Disclaimer

I don't own anything. DC Comics, and anything that it publishes, is not in anyway owned by me. It is all owned by rich, talented people. I'm a nobody. Please don't sue me.

Journey to the Day

Cassandra looked up at the building with trepidation. It had been a long two weeks since Stephanie had begun working at the diner, and in that time Cass had spent her days searching for a job of her own. She had so far had no luck.

There weren't many jobs available in Hub City. There were even less for an illiterate woman who hadn't quite turned twenty, whose entire job experience consisted of one day waitressing and an assassination committed when she was eight. If she could write a resume, she was pretty sure that she would have to leave both of those things off, which would make it very short.

When Stephanie had gotten them a job, she had chatted away with her prospective employer until, in no time at all, he had been charmed into hiring her. Cassandra hadn't been present when Batman had made her Robin, but she had a new theory about how that had happened. Unfortunately, she didn't share her friend's gift.

She had trouble speaking normally, but talking to a person who she wanted to give her money, trying to convince them that she would be a great asset despite her total lack of useful skills, made her tongue seem to lock up in her head. She could see in the posture of the people hiring her their disinterest, and it made her even more nervous. She always knew before the first minute even ended that she hadn't been hired.

Cassandra could normally fight for hours. She could run a marathon and still battle for her life at the end. She had in fact done just that at the age of six. But a single interview seemed more exhausting than any physical task that she had ever done. Two weeks of them had worn her down completely.

Even worse, though, was the way that Stephanie came home from her job each day. She was tired and sometimes annoyed at the customers, but Cass could see how satisfied she was after her work. She could also see that Stephanie believed each day that Cass would find a job, and it hurt to disappoint her by failing again and again.

Cassandra took one last deep breath to bolster her resolve before entering the building. She walked up to a bored looking secretary, who eyed her like a bug as she approached. "Can I help you?"

"Looking for job," Cassandra said.

The woman looked her over critically. "We don't need any more receptionists," she said finally.

Cassandra shook her head. "Warehouse job."

"That's hard work," the woman said. "You really don't want to do that."

"Yes," she said. "I do."

An older man chuckled as he stepped out of his office, making the secretary jump in surprise, although Cassandra had known he was there the whole time. "You think you've got what it takes?"

"Yes," Cassandra repeated.

"I've been needing somebody for the afternoon shift. You'd be working two to nine, six days a week. Think you're up for that? It's not a job for slackers."

"Yes," Cassandra repeated. "Stronger than... I look."

He shrugged. "You are or you aren't. No skin off my nose either way. You do the work and you've got the job, Miss..."

"Cassandra," she said. "Cassandra Cain."

"Well, Miss Cain, I'm Larry Blaisedell," the man said. "And you're hired."

Stephanie came in from her shift that evening expecting to find Cassandra sitting on the couch as she usually was, her shoulders slumped and weary. For someone who was such an expert on body language, Cass rarely paid any attention to her own, giving away her entire state of mind if she wasn't trying to fool someone. While Stephanie would never be the expert Cass was, she could tell with a glance every day that her friend was very upset at her failure to find a job.

Stephanie knew that it would be difficult for her, and she wasn't really surprised that the search was taking so long. While she knew her friend was more dedicated and hardworking than was probably healthy, her lack of verbal communication skills combined with her illiteracy would make finding a job very difficult. She knew that Cassandra needed her support, however, so each day before coming in she made sure to clear out all of her negative thoughts, concentrating on how much faith she had in her best friend so that she wouldn't be able to read anything but confidence in her.

That day, however, her friend was missing. Stephanie wandered around the apartment to make sure that she was gone, although she wasn't actually concerned. If anyone would be safe out in the city alone, it would be Cassandra.

After changing from her work clothes, she sat in front of the TV and had just begun to channel surf when she heard the key in the lock. Looking up, she saw her friend come in the door, her clothes scuffed and sweaty. Despite that she was nearly radiating joy.

"Got job!" Cassandra cried gleefully.

