I don't own anything, I'm sad to say.
Please let me know what you think.
Cassandra Cain, Harley Quinn's Apprentice.
As she inhaled the incredible and tasty aroma from her wrapped sandwich, Cassandra settled in the -stolen- car seat (Cassandra idly wondered if Harley was even going to bother returning Dinah's car, but really she didn't care; there was a chance, with the Bertinelli money the so-called 'Birds of Prey' or 'idiots' Harley referred to them as, among other derogatory names which impressed the young pickpocket, particularly since it showed Harley's extensive vocabulary which belied her reputation as a bimbo, had more than enough cash to buy new cars than Dinah's old banger) while Harley started the engine and drove away from the jewellery shop. She smiled when she felt Bruce licking the back of her neck.
"Okay, you can have a piece in a moment, just…let me enjoy the aroma for a moment, alright?" Cassandra turned and smiled at the hyena - while it had been intimidating having such a dangerous wild animal near her, it soon became apparent if you kept Bruce fed and happy, he was incredibly sweet.
The hyena lapped his tongue.
Cassandra smiled as she opened the package and tore off a nice chunk of the sandwich, ignoring the feel of the hot yoke and cheese on her hands, and passed them gently to Bruce. The hyena licked her fingers and hand gently; Cassandra had little doubt if the hyena wanted, or if she provoked him, he could take her hand off, so she was very careful although she wasn't frightened of him.
"So it went well, then?" Cassandra asked as she munched on her sandwich - Harley was saving hers for the time being, but Cassandra was too hungry to ignore the temptation.
"Yeah, I pawned the rock, got a lot of cash from it."
"What now?"
"You'll need to be more specific."
"I mean, what do you want to do now? I mean, we have talked about finding a new place to live-," Cassandra began hesitantly, knowing that although they'd touched upon the subject, it had left Harley and her a bit conflicted. Gotham was their home but at the same time, the place held dozens of bad memories for the pair of them. The recent mess with Sionis and how Zsaz had been prepared to cut her open for the Bertinelli diamond was something that Cassandra would very, very, very much like to forget.
And Harley…
Cassandra had heard stories about Harley Quinn over the years; a former psychiatrist, twisted by the Joker until she fell in love with the psychopath, did his bidding, blown a lot of shit up, killed and poisoned people time and time again while laughing madly into the night. But Cassandra genuinely believed Harley was sincere in building a new life for herself, and how she had started her own business, Cassandra did not want to suddenly find herself in the Joker's company with Harley throwing herself over him. She had heard stories of how Harley sometimes went her own way after becoming tired of the Joker's brutality or if the Clown Prince of Crime (God, what kind of dork named him that?) simply chucked her out like she was nothing more than a garbage bag.
Or a dead body he was disposing of.
Cassandra had no intention of Harley suddenly running back into the Joker's clutches, or the clown would come back looking for Harley because he had gotten bored without her, and if that happened then Harley's talk about independence, making a new life for herself, all that talk she had heard directed towards her from Dinah, Huntress, and others around the neighbourhood, the guys who scoffed at how they talked of how Harley Quinn would never go back to the Joker, only for it to happen anyway, would be proven true.
Cassandra did not like the idea of Harley becoming a hypocrite. She had truly thought the blonde would sell her to be gutted by Sionis; where Harley was willing to give her the choice between being sliced open with a kitchen knife or by taking laxatives to get the diamond out, even resorting to other means, like prune juice, Zsaz had no such scruples. Neither had his boss.
Both of them would have torn her apart to take the stupid diamond, but what worried Cassandra was she was going to be let down by Harley if Joker came back into the fold.
"Ya worried I'll go back to Mr J, aren't you?" Cassandra turned to Harley and she realised the older woman was staring at her reflection through the rearview mirror. "It's okay, I know what you mean, and I'm not offended," Harley said quietly.
"I'm sorry, Harley-," Cassandra apologised but Harley shook her head.
"Nah, it's okay. I understand your views. D'ya wanna leave Gotham?" Harley asked her pointedly.
Pleased Harley wasn't throwing a fit about such a touchy topic, Cassandra considered the question. "I dunno," she admitted, "if we leave, we'd leave our home, but at the same time…," she trailed off.
"I know; your foster parents are right bastards, at least until I turned up!" Harley grinned while Cassandra grimaced at the thought of what Harley and Bruce had done to her foster parents. They had been abusive and she had come to quickly appreciate her own company, but nobody deserved that. Okay, some did, but Harley had become very overprotective of her.
"I know, but do you think we should move?" Cassandra asked her friend.
Harley blew out her cheeks like a pufferfish. "I dunno, kid. I say we take on a few jobs, and make plans from there. But I understand your point. I was a psychiatrist, and I'm not stupid. I know you're worried 'bout me hitching up with Mr J again, and I share your worries. The worst of it is…," Harley looked haunted, "I know Mr J will come back in my life, our lives; you've never met him, Cassie. But trust me, I don't want him anywhere near our operation. I've got the same hesitance as you about leaving Gotham, but it's also appealing. The only trouble is, where do we go? I can tell ya, we won't have an easy time establishing ourselves in a different city."
"We could move about the country?" Cassandra suggested.
Harley nodded, "Yeah, there is that, but if we do that we'd be constantly on the move. D'ya really wanna live like that?"
Cassandra was in two minds about the answer. "Look, how about we think about it, huh? We do as you say, take on a few jobs and then when we reach a certain point, we'll be in a better place to decide on what we should do."
Harley nodded, a grin already forming on her face; while the kid had caused her problems with her habits, she had proven herself smart, loyal, and dedicated. "Yah, that sounds cool."
Cassandra grinned. "And you can teach me a lot."
"Oh, my young apprentice," Harley put on a voice that mirrored Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars, "much to teach you, I have."
Or was it Master Yoda?
Anyway, who cared?