I do not own Young Justice or any of the characters.
New Face
"Are you ready to go to dinner?" Tim asked.
"Sorry," Cassandra said, then signed, "Something came up. I'm going on a personal run with Cassius."
"Personal?" Tim asked. "Can I ask what it is?"
"It's..." she paused, trying to think for a moment before continuing to sign. "A ghost from his past."
"Void past, or past past?" Tim asked.
"It's personal," Rose said, walking over and passing Cassandra her two swords. "That means you don't need to know." She turned to Cassandra. "You ready?"
Cassandra nodded and waved to Tim as they walked outside, finding Cassius waiting. Cassius nodded and wrapped an arm around them, forming a pair of wings and taking off. As they flew, Cassandra tightened her arms around him and he smiled, holding her tighter as well, wrapping goo around them both to keep them warm.
"You're sure you don't mind skipping out on Tim for this?" Cassius asked.
Cassandra nodded and Cassius sighed.
"Alright," Cassius said. "I'll give you both some goo to keep you warm when we get there."
"That'd be nice," Rose smiled. "It'd be a shame if we froze to death."
He rolled his eyes and they fell silent as he flew before he finally reached his destination, landing in the snow around a frozen pond. It was in the middle of the woods, in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in the northern half of Maine. He walked out onto the ice, jumping a few times to test its integrity. It snapped and popped, but it held, so he nodded to himself, turning to the girls, both now wearing insulated jackets and pants made from his goo, as well as ice skates.
"I can't believe you've never had me take you two ice skating before," Cassius said, forming himself a pair of skates and pushing off, drifting around the frozen pond for a few moments for them to see what they were supposed to look like, then drifted over to them and stopped, holding out his hands.
Each girl took one and he pushed off backward, easily keeping himself going and grinning from ear to ear as both girls slipped and slid, barely staying on their skates. Cassandra he'd expected to struggle, but Cassandra was just icing on the cake. Finally, they began to get the hang of it and he suddenly released them, spinning around them and pushing from behind. Cassandra shrieked instantly as her feet went out from under her, her goo clothing cushioning her landing. Cassandra, on the other hand, allowed herself to be pushed and skated along for about three seconds before leaning left to try and turn, her skates skipping out to her right, sending her crashing to the ice, which she slid across quickly for several seconds before stopping at the edge of the pond, giving him an unimpressed look while he laughed, bent forward at the waist.
"I'm sorry," he finally said. "It's just rare to see you struggle at something."
He straightened up just in time for a snowball to hit him in the face. He brushed the snow off just as Rose reached him, barely, and dumped snow down the back of his shirt. "Oh, that's it!"
He took off instantly, skating around quickly and spun in a full circle around Rose, spinning her as he did, then left, allowing her to fall. Then, he jumped over a snowball from Cassandra and landed lightly, scooping up enough snow for two projectiles as he passed a snow drift, forming both instantly. Then, he hurled them just as Cassandra was finishing her next. Both found their mark, hitting the girls in the face, and both shrieked in outrage.
"Oh, you're dead!" Rose said, grinning widely.
Cassius raised his hands, beckoning them mockingly and both girls began to try to charge. Then slipped. They stood up. Rose's feet shot forward and she landed on her back. Cassandra managed to get going, but when he spun around her attempts to catch him, she tried to turn and slipped, sliding to the edge of the pond again. Cassius grinned and formed a goo clone, who moved to help Rose up, Cassius going to help Cassandra. Together, the two helped the girls up and got them going, the clone moving slower with Rose than Cassius was with Cassandra. As they skated, Cassius kept an arm around Cassandra's waist, holding her against his side, holding that arm in front of him by the hand. In doing so, he controlled her posture and how much she leaned. Together, they drifted around a lazy turn before beginning to cross the lake. Slowly, she began to get the hang of it, now that he wasn't messing with her. He showed her how to push off with one foot without letting the other slide out from under her, allowing her to glide across the ice smoothly, and he showed her how to control how sharp or wide her turn was with her foot placement and angle as much as leaning. He taught her how to go fast, slow down, and how to stop short by turning sideways. Finally, she was able to skate alone and Cassius rejoined with his clone, continuing to help Rose, soon getting her to be able to skate at least moderately well on her own as well.
