Episode Five

Changes

Chapter Three

Enzo's Diner

Gateway City

United States

13:50 – Western Summer Time

July 16, 2007

Cassie stepped up to a table with a cute couple. The man had long dark black hair which was tied back into a ponytail. He was also quite the looker, especially with that smile he had. The woman had very long blonde hair, like almost down to her butt long, and she had the most amazing green eyes. While her skin was caucasian tone, her features looked more exotic and quite stunning.

They had actually been in a few times before. He usually ordered salad and water, while she tended to order a more odd combination of things. The last time she distinctly remembered her ordering a burger and ice cream. Cassie had assumed the latter was for dessert. If only that were the case. She had been more than a little disgusted when she had scooped the ice cream into the burger and ate it.

Today she hoped she would not be quite so weird with what she wanted to eat.

Cassie faked her best smile as she did with every customer. "Welcome to Enzo's Diner, can I take your order?"

The man looked up at her. "I'll have a salad and water please." He ordered predictably. "How about you Kori?" he asked, looking at his girlfriend.

"I'll have the same thing. But with the burger and plenty of mustard."

The man smiled. "When she says plenty of mustard, she means plenty of mustard."

"Actually," the woman said. "Change the water to a glass of mustard."

Cassie pulled a face, while the man chuckled. "That was a joke," he said. "She doesn't really want a glass of mustard, do you, Kori. You want something normal today."

"I suppose so," the woman said. "I shall have the cherry Soder Cola Soda drink as a beverage instead."

Cassie ignored the woman's slightly odd way of speaking as she crossed out the 2x water on her notepad and put 1 water and 1 cherry Soder Cola. She then read out the order which they confirmed. She then headed into the kitchen, giving the order to the chef before she grabbed the drinks, taking them to the table.

"Your food will be here shortly," she told them politely.

As she had said, it didn't take long. Soon the two were eating their meal. The two lovebirds sat and talked for a while before calling her over for the bill. She gave them it and they gave her a tip before heading for the door.

It wasn't until they left that she realised the tip was twenty dollars, which was more than what their meal had been worth. She considered calling after them, but as she looked out the window, she saw they were now gone.

She looked back down at the tip then shrugged. If they wanted to give her a twenty dollar bill, then that was their prerogative. She wasn't going to start complaining about it.

The bell that rested over the door rang as more customers stepped into the diner. Cassie looked around and cringed when she saw that it was Anaya and three of her friends.

They didn't notice her as they made their way over to a booth. Being the only waitress on shift meant that she was the one that was going to have to serve them.

Cassie straightened out her uniform before making her way outwardly confidently over to the table, despite feeling more than a little nervous on the inside.

"Good afternoon, are you ready to place your order?" Cassie asked them.

Anaya and the other three all looked at her, their faces turning white when they saw who it was. It was clear they hadn't forgotten how she had launched Anaya through that bathroom stall.

Cassie calmly waited for them to make their order, but it didn't come. Instead, they continued to stare as though they were expecting her to attack them or something.

After waiting for an uncomfortably long period of time, Cassie decided to leave them be for now. "I'll come back when you're ready."

"Good, because now your two babysitters have gone, I'm ready to order," another voice said from behind her.

Cassie turned around to see an attractive blonde woman standing there, her hands on her hips. She was staring down Cassie with a fierce glare. There was something about this woman that was both familiar and unsettling.

"If you find a table, then I will be able to get you whatever you want to eat," Cassie said, remaining confident.

"Oh, my order isn't for food or drink," the woman said.

Cassie was confused for a moment before she realised who it was. "Aresia," she whispered in shock. This was the woman who had led the team that had attempted to steal the magical artefacts from the museum. If it wasn't for the Justice League she would have succeeded as well.

"Good to know you remember," Aresia sneered. "And here is my order. One dead blonde girl and her dead mother, please."

Cassie took a step backwards. This was not good. This woman had been raised by the Amazons on Themyscira and had their strength and their training.

