I do not own Young Justice or any of the characters.
Distance
Cassius groaned as he began to stir, his entire body throbbing instantly. He opened his eyes, looking around the room and finding himself inside one of the cells of the War World's detention area. Cassandra and Rose were kneeling at his sides, Cassandra holding him, and the rest of the Team that had been captured was leaving whatever cells they were in. Cassius grit his teeth, pushing himself up, then picked up the girls and dropped, landing on his feet and setting them on their own feet as well just as Tim ran over with the two girls' gear. They ran to the door where the others were gathering, minus Mongol, who was battling Black Beetle.
"There's a squad of Reach Soldiers waiting for us," Arsenal warned.
He pressed the button to open the door, but as it rose, they found the Reach soldiers unconscious, and Nightwing and Megan standing behind the group of unconscious troops with Supercycle.
"Megan!" Cassius grinned. "You're back! How was your field trip? Everything go okay?"
"Better than expected, as far as kidnappings go," Megan said.
"Hey Fearless Leader," Arsenal smirked at Nightwing. "Better late than never."
"Everyone safe?" Nightwing asked.
"For now," Arsenal said.
"The crystal key?" Nightwing asked.
"Gone," Arsenal said just as Mongol flew past behind them, Black Beetle chasing him. "And we'd better get gone too, before one of them declares a winner!"
"Don't worry about the key," Cassius said. "I've got the steering wheel. Now let's go."
Nightwing nodded and they turned, guiding everyone back through the War World to the Bio-Ship. As they ran, breathing began to grow harder and harder for Cassius before he stumbled and fell. Cassandra and Rose were at his sides in an instant, taking his arms over their shoulders and lifting him, continuing to move, walking now, as the entire group had slowed for him. After a few more minutes, they reached the Bio-Ship again and they put him in his seat before taking their own.
"Are you okay?" Megan asked Cassius telepathically.
"Blue Beetle's under Reach control and hit me with a sonic cannon," Cassius said. "I'll be okay, though."
"I didn't mean physically," Megan said. "I can sense your emotions even without a connection."
Cassius sighed and showed her the memory of Cassandra and Tim kissing and Megan gasped harshly, drawing several people's attention but ignoring them, instead turning Cassius's chair toward her with telepathy as she glared at him.
"What are you doing, Cassius!?" Megan demanded. "How can you justify allowing this to happen?"
"What, allowing her to be with someone who'll be good to her and good for her? You're right, how can I live with myself?"
Megan waved a hand, and her telekinesis impacted with his cheek like an invisible hand, turning his head to the side.
"Did you just slap me with telekinesis?" Cassius asked. "Impressive."
"Your fault for being an idiot," Megan said. "What the hell, Cassius! What's wrong with you? Are you seriously going to just let him take her!?"
"Yes, Megan, I am," Cassius said. "He's better for her."
"How!?" Megan demanded.
"I'm an assassin who killed his own wife and children without batting an eyelash, he's a hero," Cassius said. "Cassandra's fourteen, and I'm old enough to be her grandfather while Tim is her age. I have Nemesis gunning for me and everyone close to me, and Tim has no arch enemy."
"You can protect her from Nemesis, no one cares that you used to be an assassin, and you can't use killing your family as an excuse because you didn't know them at the time!" Megan said. "And you and I both know that age doesn't matter for you any more than me."
"Age most definitely does matter when she's fourteen, Megan," Cassius argued.
"Don't even start, Cassius!" Megan snapped. "You and I both know that both of them are adults mentally."
"Let's go," Nightwing said as he and Bumblebee walked in alone. "The others left with a boom tube, courtesy of a Fatherbox."
"Lovely," Connor grumbled.
"We're not done this conversation," Megan said before piloting the Bio-Ship away from the War World.
They flew in silence, and once they'd returned to the Blüdhaven location, Nightwing showed everyone a news report of Blue Beetle, now the Reach's poster boy hero. No one was happy, but Impulse argued that Beetle was as much a Reach prisoner as they had been, and that they needed to save him. After a few more minutes, they were all dismissed and Megan instantly grabbed Cassius with telekinesis and flew high into the air before turning to glare at him.
