That night Ghost was out attempting to follow Batman again when her phone vibrated. Giving a huff she pulled it out and answered, the brief second she had been distracted with the phone had been enough for Batman to get away. Again.
"Hello who is this calling?"
"G? It's Trav." Since she was deep in her Ghost persona, she didn't smile, but it was a close thing. Considering this night a loss she went through the routine of making sure that the Bat hadn't flipped the table and was following her on her way home.
"Hey Circ I'm headed home now, can I call you back?"
"Sounds good. Don't lead the Bat to our secret base."
"I won't." G gave her customary hang up.
Suddenly realizing that the Bat was indeed trying to follow her home, she gave a small smirk. Without turning to face him she deepened her voice and mocked,
"I know you're there."
She did turn around though when she heard him land on the roof.
"Decided to tell me your name yet?" She questioned.
"Only if you tell me who you work for and who trained you." G gave a small snort.
"Keep dreaming." The Bat walked steadily around her to another side of the building.
"We could do this the hard way." He suggested. Ghost hummed.
"We could, but I really don't feel like doing that right now. I know I'll just end up with more bruises than I'd like. Maybe next time."
Batman almost wanted to smirk. This girl was interesting, and surprisingly to himself he found himself genuinely curious about her. (If he dug down real deep he could feel a little worry there too, but that wasn't possible because he only felt worry like this for Robin, Alfred, and very small amounts for the team. Not cold blooded assassins who were trying to kill him.)
"I looked you up, Ghost." G was fairly impressed, though she knew that what the Batman could have would not be much. At most he had her alias, a general description of her skills, and jobs that she had possibly pulled off. The world called her Ghost for a reason, after all. Circuit was also very good at hiding things he wanted to. The fact that he looked her up though did not surprise her.
"Am I supposed to be surprised?"
"I didn't think you would be." He looked like he was going to say more before he suddenly cut himself off and put a hand to his ear.
"Yes Robin?" It took G less than a second to put two and two together. Batman was talking to Robin over a com. There was a silence as he listened.
"I'll be there." After ending the call, the Bat turned back to her.
"Does yours keep chattering in your ear when you're in the middle of something?" She referenced Circs call from the other night.
"Not usually." He turned to leave and assist with whatever the little bird needed but stopped when G called out, not being able to resist the chance to mock the Bat again.
"Say 'hi' to your partner for me." With that she took off across the roofs as Batman took out his grappler. Like last night, she would still make sure he didn't follow her home. Circuit would be going crazy by the time she got back, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
As it turned out, it was an extra hour and a half before she got back to her safe house. Cass shrugged off her gear while simultaneously dialing Trav. It was close to midnight in Gotham, which meant it was about two in the morning in Star. It didn't matter though; Trav picked up on the first ring.
"I take it something went either horribly wrong or exceptionally great, and going by your track record I'm going to say it was the former."
"Oh Travis, ye of little faith. It was actually kind of neutral on the disaster scale."
"Are you going to fill me in?"
"Perhaps. Tell me about your day first, and then I'll tell you mine." She heard a long suffering sigh on the other end.
"Absolutely nothing interesting. The job was a bust, the customer backed out last second. And I still hate flying. Now tell me about your day."
"There's not much to tell either. After you left I went on a date, reconnected with Artemis, and had another conversation with Batman." She waited for the explosion that Trav was guaranteed to have. Cass wasn't disappointed.
"You went on a date!" He yelled.
"Really? Out of all that you're shocked over the fact that I went on a date?"
"You don't socialize unless you're in your Ghost persona. And even then it's hit and miss." Cass snorted.
"Thanks for the confidence boost."
"No problem. You said you reconnected with Mis? How'd that go?" Cassandra breathed a sigh of relief as Trav decided to leave the dating topic alone for now. She had no doubt that he'd want Roy's info so that he could do a thorough background check later.
"Better than I thought it would. I called her from a coffee shop bathroom during my mini freak out because I needed to know if coffee would be considered a date and then I showed up at her door step hours later. We watched Star Trek and then went back to her house for dinner with Ms. Paula. All in all, I had a very lovely day." She paused. "Well as lovely as I could without my partner here."
"It was your idea to send me away to Star City."
"I know, and I don't regret it."
"I should get some sleep Cass. You should too as a matter of fact."
"Okay." She hung up and tossed the phone towards the couch.