Despite now having crazy strength herself, Cassie knew this probably wouldn't end well. She could try running away, but it was clear that Aresia also wanted to kill her mother. She wasn't going to let that happen.

Cassie raised her fists. "Bring it on," she said, trying to sound tough, even though her insides were turning to jelly.

Aresia raised her right fist. "I'm going to turn your face inside out."

It appeared that Cassie was going to find out if she was as resilient as she was strong.

Before she had time to react, Aresia charged forwards. Cassie barely registered being struck or the screams from Anaya and her friends as she flew backwards and out through the side of the diner, shattering glass and bending steel as she made a new exit.

Cassie's eyes opened to find that she was outside in the alley. For a brief moment, she couldn't remember why she was out here until Aresia stepped into her vision, looking down at her with an unsettling smirk.

"Now, isn't this an interesting turn of events," She commented. "Seems you're not dead. Got a secret I see. Good, because I'm going to enjoy this."

The blonde Amazon reached down and picked her up off of the ground where she lay in the alley with just a single hand, gripping the front of her blouse. She then threw her hard at a wall, which cracked under the force of the impact.

After landing in a pile of garbage, Cassie climbed to her feet and tried to get away, but a foot found her back and she went flying up the alley, only coming to a stop when she crashed into the side of a dumpster, causing it to roll over, spilling trash all over the place.

"Once you're dead, I'm going to the museum to pay your mother a visit!" Aresia shouted at her as she slowly approached. "If you run away and I might just go straight there and finish her first."

Cassie climbed to her feet and glared at her foe. "You leave her alone."

"Sorry, but I can't do that. Once she's dead, then I'll go after the Orange girl and once she's dead, then I'll break her weak, pitiful boyfriend and then the Justice League."

"Orange girl?" Cassie questioned.

"Didn't you know? You saw them in the diner, you served them."

"I would notice if there were any orange people in the diner."

"You're a stupid little girl, aren't you," Aresia said. "She was wearing a glamour charm that made her appear human."

"I don't understand," Cassie said. "They've been watching me?"

"On and off. Not as much as they should, clearly," Aresia said. "Now it's time to remodel this city, using your body as the wrecking ball."

Aresia bolted forwards. Cassie tried to dodge but failed and her foe's fist found her gut.

She flew backwards out of the alleyway and through the side of a bus. The few passengers that were aboard screamed out as she lay there in the aisle. Slowly, she climbed to her feet. She had to fight back or else people would get hurt.

Cassie jumped out of the large hole she had just made in the side of the bus and ran towards Aresia, drawing back her fist, ready to strike. Aresia dodged and delivered her own punch to the bottom of her jaw, sending her vertical. She crashed back down on the roof of the same bus, though this time she did almost no damage, just a slight dent where she had hit.

Regardless, those inside the bus, including the driver fled the scene while people surrounding the area, both pedestrians and in cars watched in amazement. Aresia climbed up onto the bus and began to pummel Cassie until the roof gave way and they both fell down into the aisle, momentarily stunning them both

Cassie recovered first and managed to get a punch in of her own and it was a good one. Aresia was launched up back out of the bus and dropped down into the alleyway. Cassie staggered to her feet and went after her, intending to do some damage before the other woman could get back on her feet.

It didn't matter, regardless. Aresia kicked out with both of her legs, connecting with Cassie's lower gut. She flew back, clipping the same bus that was already trashed, knocking it over onto its side, nearly crushing the car next to it.

Cassie, who was now spinning head over heels, hit the pavement on the other side of the road, narrowly avoiding hitting pedestrians.

It was clear to Cassie that she was not going to win this. She wasn't a trained warrior and her strength was new to her. She needed some kind of an advantage if she wanted to simply survive. As for beating Aresia, that just didn't seem possible.

"Get back," she shouted at the gormless people that all started to crowd around her. "Run, it isn't safe," she shouted as she climbed back onto her feet.

They ignored her warnings and only fled when Aresia picked up the previously fallen dumpster and threw it at her. The large bin struck Cassie hard and exploded into large chunks of metal, knocking her right back off of her feet and back down onto the pavement.