"You can't let him take her, Cassius," Megan said. "She's in love with you!"
"Feelings change," Cassius said.
"But you can't let them!" Megan said. "There's no reason to!"
"We just went over this," Cassius said. "There are plenty of reasons."
"No valid ones!" Megan argued. "Besides, it should be her choice!"
"It is," Cassius said. "I'm just not an option."
Megan shouted in irritation. "You're impossible!"
"It's for the best," Cassius said.
Megan stared at him in silence for a moment before shaking her head. "Whatever. Make yourself miserable. I can ignore you."
She floated them both to the ground again and released him. He turned, walking away from her and toward the nearest Zeta tube, taking it to the Batcave. As he arrived, Dick was just pulling on Batman's gloves.
"That time again?" Cassius asked.
"For me," Dick said.
Cassius glanced past Dick to where Cassandra was talking to Tim. Cassius shifted his inner ears into that of an alien able to hear several times better than a human.
"-see a movie or get something to eat?" Tim was asking.
"We could do that here," Cassandra signed. "I really like Alfred's cooking.
"Well, yes, but I meant as a date," Tim said.
"I don't know," Cassandra signed. "Cassius isn't doing well again. You know how bad sonic attacks are for him."
"He'll be fine," Tim said. "He has Rose to look after him. And he'll be back to normal in about three days anyway."
"I don't know," Cassandra signed again. "I don't want to leave him, even if it's with Rose."
"You like him, don't you?" Tim asked.
"I love him," Cassandra signed.
"And what about me?" Tim asked.
"I care about you too," Cassandra signed.
Tim nodded, then sighed. "You do know he won't return your feelings, right?"
"I know," Cassandra signed. "That doesn't matter to me."
Tim sighed. "Okay. Can we...maybe go once he's recovered?"
Cassandra hesitated before signing, "Sure."
Tim nodded and thanked her, then headed upstairs as Cassius allowed his hearing to return to normal, sighing as he began to make his way up to his room. He sat down heavily on the bed and a few moments later, the door opened as Cassandra and Rose walked in, both sitting beside him.
"How do you feel?" Rose asked.
"I've been better," Cassius said. "I've been worse. It was only a short blast this time, so it shouldn't take me long to recover."
"We'll take care of you until then," Cassandra signed.
Cassius smiled before holding out his hand and extending the two moonstones he'd finally finished, both of them now on a black rope bracelet. Both girls gasped, taking one, then looked back and forth between it and him several times.
"I meant to have them ready in time for your birthdays, but I underestimated how long they'd take to complete, and then I got sent to the Reach before I could finish them," Cassius said. "Sorry. Do you like them?"
"They're amazing!" Rose said.
"Beautiful!" Cassandra agreed. "Thank you!"
Both girls hugged him and Cassius smiled, returning it happily. After a few seconds, both pulled away, putting the bracelets on. As they did, Cassius retracted his shoes and shifted his armor into pajamas, yawning and climbing into bed. Both girls stood and changed into pajamas as well, then joined him in the bed. Cassius wrapped his arms around them and they cuddled into him, all three quickly drifting off to sleep.
Cassius ducked under Dick's kick, drilling his fist into his back and sending him stumbling away. Dick turned, only to receive a windmill kick to the jaw, dropping on the spot. Cassius sighed, kneeling and lightly slapping Dick's cheek until he woke up.
"You know, you could hold back just a little," Dick said.
"You and I both know that you could keep up if you weren't thinking about a certain ginger so much," Cassius said.
"Can you blame me?" Dick asked as Cassius pulled him to his feet.
"As a male, no," Cassius said. "As me, yes."
Dick rolled his eyes. "You trying to tell me you haven't thought about you know who?"
"Well, unlike you, some of us are able to go more than a day without thinking about sex," Cassius said.
"Not humanly possible," Dick said.
"Well, coincidentally, I'm not human," Cassius said. "Remember? I'm living goo."
Dick rolled his eyes just as the Zeta tube activated, and Tim and Cassandra reappeared from their date, hands still linked. "Just in time, you two. Training."