"Alright!" Stephanie said, jumping up. "What'd you get?"

"Warehouse job," Cassandra said proudly. "Load and unload crates all day. Move heavy stuff. Did better than others on shift. Boss impressed, but not say."

"Way to go, Cass!" Stephanie said. "You won't be too tired to patrol or anything, though, right?"

Cassandra gave her a look like she had grown a second head. "Too tired... to patrol?"

"Right," Stephanie said, rolling her eyes. "I forgot who I was talking to for a sec. You wanna work on your reading before we go out?"

Cassandra hesitated slightly, glancing at the pile of children's books that they had picked up from the library like they were pit of vipers. "Shower."

Stephanie chuckled. "Fine, fine. You stink anyway."

"All need stop stinking... is shower," Cassandra said. "Better than you."

"Hey!" Stephanie shouted at her friend's back as she left the room. "Why'd I root for her to get a job again?"

That evening the two girls patrolled, slipping from rooftop to rooftop and shadow to shadow, always on the lookout for crimes to prevent. Eventually they paused for a long time, Cassandra studying the people coming and going from a shady looking bar. Stephanie tried to figure out what was so interesting to her friend, but as far as she could tell it was just like a dozen other dives that they had passed that night without comment.

"So, I thought now that you got that job and all you'd be more upbeat," Stephanie said after several minutes. "But I think you're actually more intense than normal. That cannot be healthy."

"Crime doesn't take breaks," Cass said.

"Jeez, that is so Batman," Stephanie said rolling her eyes. "You need to lighten up a little. We should be celebrating, not moping!"

Cassandra hesitated for a moment. "Batman very good crime fighter. Just bad with other crime fighters."

Stephanie snorted. "I know, right? I mean, look at us. All that time he spent training us... well, especially me, 'cause you were already awesome, and he just throws us out like yesterday's garbage. Talk about wasteful. No wonder he has to work 24/7."

Cassandra continued staring at the building. Just when Stephanie thought she wasn't going to say anything, she slowly spoke. "Saw them before. Now seen three criminals go in. Look suspicious."

"You think it's a meet?" Stephanie asked excitedly.

"Maybe," Cassandra said. "Or just place they go."

Stephanie grinned. "Either way, we gotta check it out, right?"

"Yes," Cassandra agreed. "Undercover."

"Coolness," Stephanie said. "Race you back to the apartment!"

It wasn't even close to a challenge, although Cass held back long enough to make it seem interesting before she took a quick shortcut and arrived first. Ignoring her best friend's pout, she quickly changed into jeans and a plain black t-shirt, along with a brown leather jacket. Most of the clothing that she had gotten in Gotham had been too nice to blend in at a dive like they were going to, but leather would be tough enough to make up for it.

Stephanie, on the other hand, had gone for trashy, dressing herself in a halter top that showed off her breasts and jeans that looked painted on. She had also put on more makeup than Cassandra had ever seen her friend wear before, including dark eyeshadow and bright red lipstick. She grinned mischievously at Cass as she entered, doing a quick twirl. "What do you think?"

Cassandra couldn't help but stare. She had seen plenty of people dressed similarly while on patrol, girls going to parties without a care in the world. For some reason, seeing her friend dressed that way was incredibly distracting, however. Pulling herself together, she forced herself to stop staring and answer. "Might think you're at bar to work."

Stephanie pouted. "It's not that bad."

"Fine for rave," Cassandra said. "Or crazy party. Sends wrong message at cheap bar."

Stephanie considered that for a moment, before sighing. "Fine. Less makeup."

"Less makeup," Cass agreed as she stared after her friend. Confused at her own reactions, Cassandra decided to meditate to bring herself back under control. If things went wrong she would have to protect both herself and Stephanie from a bar full of criminals, and she couldn't afford to be distracted.

A few minutes later Stephanie returned. She was wearing the same clothing, but had put on subtler makeup, and had added a denim jacket. "How's that?"