As quickly as she could, Cassie got back to her feet. She was starting to hurt all over and with Aresia running towards her, she knew this wasn't going to end anytime soon.

Cassie tried to block the attack, but Aresia was faster and knocked her flying through the wall of an apartment building and she found herself in someone's kitchen, covered in dust.

There was only one hope for her getting through this. That was to survive a little longer. There was no way that a fight like this wouldn't be noticed by the local news and hopefully the Justice League or someone would hear and come help her. At this point, it was her only chance of not ending up dead.

She got to her feet and climbed back out of the side of the building. She could hear approaching sirens of police cars, but there was no way they would be able to get here. The roads were now jammed full of traffic and most of the cars were now abandoned, the drivers having fled the scene. Besides, it didn't matter if they could get to her. What could the police do against Aresia except get themselves killed?

The evil blonde Amazon stood there with a smile on her face. "Come on, girl. Haven't you had enough yet?"

Cassie wanted to say yes. She wanted to run away, but she couldn't do that. Not when she had also threatened her mother's life. She had to stick this out, to just hold on a little bit longer.

Then to her surprise, Aresia turned away from her. "This is taking too long." She glanced back. "I'll deal with you later." With that, she ran off in the direction of the museum.

Cassie tried to pursue, but Aresia was faster and easily navigated through the pedestrians, literally through them, as she knocked them to the ground without a second glance.

Knowing that she couldn't let her reach the museum, Cassie began to push herself harder than she had ever done before. She had to catch her up, she couldn't lose sight of her.

"Get out of the way," Cassie called out as she narrowly avoided ploughing into someone stepping out of an apartment building.

If she was lucky, Aresia would take a shortcut through the park. That would give her the chance of catching her up, as unlike Aresia who simply bowled people over, Cassie was trying to not run into them, which was slowing her down.

"Move," she shouted as a guy texting on his phone meandered into her path.

She skimmed past him, causing him to drop his phone, which shattered on the pavement.

"Hey!" he shouted after her, but she didn't look back or apologise. She couldn't fall further behind.

Just as Cassie had hoped, Aresia ran into the park, taking a shortcut towards the museum. The teenager pursued, running as fast as she could. When her legs began to hurt, she pushed harder and began to gain on her.

Aresia slowed her pace and looked behind her. Cassie used this to her advantage and lowered her torso intending to tackle her. Before Aresia could move out of the way, the two bodies connected and Cassie drove her hard into the ground.

With the Amazon face down, Cassie grabbed her arms and held them against her back while she knelt on her, stopping her from moving.

"You're not going anywhere," Cassie told her.

"You really think you can hold me, little girl?" Aresia asked derisively.

"I can try," Cassie said back. "I'm not letting you hurt my mom."

"Does she know?" Aresia questioned. "And if she did would she accept you?"

"Know what?" Cassie demanded, pushing her arms up her back at an uncomfortable angle.

"Your abilities," Aresia clarified.

"It doesn't matter. She'll understand."

"Do you honestly think she will?"

Cassie bent her arms even further, causing the Amazon to gasp in pain. "You don't know my mom," the teen spat. "You don't know her or me. Don't pretend you know how she'll react. She's always been there when I needed her. She'll understand, this doesn't change anything between us."

While Cassie was distracted, Aresia managed to roll onto her side, knocking the teen off of her. The Amazon didn't waste any time getting on top of her and start punching her hard in the face.

The world became a blur to Cassie. The feeling of pain on the front of her face was bookended by the pain in the back as it kept bouncing off the pavement. The taste of blood in her mouth wasn't a good sign, but she couldn't fight back. Her body felt weak and unresponsive. She could barely lift her arms, let alone defend herself from the onslaught.

Then, with a bright blast of green, the pain stopped. She opened her eyes to see a blur of orange, red and purple shoot past her. Then came a few explosions that were close enough that she could feel the heat off of them, followed by punches that were so powerful that the impacts made her ears pop.