Cassandra nodded, taking her hand back instantly and walking over, Dick leading her away from Cassius, flashing Dick a knowing grin.
"Go easy on him," Dick said.
Tim walked over, preparing himself to fight Cassius, who looked after Dick and Cassandra as Cassandra began to quickly force Nightwing into the defensive in their own sparring circle.
"Ready when you are," Tim said.
"Yeah," Cassius sighed, turning to him. "Sparring. Fun. Ready on you."
"You okay?" Tim asked.
"Great," Cassius said. "You going to attack, or-"
Tim jumped and spun away, throwing an aerial windmill kick at Cassius, which he stepped backward out of range of, then drilled a punch into Tim's gut, hurling him backward out of the ring. Tim rolled backward to his feet and charged again, extending his staff this time. Cassius avoided swipe after swipe before flipping over the staff and slamming a kick into Tim's jaw, hurling him away. He pushed himself up and charged again, only for Cassius to duck under a swipe of his staff and spin, swiping his feet out from under him, then grab his arm and hurl him.
"You have to do better, Tim," Cassius said. "Not good enough."
"Yeah, I'm hearing that a lot, lately," Tim said.
Cassius raised an eyebrow as Tim stepped back into the ring. "Date not go as good as you'd hope?"
"Are you kidding?" Tim asked, swiping at him rapidly. "All she wanted to talk about was you. How worried she was when you were with the Reach, how badly hurt you were, how much she misses sleeping with you because she doesn't have nightmares with you, how many times you've locked your door when you go to bed or gone to bed long after she's already asleep!" he spun, throwing a windmill kick and making him duck, only to crack him across the jaw with his staff a moment later. "You wouldn't believe how many times I've had to hear about how she feels like you've been trying to shut her out!"
He jabbed the end of his staff at Cassius, so he swept it to the side and caught it, then immediately jabbed it back at Tim, slamming it into his chest and throwing him to the ground before holding it to his throat.
"That was better," Cassius said. "But you overcommitted. As for me shutting her out, you ever stop to think about why?"
Tim frowned for a moment before setting his head back on the floor. "You're trying to give me a chance."
"I'm trying to get her to choose you," Cassius said. "You'd be better for her. For a number of reasons."
Tim sighed, gripping the staff and allowing Cassius to lift him to his feet. "Thank you for trying, but...I don't think she'll choose me. She's hurt that you're pushing her away."
"It's better she get hurt now and choose you than that she choose me and suffer because I'm me," Cassius said.
"You're a special kind of stupid," Tim said, taking his staff back. "You're one of the smartest in Batman Inc., and yet you're completely clueless about the two girls who mean more to you than anything. You've been shutting them both out for weeks, condemning both to nightmares, even though Rose won't say anything about it, and yet both of them are still completely in love with you and refuse to believe you can do anything wrong. They have horrible nightmares every night and can't rest, and yet they're both worried about your wellbeing. Not their own." He sighed heavily. "I want an answer here and now. If I ask her to be mine, will you let her go?"
"If you ask her to be yours, and she agrees, she's yours," Cassius said. "But it has to be her choice."
"It will," Tim said. "Thank you."
"Tim, you know what she's going to choose if you give her the choice now, don't you?" Cassius asked.
Tim stared at the ground for a moment before sighing and looking back to Cassius. "You know, I'm a little jealous of your two lifetimes of combat training."
"Don't be," Cassius said. "It's useful, but it comes with the price of everyone you knew in your past life being gone."
Tim nodded. "You know, I'm pretty sure everyone neglected to tell you the most important thing about Cassandra and Rose."
"What's that?" Cassius asked.
"No matter how much they need you, I'm pretty sure what's more important is that you need them more," Tim said. "They keep you grounded, and they give you a reason to keep living."
Cassius sighed, smiling in spite of himself. "Yeah, maybe. But she'd still be better off with you."