Da**. Didn't Artemis say I needed to stop hanging up on people?
She shrugged and after a large yawn decided that Trav was right. Sleep would be good. She collapsed on the bed.
Yeah. Sleep is good.
It was Thursday morning and after her second cup of coffee did she come up with a brilliant idea. Robin. The answer to her Batman problem was Robin. The Bat had turned his back and left because Robin called for him. So, there was a chance that if the little bird's life was threatened the Bat would reveal his name. Almost as quickly as she came up with the idea did she throw it out again. The Bat would never reveal his secret ID to her, even if Robin's life was on the line. He was the Batman for crying out loud. He'd probably free Robin and throw her in a cozy little cell with no trouble. The only advantage she had when they met up on the rooftops was that Batman didn't know how she fought, she could make a quick escape, and the Bat was curious about her. Cass realized that there was no way she was going to get the Bat's secret identity, she was not motivated enough to risk her life for some more money. She had plenty of that. Cass would just have to tell Travis that she wouldn't be able to complete the job. She'd tell him after Friday, of course. Maybe Saturday or, even better, Tuesday. That would give Cass plenty of time to enjoy her date with Roy, some more time with Mis, and even be able to squeeze some shopping in. A part of her though, realized that she didn't want to leave Gotham. Cassandra pondered this idea as she cleaned the apartment. She could relocate base here to Gotham, or just outside it. It would be more dangerous being in the same city as the Bat, but she was almost willing to risk it. She put it on her list of things to talk to Trav about. Today though, Cassandra was going shopping. She needed an outfit to wear for her date with Roy. She grabbed her purse and walked out the door.
Cass re-entered her home close to three hours later with arms full of shopping bags. Okay. Maybe she had a shopaholic problem. A tiny one. But she needed the options to show Mis when she came to help pick her outfit. What fun would it be if she only had one outfit to ask for advice on? Although a major part of Mis helping her get ready would be the two of them trying on the purchases. It was a tradition the pair of girls had. They would try on any of the clothes Cass bought and see if they liked it. If they did, they kept it. It saved Mis the trouble and torture of shopping, and some money on the side. Cass shoved the bags into her walk in closet. She gave a little start as Blonde by Bridget Mendler blared out of her phone.
"Hey Mis! What's up?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I'm so bored, Cass! Plus I need someone to vent to about the privileged rich kids at my school."
Cass gave a laugh.
"You can come on over. I just pulled in a new haul, you can vent while looking fabulous!"
"You sound like a friend of mine."
"A good friend I hope."
"A naïve friend." She deadpanned.
"Mis. I am not naïve, I just act like it. Now hurry!" Cass ended the call and quickly started pulling tags off of things. No matter what Artemis liked, she would not accept any of the clothes that were offered to her if she knew their true prices. Cassandra had just finished throwing the last tag in the garbage can when there was a polite knock on the door. Well, to clarify, there was one long knock, three short knocks, a small pause, and two short knocks in a sequential order. It was the same pattern the two girls used to use as children when knocking on the other's window at the middle of the night. They had kept the pattern when instead of knocking on windows; they grew old enough to knock on doors. Cass quickly rushed to the door and after briefly checking through the peep hole to double check it was Artemis, she flung it open.
"That was quick!" Mis shrugged.
"I was on my way while I was still on the phone with you."
"Wow? Really? You must have been confidant that I was home."
"If you weren't do you really think I would care?" Cass shrugged.
"I guess not. Come on in." Artemis stepped lightly through the door and made her way towards the living room. Cass went to grab the bags from her closet, leaving Mis in the living room. When she came back, she was surprised to find Artemis looking through the file on her tablet. Her lips were pursed when she looked up.
"What's this?" Her voice was calm and her face was carefully blank. Cass sighed.
"I had hoped you wouldn't find out." She started. "That's my job while I'm in Gotham." Mis's eyes narrowed.
"Your job?" She yelled and gestured wildly at the screen she held. "Your job is to kill the mentor of a friend of mine!"
"No! Not kill! Whoever hired me just wanted me to find out his secret identity. They paid half up front, and I get the other half if I complete it. No other strings."
"So? You tell them who Batman is and it doesn't matter if you pull the trigger or not! They'll have him killed either way!" Artemis was getting worked up now. She was starting to pace. Before Mis could continue on her rant, Cass jumped in.