Cassie slowly sat up and looked over to see that the red-haired, orange skinned girl that had fought with the Justice League at the museum was here and that she was fighting Aresia. The girl was called Starfire if she remembered correctly and it appeared the two were fairly evenly matched as they exchanged hefty blows.

Cassie wiped her face and looked to see blood smeared on the back of her hand. Her nose hurt and blood was dripping from it. She quickly checked to see if it was broken, which it didn't feel like it was. It still hurt, though, regardless whether it was or not.

Slowly, she climbed to her feet and staggered over to a park bench and sat down on it, clutching her aching face. She was never really one to cry, but right now that's exactly what she felt like doing. She had been in fights before, but nothing even came close to this. She felt like she'd been hit in the face with a baseball bat several times over.

Cassie looked up as the sounds of the fighting stopped. She noticed Starfire approaching her with a look of concern on her face. "Are you well?" the orange girl asked.

"Where's Aresia?" Cassie asked as she looked around for the crazed woman.

"She is a coward. She ran away."

"Ran away? Which way did she run?"

"It is good. She has gone," Starfire said as though she hadn't heard her.

"Please, tell me which way she went?" Cassie said more forcefully.

Starfire pointed in the direction she didn't want her to point in. "That way."

"She's heading to the museum. She's gonna kill my mom, you have to stop her."

"She will not make it to your mother," Starfire said as she took to the air and flew off after the Amazon.

Cassie tried to follow, but she just couldn't go on any further. She would have to rely on Starfire stopping Aresia. No matter how much she wanted to run there and protect her mother herself, she couldn't.

She staggered back over to the park bench and sat down. Slowly the world began to grow distant. She heard what she thought were voices and saw what appeared to be a face, but she couldn't focus on them or what was happening. Eventually, they stopped altogether as she passed out.

Gateway General Hospital

Gateway City

United States

17:44 – Western Summer Time

July 16, 2007

Cassie's eyes opened to the steady sound of beeping. She heard the faint sounds of voices talking.

"We can't put anything through her skin," the voice said.

"What do you mean?" Another voice asked.

"We've tried putting her on a drip, we've tried giving her an injection, but nothing will penetrate her epidermis. All we can hope is that the bandages are enough and she'll be okay."

Cassie felt her face to find bandages on her nose, which was throbbing as was her stomach. In fact, pretty much every part of her body hurt.

"Hold on, she's awake."

A concerned looking doctor and a cop came into her view. "It's good to see you're awake, Cassie," the doctor said. "You were found in the park bloody and unconscious."

She squinted. "How do you know my name?"

The cop answered. "The uniform and the fact that Enzo's Diner has a giant hole in the wall. Your fight did a lot of damage and drew quite a bit of attention."

Cassie looked away. "It wasn't really a fight. She tried to kill me."

"It was the woman who led the attack on the museum a few months back, wasn't it?" the cop asked.

Suddenly she remembered. She sat up suddenly, fearing for her mother's safety. "What happened to her. Did Starfire stop her?"

A new female voice answered. "She is in custody."

Cassie looked over to the source of the voice to see Wonder Woman stood there by the door. She felt relief, followed again by fear. "What about my mom, is she okay?"

"Aresia never made it to the museum," Wonder Woman told her. "Your mother has been informed and is on her way." The Amazon looked to the doctor and policeman. "Can we have some privacy?"

The cop shook his head. "Not sure that's a good idea, ma'am." Wonder Woman glared at him and he very quickly relented. "Fine, we'll give you ten minutes. I need to grab a coffee anyway."

The cop and the doctor stepped out of the room leaving the two alone.

The Amazon stepped up to Cassie's bedside. She looked both concerned and a little angry. "How long have you had these abilities?" she asked.

The teen's heart began to pound in her chest. She was being questioned by Wonder Woman and with only a single question, she was already hating it. "Not long. A few weeks I think," she said nervously.

"You think? Don't you know?"

Cassie shook her head. She then looked at her hands, then back at Wonder Woman. Why was she feeling like she had done something wrong? It was the Amazon princess that had told her there wouldn't be any lasting effects from those gauntlets. It wasn't her fault she had these powers. "What's happening to me?"