"Good," Cassandra said. "Not get arrested walking to bar now."

They walked briskly through the early evening, both girls keeping a wary eye out as they did. They knew more than most what dangers lurked on the streets of Hub City at night, and despite their skill they knew to be careful. After a few minutes of silence Stephanie broke it to begin rambling, Cassandra simply absorbing the chatter as she often did.

While the bar had looked dingy on the outside, the inside proved to be even worse. Most of the clientele looked as though they had never heard of a shower, and all looked rough and dangerous. Cassandra spotted two separate biker gangs, one of which she had tangled with in Gotham. The two girls made their way to a corner table, avoiding making eye contact with the people staring at them.

"This place is gross," Stephanie muttered as she eyed the table in front of her. It looked like it might have been washed sometime in the past decade... but not very well. Cassandra just nodded, carefully examining everyone in the room for possible intel.

"You want a drink?" Stephanie asked after a minute.

Cassandra frowned. "No. Look."

Stephanie followed Cass' gaze, watching the bartender as he stood cleaning a glass with a rag. He was a fat, sweaty man, and as unwashed as most of his patrons. After a minute he used his dish rag to wipe the grimy sweat from his forehead, before going right back to cleaning the glass.

Stephanie choked slightly. "This place has to be violating every health code ever made. Ever. Can't we bust them for it and get out of here?"

"No," Cassandra said. "Good place for intel. Need to come here more."

"Do we have to?" Stephanie whined.

Cassandra thought for a moment. "Looks like most work done in back room. Plant bug, then listen from outside?"

"Now you're talking my language!" Stephanie said brightly. "I'm good with planting bugs. I managed to put one where my dad never found it, way back when I first got started. I found out all his plans. It was great."

"Then you plant bug," Cassandra agreed. "But need to get to back."

"I've got an idea," Stephanie said, grinning as she pulled off her jacket. From her body language Cassandra could see that her friend was about to do something very reckless, but she was already up and moving before Cass could think of something to say to stop her.

Stephanie strolled across the floor of the bar, drawing more than a few gazes, before stopping in front of the bartender. "I'd like a beer."

He looked straight at her chest as he poured her drink, not even glancing up at her face once during the entire process. If he had he would have seen the barely disguised disgust as he gave her the glass that he had been 'cleaning'. Stephanie smiled and turned, for once intentionally clumsy as she bumped into the large biker next to her at the bar, spilling her beer all over him.

"What the hell was that for!" he growled, standing to his full height of well more than six feet.

"I'm so sorry!" Stephanie squeaked. "I'm just so clumsy. Here, let me buy you a drink..."

"It'll take more than that to make it up to me girly," he leered.

"Like, ew," Stephanie said, backing hard enough into the man behind her to knock him off of his stool. He stood up angrily as well, and Stephanie began to withdraw in a new direction. "Sorry! So sorry. Um, look, I don't want any trouble..."

"You gots trouble," the thug from the barstool said, drawing a switchblade.

"Oh please, don't kill me," she said pathetically.

"Oh, I won't kill you," he grinned.

"All I did was knock you off your stool," Stephanie stammered. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."

"Hey, I saw her first," the biker growled.

"Back off," the thug said.

"Jeez, you must not think much of bikers," Stephanie said loudly.

"What!" they both said, glaring first at her, then at each other.

"I mean, just 'cause you've got a knife and all, you think you can do anything you like, and he just has to take it. I thought bikers did what they wanted."

"We do," the biker growled. "Put the knife down, punk, or you'll be eating it."

"You gonna take that from him?" Stephanie asked.

"Shut up, girl!" the man she had knocked over shouted. "And you, back off! My boys and I aren't afraid of you!"

"Wow, he really doesn't think much of bikers," Stephanie mused loudly.

A small crowd was gathering, mostly consisting of bikers and the street gang the thug that she had bumped into was from. She slipped back quietly, avoiding their notice as the two sides eyed each other warily. Grinning mischievously, she made sure that no one besides Cass was watching, before she grabbed an unattended beer and threw it at one of the bikers, smashing it over his head.