Once she could, Cassandra skated past Cassius, catching him by the arm and stealing him from Rose, who nearly fell from suddenly losing her support. Cassius smiled, skating ahead of Cassandra and turned around backward, holding her hands in his and picking up speed quickly, forming a pair of eyes in the back of his neck so he could see while he guided Cassandra, Rose trying to catch up. Cassandra smiled and began to play keep away, trying to keep Rose from stealing him back. Finally, Rose caught his arm and he instantly released Cassandra's hands, spinning and getting beside Rose on her left, holding her the same way he had been holding Cassandra when he had taught her, the two gliding across the ice quickly. Then, as they were turning, a snowball hit Rose in the face and Cassandra stole Cassius. He laughed, only to pull Cassandra in a circle, wrapping his arm around Rose as they were passing her and bringing her with them as they began to skate more calmly together.
"Thank you," Cassandra said, smiling, both arms wrapped around Cassius, Rose holding him similarly from the other side, Cassius having an arm around both of them.
"Yeah," Rose smiled. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Cassius said. "If there's ever something you want to try that you haven't yet, feel free to ask."
"Well, I've never seen a shooting star," Rose said.
Cassius laughed, growing a third arm, complete with his armor's wrist computer, and pulled up a screen, searching a quick question on google before his eyes widened. "Well, whataya know. You, Rose, are about to be very happy."
He guided them to a stop and formed a thick blanket from goo, the three of them laying down on it before he formed a second over it, both girls cuddling into his sides.
"What are we doing now?" Rose asked. "Don't tell me Google told you there was going to be a shooting star, tonight."
"Not just one," Cassius grinned. "What time is it?"
"Eleven thirty eight," Rose said.
"Perfect," Cassius said. "Watch."
Rose sighed impatiently but directed her gaze skyward, as Cassandra had her own. Then, finally, just as Rose's watch beeped out midnight, a streak of light passed over them. Rose gasped harshly as soon as she saw it, only to squeal in surprise as more and more began to follow it.
"There's so many!" Rose breathed.
"What?" Cassandra asked, frowning.
"It's called a meteor shower," Cassius said. "Each one is a meteor, what people call a shooting star. A meteor, is a chunk of rock or ice travelling through space. When it passes through the air around the Earth, it burns, making it look like that. A meteor shower is a lot of them."
Cassandra nodded for a moment before looking up at him. "What?"
He chuckled, shaking his head and grew a third arm to sign, "They're big burning rocks flying through space. You make a wish when you see one, and it's supposed to come true if you don't tell anyone what it is."
Her eyes widened and she looked up at the sky again. He smiled at both of them, the meteor shower reflected perfectly in their wide eyes, then directed his gaze to the sky again, his smile slowly shrinking down to a more subdued one as he noticed that he felt weird. Not in a bad way, but different than usual. He had a sort of weightless feeling, and breathing suddenly felt noticeably easier than normal. He ignored it, watching the meteor shower for another ten minutes before it ended. He stood, retracting the goo blankets and forming wings before lifting into the air, forming the girls' goo clothes and all three's skates into goo cocoons.
"That's a really nice Valentines Day tradition," Rose smiled as they flew, Cassandra nodding in agreement.
"I'm glad you two had fun," Cassius smiled. "Thank you for coming with me. I'm not sure I'd have been able to alone, the way my older memories have been lately."
"Have they been giving you trouble?" Rose asked, both girls looking up at him worriedly.
"Not really," Cassius said. "They've just been more...prevalent than usual."
Both nodded. They all fell silent and after a while, they reached the cave and all headed to Cassius's room, Cassius simply rolling his eyes and climbing into bed, both girls simply stripping down to their underwear and bras for the night, rather than going to get pajamas. It was fair, considering it was almost three in the morning anyway. he sighed, wrapping his arm around them as both curling into his sides, all three quickly drifting off to sleep.
Cassius hummed thoughtfully as he read through the information with Nightwing.
"They were snatching humans to use as guinea pigs," Nightwing said. "They were hoping to find something. Something inside us."
"What?" Tim asked.
"It doesn't translate," Cassius said. "The nearest word for it is...what, Meta-Gene?"
Nightwing nodded.
"What's a Meta-Gene?" Tim asked.
"Never met a Jean I didn't like," Beast Boy grinned, nudging Tim with his elbow.
"It's a genetic marker that allows humans to develop superpowers," Cassius said. "For most people, it never activates."
"How do you know that?" Nightwing asked.
"I...can't remember," Cassius frowned. "Maybe I knew it before?"