"I don't know," Wonder Woman told her.

Cassie grew angry by that answer. "How can you not know?"

"To find the answer, I think it would be best if we took you up to the Watchtower."

"What?" Cassie asked, fear beginning to creep into the back of her mind. "Why? I didn't do anything."

"We need to observe the development of your abilities in a controlled environment and to discover why you have them."

"What about my mom? It's just me and her at home. I can't leave her alone."

"I have friends here in the city that will look out for her, I can promise you."

"Like they were looking out for me?" Cassie questioned.

"Starfire saved you and defeated Aresia. Yes, they were looking out for you. Perhaps not as much as they should, but they were keeping an eye on you."

Slowly Cassie accepted. "Okay, if you think I should go up to the Watchtower, I will."

There was a knock at the door. Wonder Woman walked over and opened it.

"Helena," she greeted. "Come in."

"Mom," Cassie said as Helena stepped into the room.

"Are you alright?" she asked as she rushed over. "When I heard, I wasn't sure I believed it."

"I'm fine, mom."

"No, you're not. Look at you. What were you thinking?"

"Thinking?" Cassie repeated in surprise. "She came into the diner and tried to kill me. I didn't have much choice."

"You chased her to the park."

"She was heading for the museum. I couldn't let her get to you, mom, she wanted to kill you, I had to stop her."

Helena rested her hand on Cassie's arm. "It was stupid, Cass. You could have been killed."

Wonder Woman stepped up to the mother. "And if Aresia had made it to the museum, you would have been. Your daughter saved your life."

Helena looked at Wonder Woman with a glare. "I need answers from you."

"Ask away."

"Why does my daughter have superpowers?"

"I'm not sure. The magical artefacts only work while they're being worn. The power is solely inside them and cannot be extracted. At least not by any means I'm familiar with. If your daughter has these abilities then it's because they were already within her, just buried."

Helena wasn't happy with that explanation. "What are you trying to say? That she's one of those Metahumans?"

"I don't know yet. It seems odd that she showed no signs of having these powers until after wielding the magical items. It's as though they awakened latent abilities she already had."

"Well you can take them away," Helena demanded. "She's just a kid, she doesn't need this."

"We might not be able to take them away without an inhibitor collar and for that to work, we need an idea of what her powers are and how they manifest."

"And how do you find that out?"

"We're going to take her up to the Watchtower."

"Absolutely not!" Helena said, completely and utterly dismissing the notion. "No way are you taking my daughter up there."

Cassie held out her hand. "Mom, I'll be fine."

Wonder Woman tried to ease the mother's apprehension. "Helena, if it makes you feel better, you can come too."

"I can't just up and leave my job. I have bills to pay."

"We can have you at the museum in moments using our teleporter," Wonder Woman assured her. "You won't miss work."

Helena began to nod. She didn't like it, but there weren't really many options available to her. "Will the teleporter hurt?" she asked.

"You might feel disorientation, but other than that, it doesn't have any side effects."

"That's what you said about those artefacts," Helena mumbled.

"Are you ready?" Wonder Woman asked her.

That surprised both of them. "Now?" Helena questioned.

"Yes, we will be going now."

The Amazon passed out two small ear communicators. "Take these." Helena took both of them and passed one to Cassie. They both put the devices in their ears.

"Can you stand?" Wonder Woman asked Cassie.

She nodded as she sat up and slowly pushed her feet of the edge of the bed. Helena helped her to her feet.

Wonder Woman held her finger to her ear. "Wonder Woman to Watchtower. I have the girl and her mother. Bring all three of us up." She looked at them. "Prepare yourselves."

Helena frowned. "How do we-" she began in the hospital in Gateway City. "-do that," she finished on the teleporter pad on the Watchtower.

Helena looked around. "Amazing," she uttered.

"Cool," Cassie said in awe. "Kati would love to see this."

"Follow me, I'll take you to the medbay," Wonder Woman told them.

Updated January 2018