Chaos erupted, with both sides throwing punches simultaneously. Stephanie grinned, satisfied, as she slipped away towards the back room. She was almost there when two of the bikers suddenly stepped into her path.

"You aren't going anywhere girly," one of them said as he pulled out a pistol. "You're gonna wait 'til we finish off those punks, then we're gonna..."

Stephanie never found out what he thought that they were going to do, as from the side Cassandra appeared with a flying kick to the man's hand, knocking his gun away. By the time she touched the ground, she was already spinning, sweeping his feet out from under him. Stephanie slipped around the sudden fight, confident that her friend had everything in hand as she headed to the back to do her mission.

The criminals that they had noticed had been lured out into the main room by the fight, and they ignored her as she used what Batman and Robin had taught her about blending into crowds to slip by them. The back room was large, with several pool tables. It was also somewhat nicer than the rest of the bar, with a long shelf of self service alcohol.

Stephanie took in the entire room with a glance, already considering possibilities about places to hide bugs. The criminals of Gotham had gotten very good at finding such things, forcing those who would employ them to be very skilled at hiding them. Even before Batman's training she had been a natural at the art.

In seconds she had considered and discarded two dozen possibilities. The hardest factor was the nature of her equipment. She had started out her career with commercial bugs, but she had grown used to using the latest cutting edge advancements that Batman put into his. Being reduced not only to the cheap stuff, but with no budget to waste by planting several, she had to select a single, perfect spot to hide it.

The only real answer was the ceiling, as it was out of the way and would provide good coverage of the room. Climbing up onto a pool table, she carefully hid it among the ceiling tiles before hopping down and cleaning her footprints off of the table. She then gave the room one final glance before slipping outside.

The fight had become even larger and more out of control during her absence, although at least no one had fired any guns. It took her only seconds to find Cass, who was obviously holding back to keep her skill from being too noticeable. Despite that Stephanie couldn't help but admire her friend's perfect movements. She had once thought that she could someday learn to fight like Cass did, but the more that she learned, the more awe she felt, rather than understanding.

Shaking off her thoughts, she waved slightly, and saw Cass nod. Slipping around the crowd, she made her way outside, and was joined by her friend in moments. "Bug planted," she said smugly.

Cassandra just glared at her for a second, before walking briskly back to their apartment.

Stephanie frowned in confusion, before rushing to keep up. "Hey, what's wrong? We did it."

"You..." Cass started, trailing off after a moment. Stephanie could see the frustration in her friend's eyes as she tried to find words. "Could have been shot."

"Well, yeah," Stephanie agreed. "It did get hairy there for a sec, but then you jumped in. Thanks, by the way."

Cassandra shook her head. "Not just that. Took on entire bar. Too dangerous."

"Oh, come on!" Stephanie objected. "We're vigilantes. Everything we do is dangerous."

Cassandra stopped and glared at her. "Yes. That's why... avoid danger. Always in danger. Can't prevent. So prevent danger we can. What you did... didn't need done. Pointless danger. Reckless."

Stephanie reared back like she had been slapped. "What, you still think Batman's right?"

"Yes," Cassandra said quietly. She struggled for what she wanted to say for a second, but before she could find words Stephanie angrily cut her off.

"In case you forgot, he fired you too, you know! So was he right about that too?"

"You could die," Cassandra said finally. "Not a game."

"I know!" Stephanie bit out. "Okay, I know it's not a game. You gonna fire me too? Run back home to daddy bats?"

"No," Cassandra said. "Not want you to die."

"What, you think I can't handle it on my own? I knew you'd be there to protect me tonight, but that doesn't mean I can't do this without you. I was Spoiler way before you came to Gotham."

"No!" Cassandra said, but it was too late. Stephanie had already stormed off in anger. Cassandra sighed glumly before talking to the empty street. "Not mean that. Not want you hurt. I... need you."