Tim nodded and retracted his staff, putting it away. He raised a hand as he walked away, and Cassius sighed, walking over to the Batcave's computer, picking up the three liquid metal swords. He studied the hilts for a moment. The hilts were all rounded and similar to Japanese-style hilts, with one round white pressure switch to extend the blade, several seams along the sides, and nothing else. He used a scanner on the computer to see how it was programmed, and if he could adjust it without taking it apart. The computer came up empty, so he sighed, taking the hilts and headed up to his room, reaching over to lock the door but stopped. Tim's words returned to him and he sighed, walking over to the bed without locking the door. He set the hilts on the nightstand and shifted his clothes into pajamas, climbing into bed. He lay in silence for a long while, staring at the ceiling, lost in his thoughts. His chest constricted as he lay there but he remained silent and still. Finally, his head rolled toward the door as he saw a shadow move over to it and stop. He waited, but after a moment, whoever it was left. He sighed heavily, rolling away from the door and closing his eyes, only to remain awake until his alarm went off in the morning. He shut it off and stood, shifting his pajamas into a pair of shorts and a muscle shirt, leaving the manor to go for a run, as he always did in the mornings when he was at the manor.
Cassius sat on the low stone wall overlooking one of the Wayne Manor's gardens, taking a long pull from his cigarette, holding it for a long few seconds before exhaling, not even letting out any smoke as he did. He stared at the smoldering ashes on the end of the cigarette. He had never smoked, never thought he'd even want to. And yet, here he was, half a pack down in the last twenty minutes and his hand still trembled. It had been days since he'd told Tim to his face that he had permission to take Cassandra. He didn't regret it. He didn't. And yet, in the days since he had, he hadn't locked his door once, had left it open several times, and not once had he seen Cassandra or Rose after dinner. He sighed, finishing his cigarette before standing just as Dick set a hand on his shoulder.
"Mind if I take one?" Dick asked.
He smiled, handing him one just as Megan landed beside them as well, also taking one. He chuckled, taking another for himself, Dick lighting all three for them before they all sat down in silence.
"Tim talked to me about what happened," Dick said. "I'd ask how you are but I can take a guess from the ashtray."
"I'm okay with it," Cassius said.
Neither responded and Cassius took a drag from his cigarette, once again holding it until there was no smoke to exhale.
"I haven't seen them after dinner since," Cassius said.
"I know," Dick said. "They've been going on patrols with me. They both said they needed time to think."
Cassius nodded, taking another pull. "I messed up, didn't I?"
"Which time?" Megan asked.
Cassius snorted humorlessly, nodding. "That's fair." He swallowed hard, eyes watering. "I tried. I...I really did."
"It's proof you're still human," Megan said. "There are some things you can't help and can't change no matter how hard you work to deny it."
Cassius nodded. "I need a mission. I need..." He held the cigarette to his lips, inhaling until the last half of his cigarette had burned away before putting it in the ash tray before exhaling. "I need something. Anything."
"We're trying to find a way to help Blue Beetle," Dick said. "In the mean time, if you don't mind staying in Gotham, you could track down Cluemaster. He's been robbing jewelry stores, but he, or someone else, has been leaving clues."
"I'll get him," Cassius said. "Like I said. Anything." He stood, taking a deep breath and looking up at the slowly darkening sky. "Is the file on the computer?"
"Yeah," Dick said.
He nodded and turned to walk to the cave, pulling up the file on Cluemaster's most recent crimes, and within minutes, he had decided on two possible targets for the night. He headed out into Gotham, creating a clone to cover one while he covered the other. After a few hours of waiting, Cluemaster arrived, looking around carefully before heading for the store. He wore a long-sleeved red shirt and pants, yellow gloves, yellow boots, a yellow mask over his lower face similar to Cassius's, a black bulletproof vest, and had blond hair in a ponytail reaching the middle of his shoulder blades. He had a revolver holstered on his right hip, and he got into the store without setting off an alarm, with Cassius was fairly impressed with, given that he wasn't a very successful criminal. However, before Cassius could move in, someone scrambled over the edge of the building from the fire escape. He turned, raising an eyebrow at the girl. She had a black turtleneck sweater, black sweatpants, a purple cape with a hood, and a black cloth mask over the bottom half of her face. A lock of blonde hair peeked out her hood, and when she saw him, her eyes went wide and she turned to run, only for his clone to land in front of her and catch her by the upper arms.