"Sit down, Mis." She had said it coolly, and both girls could tell it was more of an order than a suggestion. It was only after Artemis complied that she continued.
"I don't think I'm going to go through with it. There isn't a way I can find that would allow me to get the Bat's identity without compromising myself. I probably could if I really wanted to, but I don't really care about this job. Frankly, it's insane and I don't like the idea of a cell in Belle Rev. Okay?" All tension that Artemis's shoulders previously held had vanished as Cass explained.
"Have you told Travis yet?" Cass winced.
"Not yet. I plan to tell him Tuesday, along with discussing some… other things."
"What kinds of 'other things'?" Cass took a deep breath. This get together was not going the way she had wanted it to.
"I think I might stay in Gotham."
"You know that will be risky with Batman and all, right?"
"I know. But, there are things I think I want to stay here for."
"Like what?" Cass looked Mis in the eyes and tried to covey everything she was feeling at the moment. Every inch of familial love she felt.
"My sister." For a moment Artemis was confused, but she saw when the understanding filled her eyes. Much like what Travis had done a couple nights ago, she wrapped Cass in a tight hug. They indulged in several seconds of mushiness before splitting.
"You know," Artemis started. "As your unofficial sister it's my right to know the name of the guy you're dating."A smirk was on her face and she nudged Cass with her shoulder. Cass groaned and buried her face in her hands.
"Of course you want to know that. Admit it though, you just want his name so that you can internet stalk him."
"Why else would I care?" Mis teased. Cass rolled her eyes and buried her face in her hands.
"Roy Harper." The words came out muffled from behind her hands.
"I'm sorry what was that?" Cass pulled her flaming face out of her hands for long enough to repeat his name before hiding behind them again. Artemis had gone frozen with shock at the name. There was no way. No way that Cassandra Blake had met and gone on a date with Roy Harper in Gotham. What was he even doing in Gotham? She knew Ollie was here, he had stopped by to see her, but Roy? He claimed he didn't even like Ollie anymore (something everyone knew was a lie and just choose to ignore)! Of course there was the other side where Artemis could see Roy and Cass making an awesome couple. She would defiantly appreciate his blunt nature and maybe even tame his temper.
"You know him!" Artemis was snapped out of her thoughts by Cass's accusation. She instantly denied it.
"Of course not! I was just thinking is all!" Cass wasn't buying it though.
"No, no. You defiantly recognized the name, you know him."
"I heard his name on TV once; he is the adopted son of Oliver Queen you know."
"Yeah, I know. But" Mis cut her off with a not so subtle topic change.
"Didn't you say you had gone shopping today?" Cass didn't look pleased at the topic change, and the look she sent her promised that she wouldn't let this go.
"Yeah." She leaned over to the bags that she had dropped beside the couch and held them up. "Where would you like to start?"
After two hours of joking, teasing, endless photos, an excessive amount of ranting about snooty rich kids, and admiring the various outfits they put together, Artemis claimed she had to head home and get some schoolwork done.
"I've got a paper due tomorrow in French, and you know how bad I am at French." Mis declared. Cass nodded. Even though Artemis spoke three different languages fluently, she had never been good at French. It was, unfortunately the only language class in her new school that had an open spot. She would be able to switch to another language when the semester was over but that wasn't for another couple of months.
"I would help you, but you know I'm not that great at French either." Cass had offered. She could pass if she ever got stranded in France. She was nowhere near fluent, though. Artemis smiled.
"It's okay. I'll see you tomorrow at five to help you get ready for your date, yeah?" Cass nodded.
"Sounds good Mis!" Suddenly feeling a little more touchy-feely, she grabbed Mis into a quick hug.
"Be careful, okay?" She whispered into Mis's ear.
"I will." Mis replied. She left without another word and Cass locked the door behind her. She paused briefly while in the kitchen cooking diner and considered going out to stalk Batman again, but eventually decided to stay in. If she was going to quit the job anyway she might as well not waste the man hours. So instead she spent the night cooking, having a very long chat with Travis (carefully avoiding topics such as the job and living in Gotham), and pulling out her old sketch books. She added a sketch of Batman and another of Roy on separate pages. On the back, she wrote down little facts about each. She did this with every sketch. In fact, the whole book she had was just people she had met and what she knew about each of them. There wasn't anything sensitive like Artemis's family ties or Travis's full name, but favorite colors or how they met were the most commonly written. It helped ground herself. It helped keep her focused on the now and helped her remember faces she could no longer see. Sensing that she was about to lead herself down a dangerous trip through her past, Cass quickly slapped shut the sketch book and shoved it in a hat box at the back of her closet. She dusted her hands off, nodded, and headed for bed.
