I do not own Young Justice or any of the characters.
Death in the Family
Cassius slammed two Clowns into the wall, Cassandra dropped from the roof above him to drop two more behind him. This was not good. They were scattered, all of them facing groups of Clowns all over Gotham. Something was seriously wrong. There were too many attacks to be random.
"Void and Orphan reporting in," Cassius said over his communicator as he and Cassandra cuffed the Clowns into groups. "Our group's been dealt with. We're restraining them now. Where to next?"
"Head to Robin's location," Nightwing said. "We got separated in a mob. I'm heading to Batgirl and Ravager's position to help them, I'm not sure where he is."
"We're enroute," Cassius said, just as they finished cuffing the last Clown.
They both headed up to the roofs, heading from one to the next quickly until they'd finally reached the Clown group Jason had been trying to fight. The Clowns were still there, looting every building in sight, but Jason was nowhere to be seen.
"No sign of Robin," Cassius said, holding a hand to his communicator. "We're moving to deal with the Clowns. We'll make one of them tell us what we want to know."
"Be quick," Batman said.
Cassius dropped instantly, Cassandra swinging after him with her grappling gun. They both tore into the Clowns instantly, dropping them rapidly. The fight took longer than Cassius had wanted, however. After nearly twenty minutes, they finally dropped the last Clown and Cassius pick one of them up, slapping him awake.
"Where is Robin!?" Cassius snarled.
"Did you lose your birdie?" the clown asked before laughing.
"He can't tell you nothing," a feminine voice said from behind them. "He don't know where the little birdie is. But I do."
Cassius narrowed his eyes at Harley Quinn, a blonde Clown and second-in-command to Joker, who she considered her boyfriend and who considered her a semi-convenient, occasional pass time, at best. Her blonde hair was in a pair of pigtails, the end of one died blue and the other pink, matching but reversed eyeshadow, bright blue eyes, pale white skin with white makeup on her face to make it even paler, ruby-red lips, a tight red and black belly shirt with the left side red with a black diamond over her nipple and the right half black with a red star, a pair of short shorts with a, once again, matching but reversed color scheme, this time without any extra signals, a pair of thigh-high stockings, the left having a three-inch-thick black strip around the top then the rest red, and the right being reversed, and a pair of high-heeled shoes, the left black and the right red, and in her hands was a massive mallet with the left side black with four red diamonds arranged into a diamond, and the right side red with black diamonds.
"Harley Quinn," Cassius growled. "Where is Robin?"
"Nah uh, no spoilers," Harley said. "You'll have to beat our new friends first."
Two Clowns stomped out of a pair of back alleys to either side of her, both of their muscles swollen somewhere between Bane's and Mammoth's. Both charged instantly, only for Cassius to put his down instantly with a goo hammer from above, and Cassandra dropped hers with a taser cable to the forehead. Harley turned to flee, only for Cassius to stick her to a wall with goo. He growled in annoyance and walked toward her, forming his left arm into a blade and held it to her throat.
"Talk," Cassius snarled.
"You won't kill me," Harley snorted. "You're smarter than that."
"You're right," Cassius said. "I am smarter. I'll just leave you here, stuck and immobile and surrounded by a bunch of psychotic, male criminals with nothing to lose and no law enforcement around."
Harley's eyes widened, flitting around quickly before she swallowed hard. "Now...let's not do anything we'll regret."
"I won't regret anything," Cassius said. "Spill, or I leave you to be raped by ever Clown here."
Harley's eyes shut tight, her face scrunching up before she shouted several loud swears. "He's in the warehouse by the port. Batsy will know which one. It used to belong to Two-Face."
"Good girl," Cassius said, reclaiming his goo and allowing Cassandra to tase and cuff Harley, Cassius quickly restraining the rest using goo tendrils to manipulate the cuffs as he raised a hand to his communicator. "Two-Face's warehouse. There's a good chance Joker's there."
Several voices swore over the communicator instantly and as soon as the Clowns were restrained, Cassandra dropped the usual flare on the road for the cops to find before Cassius picked her up and took off with a set of goo wings, streaking across the city. He flew hard and fast, and within four minutes, they landed at the same time as Batman. Cassius smashed the door open instantly, only to stop. They were too late. The Clowns were gone, the words "JOKE'S ON YOU" decorated one wall in green paint, and Jason sat limply, chained to a chair and with blood coating his entire body. His mask was off to one side, covered in blood, his uniform was in tatters from knife wounds, of which there were dozens, enough to be life-threatening, and his entire body had been beaten almost to the point of unrecognizability by a crowbar still lying in the pool of blood around the chair. His arms were both broken multiple times over, Cassius doubted he had a single rib not broken, his legs were broken several times, both knees had been hit directly and inverted, his hands and feet were crushed, and his head had been bashed in on the right side so badly that Cassius wasn't sure if he was seeing flesh, skull, brain, or a mixture of the three in the wound.
Cassandra covered her mouth, but otherwise didn't react, Cassius had to struggle to retrain his rage, Ravager had to look away when she and the others arrived, Barbara began to vomit into the water, and Nightwing began to cry instantly. But not Batman. Batman seemed totally unaffected. Emotionless. He tossed a small bleach bomb capsule into the blood and waited for it to go off before freeing Jason from the chair. Then, he turned, walking outside to the Batmobile in silence, setting Jason in the passenger seat before climbing in.
