I do not own Young Justice or any of the characters.
Getting Close
Cassius blocked s short barrage of punches from Cassandra, then threw one of her own, only for her to spin around him, then sweep his legs, knocking him to the ground and holding a knife to his throat.
"Cut it," Cain instructed.
Cassandra hesitated, and instead of her cutting his throat, a gunshot went off and Cassandra yelped in pain, staggering away and holding a hand to her side, where the bullet had punched through her shallowly, enough to hurt, badly, and enough to scar, but not enough to kill her. However, he wasn't done. He holstered his gun and stormed over to her, slamming a fist into her face and knocking her tot he ground before kicking her, slamming her backward into a support pillar for the house's upper level. Cassius stood, but remained silent and made no move to intervene. He knew it would only make it worse. Finally, after several more punches and kicks, Cain finally huffed, stepping away from his barely-conscious daughter.
"Clean her up," Cain snarled as he stormed out of the room. "I'm going on a job."
Cassius waited until Cain had slammed the front door to step forward, kneeling down and helping Cassandra to her feet. She stepped forward instantly, wrapping her arms around him and he sighed, holding her for a moment before pushing her back, using his sleeve to wipe the blood from her nose and the corner of her mouth.
"Come on," he sighed. "Let's go get that gunshot taken care of."
Cassandra nodded and they walked to the bathroom where Cassandra pulled her shirt up out of the way, exposing numerous other scars that Cassius hadn't seen before. He stared at them for a moment before carefully bandaging her soon-to-be newest scar. Once she pulled the shirt down, she turned, hugging him again.
"Is something wrong?" Cassius asked. "You don't usually hug me."
"I'm just glad you're here," Cassandra signed. "You're the only one who's nice to me."
He smiled, nodding, and stood. "Come on. I brought you a surprise this time."
She nodded, following him out of the bathroom and to the library, where he'd left his jacket for after their sparring session ended. Cassandra sat down in the chair she usually took when he taught her to read and write, and he smiled, choosing her a book and handing it to her before picking up his jacket and reaching into an inside pocket. She watched him curiously, and after a moment, he pulled out a chocolate bar. Her eyes widened and he walked over, kneeling in front of her.
"Has Cain ever told you if you have any allergies?" he asked.
"I don't," she signed. "He made sure I didn't have any."
Cassius nodded and pulled the top half of the wrapper off the candy bar and handed it to her. She broke a piece off with her teeth and a smile instantly appeared. She hummed pleasantly as she ate the candy bar and he laughed. Within a couple minutes, the candy bar was gone and he stuck the wrapper back in his jacket.
"Alright, how's your speech coming?" he asked.
She shook her head. He nodded and glanced at her paper.
"Write the words..." he paused to decide on a phrase, then signed it to her. "The zebra played the xylophone while the hippopotamus danced."
Cassandra paused for a moment before beginning to write. Her penmanship was getting better, and her cursive was nearly perfect. Her spelling and grammar still needed work. She forgot which letters were which still, sometimes, and she was still learning the rules of language. Sign language was one thing. It was right up the ally of her ability to understand body language as an actual language. However, according to her, when he spoke, she understood him more because of his body language than his words, which she still didn't actually understand. He wasn't sure how she understood entire conversations about literally anything based off of body language, but that was what she said, and her trouble with speaking and reading aloud supported it. Not that he thought she was lying.
He was pulled from his thoughts as she handed him the paper. He scanned it, nodding to himself.
"This is word is spelled like this," he said, pointing to the first she had misspelled and using sign language to show her the letters, which she wrote down on another paper.
He repeated the process for the rest of her mistakes, and once he was finished, she rewrote the sentence. He smiled and nodded, handing it back, and she reread it to herself several times before moving down and beginning to write something else. Once she finished, she handed it to him again.
"Wil you com wItn me on furst mishun?"