"Warning," the computer said suddenly, an alarm beginning to go off. "Unknown energy impulse detected."
"Oh lovely," Cassius said. "Is it the mysterious partner Megan and the other girls found out Queen Bee was planning to send the abductees to before Alpha rescued them?"
"Maybe," Nightwing said.
Just then, a sphere of light and electricity appeared behind Cassius and Nightwing, both spinning and Cassius forming goo over his arms and legs, the rest of his armor forming as well. Suddenly, the sphere faded, leaving a huge, dark grey machine, which steamed and crashed heavily to the ground. A bar handle in the door facing them slid up, unlocking, and all four tensed, Tim whipping out his bo staff and Nightwing his eskrima sticks.
"Stand ready!" Nightwing said.
Finally, the door split in half at the middle, the top opening outward and up and the bottom opposite it, a massive cloud of steam billowing out as it opened.
"If it's a doomsday monster, I blame you, Dick," Cassius said.
A pair of red-gloved hands gripped the sides of the door and they all tensed, only for a human boy in a red and white bodysuit to flip out of it and land on his feet, standing with his arms over his head.
"Tada!" the boy said.
Cassius raised an eyebrow at the gold ear-covers attached to the back of his yellow-tinted goggles, both ear covers having a small gold lightning bolt.
"Intruder Alert," the computer began to announce, less than a second before Cassandra stepped out from behind the odd machine and swept the boy's legs out from under him, grabbing his arm and wrenching it back behind him before slamming him to the ground.
"Ow!" he shouted. "Hey, that hurts!"
"Computer, lock down Cave," Nightwing said.
"Don't try to move," Cassius warned. "She doesn't like killing, but she'll snap your arm like a twig no problem."
"Well, I think we found our unknown energy impulse," Beast Boy said.
"Impulse?" the boy asked. "That's so crash! Catchy, dramatic, one word." Suddenly he was behind Nightwing, everyone looking around in confusion, Cassandra staring at the suddenly empty spot on the ground in shock for a moment. "Like Nightwing," then he was behind Tim, "and Robin," then Beast Boy, "and Beast Boy, except, that's two words. Blue Beetle's two words. Hey is he here too?" He stopped as Cassius's goo hand caught him by the throat, its claws pressing against the side of his neck. The boy gasped loudly, eyes wide. "Holy cow! You're him!"
"You recognize me?" Cassius asked.
"Heck yeah!" the boy said. "You're Void! You're my hero!"
He suddenly began to vibrate, slipping through Cassius's goo easily, only for a goo arm to grow out of the extended arm, slamming a punch into his chest just as he stopped vibrating, hurling him backward into the wall. When the boy raised his head, Cassius had a couple dozen spiked tendrils positioned around him, ready to strike.
"I'm going to ask you one time," Cassius said. "Who the hell are you?"
"I'm Impulse!" the boy grinned. "Nice punch! Exactly what I'd expect from a former master assassin turned the greatest hero of all time!"
One of Cassius's tendrils lashed out, whipping the boy across the chest, making him yelp in pain and leaving a welt, though he suspected it'd heal quickly.
"Try again," Cassius said, glaring at him. "I'm not playing games with you, brat. Who are you? Where did you get your speed? And how did you get here? Be a smartass or dodge a question again, and I whip you again. And believe me, you can't vibrate your molecules through all of them. I've sparred with Flash. I know how to counter that ability."
"Okay," the boy nodded. "I'm from the future. That's my time machine. I'm like a...tourist."
"Cassandra?" Cassius asked.
"Wait, that's Cassandra Cain-Wayne!?" the boy asked, several tendrils binding his arms and legs instantly, one pressing against his throat.
"Where did you learn that name?" Cassius growled.
"Dude," the boy said, eyes wide as he felt the tendrils vibrating at alternate frequencies, making it impossible for him to vibrate his molecules through them. "From the future! She's as famous as you are!"
Cassius looked to Cassandra, who looked troubled, but nodded.
"Yes," she said.
Cassius dropped the boy, the one by his throat remaining there. "From now on, you will never use anyone's last name. Understood?"
"Yes," the boy nodded.
"Good," Cassius said. "Your speed."
"Recreated Flash's experiment," the boy said. "Look, we should all be friends! I'm really one of you! Part of the heroic legacy, right? My name's Bart Allen. Ya know, grandson of Barry Allen, the Flash."