"Make sure the clowns are all taken to Arkham," Batman said. "I'm returning to the Batcave."
The others all nodded and Batman turned the Batmobile around, driving away. The others all took a few minutes to gather themselves before returning to the various sites of their battles and waiting for the police to finish arresting all of the clowns and take them all to Arkham before returning to the Batcave as well. When they arrived, Batman was sitting in silence in front of the computer, which was displaying an updated personnel file on Jason, including his date of death and how it happened. Nightwing headed upstairs with Barbara, but Rose stopped when she noticed Cassius wasn't leaving right away. Cassius was hesitating, feeling like he should say something to Batman, anything. Instead, Cassandra walked over to Batman and hugged him. For a moment, he didn't react. Then, he broke, holding her and beginning to cry. Rose joined him instantly, also holding him as both girls allowed themselves to cry. Cassius, however, headed up to the mansion, allowing Batman to have privacy to grieve without worrying about judgement.
"I can't..." Tim trailed off, staring at his hands. "How?"
"Joker," Cassius said. "I thought Joker was still at Arkham."
"So did Batman and I," Nightwing said. "There will be a very intensive investigation over this." He curled his hands into fists, then sighed, forcing himself to relax.
"I can't believe it," Tim finally said. "You all seem...invincible."
"We're not," Cassius said. "Any of us could die, just like anybody. This is...a very sobering reminder of that."
"Now what?" Barbara asked.
"Nothing," Nightwing said. "Now we grieve. We just lost a member of our family. Now we take time."
"Not Batman," Cassius said. "He's going after Joker."
Nightwing nodded. "After that's done, he'll grieve."
"He needs a Robin," Tim said. "He can't handle being Batman without a Robin."
"He'll be fine," Nightwing said.
Tim was silent for a few minutes before nodding. "Okay."
They all sat in silence for a few minutes before Cassandra and Rose came up into the mansion, reporting Batman had left to find Joker. Then, they all left to their rooms for what remained of the night, none of them planning to go anywhere tomorrow. Cassius didn't bother to ask Cassandra if she wanted him to stay with her. He knew she'd need him. She always did whenever she saw someone die, and this time it was someone she knew and had grown attached to. So, he walked into his room and held the door open for her, Rose walking in as well.
"Can I stay too?" Rose asked, voice wavering.
"As long as you need," Cassius said gently. "Both of you can."
Both nodded and the girls both changed into their pajamas, uncaring of the fact that he was in the room. Not that it was the first time. Rose had only started doing it about a year ago, after he'd patched her up following a mission with the Team when she got shot in the side and he'd been the only person nearby who could treat her. After having been shirtless in front of him while he tended to her bullet wound for an hour, she hadn't really cared much about being naked around him anymore. Cassandra, on the other hand, had just never started to care since they were nine. She hadn't minded being naked in front of anyone then, and she didn't now. On more than one occasion, he'd had to scold her for walking around either Wayne Manor or the Cave naked when she was just making a quick, late-night trip to the kitchen and back for a glass of milk or water, or a late-night snack. Fortunately, at the Cave, he was usually able to catch her before hand and either make her get dressed, or cover her himself as clothing. At the manor, she usually got away with it before he found out and scolded her after the fact. It never did any good, so when they began to change in front of him this time, he didn't bother saying anything. He simply climbed into bed and waited for them to finish, both girls joining him a few moments later.
Cassius stared at the floor in silence. Three months. Three months since Jason had been killed by the Joker. Batman had started to slip into his rage and grief within days, so Tim had stolen the Robin costume in order to go after Batman, ending up helping him take down Killer Crock, Mr. Freeze, and Bane all at once, convincing Batman to allow him to keep the mantle of Robin. However, now, barely three months after Jason's death, they'd lost someone else. Tula. The Light had released a powerful and ancient alien known as Tiamat, and in order to stop it, Tula had been forced to trap it in an underwater temple, then collapse it on both of them. Kaldur wasn't taking it well, having still been in love with her, and Tempest was taking it even worse, being Tula's girlfriend. Cassius wasn't expecting either to stay on the team. Tempest looked broken, and Kaldur looked exhausted, and like he had aged a dozen years in a day.
"Too much," Cassandra said softly, from beside Cassius.
"I know," Cassius said, slipping his hand into hers. "I'll pass. I promise. It'll get better."
Cassandra turned into him, not crying, but resting the side of her head against his chest, Cassius softening his armor for her. "Worried."
"They'll be okay," Cassius said. "Eventually."
Cassandra shook her head. "Worried...Cassius."
He smiled, hugging her. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Please," Cassandra whimpered.
He squeezed her lightly. "I promise."
She nodded and after a moment, Rose walked over, having been comforting some of the other girls. Cassius pulled her into a hug without her even having to ask, and she wrapped her arms around them both. After a few minutes of silence, they headed to bed. It was only about ten thirty in the morning, but after the briefing earlier, Kaldur had told them that they were all allowed to have the day to grieve however they needed. Cassius knew without having to ask that the girls wanted to be alone, and that when they slept, at a minimum, Cassandra would need him. So, they headed to his room to grieve privately.
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