The next day bought little excitement for Cass. Artemis was at Gotham Academy, Travis was busy with something or another, and her date with Roy wasn't until later. She really needed to make more friends. Maybe she should consider enrolling in Gotham U in the near future. The clock ticked away and at two o'clock, Cass came up with the brilliant idea to surprise Artemis at school. Mis was probably getting sick of her, but if she really wanted to be left alone Mis would tell her to back off.
When Artemis walked out of Gotham Academy with her bag slung over her shoulder and tie half done, she was more than a little surprised to see Cass waiting for her. She really shouldn't have been though. Even though Ghost could sit still for hours on end, Cass had a tendency to get bored easily. Mis was just happy that she hadn't blown anything up. She wasn't sure how she would explain that to Batman.
Oh yeah, that explosion in downtown Gotham was just my assassin of a best friend. She was bored. Sorry! Artemis snorted. Oh yeah, that would go over well. Cass gave a grin as Mis approached her, and Artemis was instantly a little wary. She was right to be wary when Cass suddenly pulled out her phone and snapped a picture.
"Say Gotham Academy!" She cheered.
"I hate you," Mis grouched. Cass ignored the comment.
"You did not tell me you had to wear a uniform!" Mis rolled her eyes and was about to reply something sarcastic about Cass being a genius when she was rudely interrupted by The Freshman. That's right, The Freshman with capitals. Or as he was more commonly known, Dick Grayson. He bounded right up to the pair with questioning look on his face.
"Artemis, who's your friend?" Mis groaned.
"Cass, this is Dick. Dick, this is Cass." Cass surveyed Grayson and shot a look at Mis clearly asking if she was serious. This was the rich kid that got on her nerves all the time? She had heard the story about their first encounter and such, but Cass had always pictured him as more of a nerd with glasses and such. She also had pictured him older. The kid that stood in front of her had to be around twelve or thirteen. Dick had, unfortunately, seen the look Cass sent Artemis.
"Ah, I see she's told you all about me." He held out a hand to shake. "As she said though, I'm Dick. Nice to meet you, Cass." She glanced at his hand and back at Mis then back to his hand again. Giving him an apologetic look she shook her head.
"I don't do physical contact." That wasn't true though. Cass could deal with physical contact (even if she preferred none at all) it was more the fact that she didn't allow skin on skin contact unless it was required. She would normally be fine to shake hands since her fingerless gloves minimized contact so it would only be her fingertips touching his hand, but she had left those at the safe house. She could tell Dick was slightly thrown off by her refusal for physical contact as he slowly lowered his hand to his side.
"Ah. Sorry." He stated awkwardly. She gave him a little smile.
"It's fine; a lot of people do that." Artemis took this as her cue to jump in before she was stuck there any longer.
"Well, now that introductions are over I think we should go." She glanced at Cass. "We wouldn't want you to be late for your date after all."
"Alright, my ride's here anyways. See you Monday Mis!" Grayson took off for a black car that had just pulled up. Artemis couldn't name the model, but she was sure it was expensive. As she led Cass away and back towards her safe house, she reflected on Cass's avoidance of physical contact. For a while she had forgotten that Cass was in fact a Meta with a dangerous gift. Cassandra was a technopath. If she had direct contact with a machine she could interface with it. Like all Meta abilities though, it had its drawbacks. Cass had to know how a machine worked before she could interface with it and it took the same amount of energy from her, as it would to complete the action normally. The biggest drawback though had to do with people. The human body was enough like a machine that Cass could interface with it. She could stop someone's heart with little energy and a loss of control. It didn't help that her Uncle had cultivated this particular talent while she was young in order to turn her into the person she was today. Mis was just glad that Cass had it under control for the most part. It was only when Cass was feeling very strongly about something did her control slip. After all, it would not be awesome to end up paralyzed because she gave her best friend a hug. Both girls were quiet the entire walk back to Cass's safe house. Both were lost in their own thoughts.
"Okay," Artemis declared the moment they got inside. She rubbed her hands together evilly. "We have some work to do."
Surprise! I decided to update a little early this week! Thanks to everyone who add this story to their favorites, followed, or reviewed!