"Noted," Beast Boy said. "Not believed, but noted."
"Yes," Cassandra said.
Cassius sighed. "Alright. Let's try an easy one. Bart, what's the world like when you're from?"
"Oh, you know, same world, different problems," Bart said.
"No," Cassandra said instantly.
Cassius whipped him and he yelped. "I thought that might be the case. Good. You suck at lying."
"Wait, that was a lie detector test?" Bart asked.
"This whole thing has been," Cassius said. "I'm sure you learned about Cassandra's ability. She's been watching you to see if you lie the whole time. Her speech is limited, so she says yes and no to say if someone's lying or not."
"Her speech is limited?" Bart asked. "I never learned about that. Why?"
Cassius whipped him again. "Sorry, not convinced you're not a spy somehow."
"Oh come on!" Bart said. "I'm clearly Flash's grandson! I've got his speed, his amazing good looks...Frankly, I can't wait to meet him! Ya know, back when he was in his prime."
"I'm going to guess he's not the only one," Cassius said, Bart's eyes widening.
"The only one what?" Beast Boy asked.
"Beast Boy, Robin, the two of you go let the others know we have a speedster intruder and we've currently got the situation under control, but to stand by," Nightwing said.
"No," Cassius said. "They can stay."
"Alright," Nightwing shrugged, walking over with a glass of water. "You must be thirsty after coming all the way from the future just to have your favorite hero kick your ass. Here. Have a drink."
"Thanks," Bart said, taking a drink before pulling back and nodding. "Oh, you're trying to get a DNA sample. you need my spit." He spat into the water. "Such a Dick Grayson thing to do."
"How did..." Tim trailed off.
"See?" Bart asked. "I know stuff only a future boy would know."
"Or a Shadow," Cassius said.
"Harsh," Bart said. "Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Garfield Logan. Cassius-"
"I don't have a last name," Cassius said.
"Not yet," Bart said. "Wanna know what it is?"
"Utter one word and we see how fast you can heal a whole through your foot," Cassius growled.
Bart shrugged.
"Your name's Tim?" Beast Boy asked. "And yours is Dick?"
"Oops," Bart said. "Spoilers. This secret identity thing's so retro. I mean, you can call me Impulse, or Bart, or Bart Allen, or Bart Impulse Allen. It's all crash."
Everyone stared at him for a moment before Cassius whipped him.
"Is it possible he might be telling the truth?" Tim asked. "Could he really be from the future?"
"It's possible," Cassius said.
"Tell us something we don't know, yet," Beast Boy said. "When do I become leader of the Team? When do I join the Justice League? When do I get my own reality series?"
"Sorry BB, never was the best history student," Bart said. "Besides, we can't risk altering the time stream. We do that and we're all feeling the mode."
"And the mode...would be bad?" Beast Boy asked.
"Doesn't get any worse," Bart said. "Always better to crash the mode."
"Uh...noted?" Beast Boy said unsurely.
"Do you happen to have a quiet mode?" Cassius asked, Bart and Beast Boy laughing.
"Recognize Malcom Duncan, A-One-Zero," the computer announced.
"Ooo, sounds like a door opening somewhere," Bart said. "And that's my cue."
"To go nowhere," Cassius said, his tendrils lashing out, only for Bart to flash past them, then out of the room.
Cassius blinked, then turned, watching as Beast Boy flew after Bart as a peregrine falcon.
"He doesn't stand a chance, does he?" Tim asked.
"Nope," Nightwing said. "Impulse is too fast." He pulled up the holographic screen, displaying Impulse's location with a red circle. "But at least we can track him."
"You put a tracer?" Tim asked. "It'll fall off at his speed."
"It won't," Nightwing assured him. "He drank it."
"Subcutaneous micro tracker in the water," Tim grinned. "Nice."
"Thanks," Nightwing said. "He's making a bee line for Central City." He raised his phone, hitting the speed dial. "Hey. Need your help."
Nightwing explained to what Cassius assumed was Wally quickly what was going on and where Impulse was going. Once he had, he hung up.
"Well, now that it's out of out hands," Cassius said. "I'm going to make some food. Anyone else hungry?"
"Yes please!" Beast Boy said. "Just...no meat, please."
"Of course," Cassius said.
"I'll take some too," Nightwing said.
"Make that three, please," Tim said.
Cassandra walked after Cassius to help him and he smiled, the two beginning to try and find something to cook.
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