He smiled and nodded, then quickly wrote the sentence correctly below it and handed it back. "Yes, that's the plan. Cain wants me there to make sure you complete it and to make sure you get back without being caught."
She nodded, busy writing out the words she'd gotten wrong so far over and over to memorize the proper spelling. After a little while, he heard Cain's car returning and she stopped, allowing him to gather everything and absorb it into the goo forming his clothes before he put the book away. Then, he stood, pulling on his jacket and giving her a quick hug before stepping away from her just before the front door opened, Cassandra beginning to do pushups, as their usual cover story was that he had her doing strength training. He walked out to meet Cain, who glared at him.
"Well?" Cain asked.
"She's improving," Cassius said. "I have her doing strength training now, as usual."
Cain nodded, walking past Cassius. "Leave."
Cassius nodded and left the building, forming himself wings, and took off toward Deathstroke's home to check on Rose before heading home. Currently, everyone was taking some time off while they waited for the next mission, and Aqualad was in Atlantis. His clone would only have to keep Superboy from figuring out he was gone, so long as no one else showed up.
He dropped the papers Cassandra had been writing on in the water as he flew over it, as well as the candy bar wrapper, then landed at Deathstroke's home a few minutes later. As he opened the door, Deathstroke slammed Rose into the ground, holding his sword to her throat, then glared up at Cassius.
"You're still slow, and you're not predicting my strikes," Deathstroke said. "By the time he'd been trained as long as you, Cassius could face me for several minutes without losing! You're my daughter and you can't even last one minute. You're a disgrace!"
"I'll do better next time, Father," Rose said as she stood, bowing.
Deathstroke snorted derisively. "I'll believe that when I see it. And what are you doing here?"
"I came to report on the mission involving Doctor Fate," Cassius said.
"Good," Deathstroke said. "What do you have?"
"I won't waste your time with the things you already know," Cassius said. "The Justice league retains the key to the Tower of Fate, and Kid Flash has the Helmet of Fate. He's supposed to choose a wielder to inherit it. Aside from that, there's just basic personality information. Kid Flash doesn't believe in magic, Superboy has been steadily growing more controlled, and Sportsmaster's daughter is blending in well. Well enough to make me worry about the safety of my own position there. Her cover is as the Green Arrow's niece, so they trust her. She'll be the better spy for the Shadows before too long."
"Then you'd better hurry up and secure their trust," Deathstroke said. "Spar with Rose. Teach her."
"Why the change of heart?" Cassius asked.
Deathstroke glared at him for a moment before responding. "I will not allow Cain to produce a better weapon for the League of Shadows than I do. Get my worthless daughter strong enough to defeat Cassandra Cain."
And with that, he turned, storming away. Cassius nodded slowly before walking over and readying himself. She moved first, striking faster than he expected, though not as fast as her father could. He deflected several strikes before sweeping her legs out from under her and pinning her.
"I want to go," Rose whispered instantly, just before kicking him in the chest. "Anywhere but here."
He stood, lunging and throwing a feint with his left hand, only for his right to swing around and hit her in the side, hard enough for her to grunt in pain, but not enough for her to actually be hurt. Then, he grabbed her in a choke hold. "I can't yet. Cassandra Cain is going on a hit soon. I'm supposed to go with her. I want to help her as well, so if I'm right and she wants to leave during or after the hit, I'll be here to get you. We'll have to fight both Cain and your father. Leave them to me."
Rose nodded, slamming a foot into his knee and breaking it, then flipped backward over him before slamming a roundhouse kick into his head, sending him crashing to the ground as his leg cracked and ground together loudly as it reset itself and healed. He sighed, nodding approvingly.
"Better," Cassius nodded. "That's the ruthlessness your father's looking for. First rule training under Deathstroke. Winning is winning. Anything goes."
Rose nodded as Cassius stood. "Please hurry."
Cassius nodded. "I'll try."
They sparred several more times before Cassius took his leave, heading back to the Cave.
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