"It must be so uncomfortable to run in a sweater," Cassius said, walking over and retracting his mask's goo. "Stephanie, right? Stephanie Brown?"
She turned, eyes widening still further before relief shone from them. "You scared me!"
"Sorry," Cassius said. "I'm going to assume you've been leaving the clues to try and spoil your father's fun."
"How'd you know..." she trailed off.
"I work for Batman," Cassius said. "We all basically think we know everything. I'll stop your father. My clone will keep you company, and then we'll talk after. I still need to thank you properly for saving me."
She nodded and Cassius dropped to the roof of the jewelry store, transforming into goo to slip in through the ventilation shaft before reforming as he fell directly onto Cluemaster, knocking him out instantly. He cuffed him and tripped a sensor to summon the cops before walking out the front door and dropping Cluemaster in the street, returning to the roof and reabsorbing his clone just as several cop cars screeched to a stop, the police quickly arresting Cluemaster.
"So, why'd you help them rescue me?" Cassius asked.
"You needed help," Stephanie shrugged. "They risked their lives to save us, so I couldn't let you stay a prisoner, and definitely die. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself. how are you?"
"I'm better," Cassius said. "Took a while, but I recovered. I wish I could say I'm okay, but...Well, anyway. What do you want to do? Do you want to go back to being a normal teen? Or do you like the life now that you've gotten a taste?"
Stephanie smiled knowingly behind her mask. "I'll admit it's kind of fun."
Cassius nodded. "I figured you'd say that. How's your mother?"
"She's...difficult," Stephanie said. "She got mad at me for trying to stop him, and did nothing to do it herself."
Cassius nodded, raising a hand to his communicator. "Nightwing, mind coming to meet me? I think I found a potential new asset."
"Be there in fifteen," Nightwing said.
Cassius sat down, extending a carton of cigarettes from his left hand, pulling one out and putting it in his mouth, taking the lighter from the carton and lighting it before putting it away and taking a long pull before exhaling slowly.
"You smoke?" Stephanie asked.
"Recent development," Cassius said. "Supposed to help with my stress, but it hasn't helped yet. Better than drinking, though."
Stephanie nodded, sitting down on an exposed ventilation system across from him as they waited. Fifteen minutes on the dot later, Nightwing swung up onto the roof and landed on his feet, raising an eyebrow at Cassius, who had his mask off and five cigarette butts on the roof in front of him.
"Nightwing, meet Stephanie Brown," Cassius introduced them, putting his current cigarette out and standing, stepping on the butts and absorbing them into his foot. "She was the one leaving clues to ruin Cluemaster's plans. She's also the one who helped Orphan and Ravager save me from the Reach."
"I see," Nightwing nodded. "So, you want to be a hero?"
"I'm not really sure," Stephanie said. "It felt good to stop my father. And I'd like to think I could make a difference by stopping others."
Nightwing nodded. "You know how to fight?"
"Not really," Stephanie said.
"Got a hero name in mind?" Nightwing asked.
Stephanie thought for a moment before answering. "Spoiler."
Nightwing smiled and nodded. "Alright. We can't bring you back with us to the Bat Clan, at least not without Batman's permission, but we can begin training you. Not here, and not now, but in a couple days a few of us could meet up with you somewhere."
Stephanie smiled and nodded. "Please."
Nightwing nodded. "Alright. Head home. We'll let you know when and where."
"Don't you need to know where I live, or what my phone number is?" Stephanie asked.
"Do you know who we are?" Cassius chuckled. "We already know all of that. Like I said. We know everything."
She nodded and stood. "I suppose I should head home, then."
Nightwing nodded. "Would you like Void to give you a lift?"
"If you don't mind," Stephanie said.
"Not at all," Cassius said, forming her a goo chair to sit in. "All aboard."
She walked over and sat down and he formed her a goo seatbelt before forming a pair of wings and taking off. He dropped her off in front of her house before heading back to the Batcave, then to bed for another sleepless night alone.
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