointing to her own chest, "You want to kidnap me – fine. You want to torture me – fine. Hell, if you want to kill me that's fine too! I signed up for this!" Cassie throws out her hand motioning toward the entirety of the room. "Cat didn't! She was innocent!" Cassie leans into the railing, her head hanging forward guilt twisting in her stomach. "I was supposed to save her!"

"Again with the saving people." Slade comes forward stopping two feet in front of her, Cassie grips the railing behind her. "When are you going to get it? You can't save anyone… couldn't save her." Slade points to Cat's legs still bent the way she had been siting. "You really think you can save a world that doesn't want to be saved?" He kicks Cat's knee, her body ripples with the shock. Cassie grips the railing tighter. "These people aren't innocent, especially in this city. All of them are just out for themselves. You and your dad and you're Titans and you're Justice League try so hard to make it stop but does it ever make a difference? No! There's always somebody ready to pick up where the rest of us leave off." He takes another step forward. Cassie leans further into the metal pipe very conscious of the exposed flesh on her right side. "The world doesn't have a shortage of psychos kid. You're fighting a losing battle."

"You know you're right." Cassie shakes hair out of her face, she has nothing left to lose. Cat's dead. She's losing so much blood she's probably headed that way herself. "The world never stops spitting out degenerates like you. But all of us, the people that give up our lives to make sure people like you keep losing…" Cassie pushes herself off the railing, wobbling a bit on her feet and steps forward shortening the distance between them to only a foot. "We don't give up that easy."

"You're going to realize I'm right eventually." Cassie shakes her head slightly, pressing her lips together in a tight line. Slade closes the distance between them looking down at her with only an inch of separation, Cassie looks down at Cat's feet. Slade had taken so much, but this was the one thing he would never get – her. Her body, he could take by force. Her life, he could take with a bullet or a knife. But he would never have Cassie for who she was.

"No." She looks back up at him, her jaw set and posture straight. "I won't." Cassie shakes her head, it makes her world spin again and she becomes more conscious of the cold creeping into her body. "You killed my mom." His eye narrows at her but she doesn't turn away, she just shrugs. "You're just going to have to kill me too." From behind him he pulls the same gun that put a bullet through Cat's brain not twenty minutes earlier. Cassie stares at it hanging from his fingertips at his right side. A sense of calm passes over her and she looks back up. If she had to die now at least she knew she was dying without backing down.


A/N: A note on Cat - I had some people ask me why i included this character and I thought it best to answer here. Cat is very much a minor character but she has a very large role, she is the catalyst that spurs the story forward as you will soon see and she reveals a very key part of Cassie's character. Come to think of it she reveals a big part of Slade's character as well as we see what he himself believes of the world and part of what drives him to do what he does when he explains to Cassie that Cat was never innocent because she is a part of a world that was never worth saving. To him the world consists of people only out to save their own skin and make their own way in the world no matter the cost. Ironically we see Cat who previously, despite her own situation, cared enough about a complete stranger to fear for Cassie's life when she noticed the blood. Cassie and her father, who taught her to value the innocent, are themselves proof that Slade is wrong because of all they do to protect the world. So I hope this answers that question, even if I did get a little off topic. Thanks again!