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.
For I Stood Up
Cassandra and Stephanie crouched on a rooftop overlooking an old factory near the docks. To the casual observer the building would appear abandoned like the rest of the area, but the two vigilantes easily picked out signs of habitation. In addition, they noticed several subtle security cameras and devices which were well beyond the standards for a Hub City factory, although nothing that would slow them down.
Cassandra could tell that her friend was feeling both excited and smug, nearly bursting to tell how she had decided on the factory as the most probable location. Cass had had enough time on the trip to stew about the way Stephanie had risked them both by being impatient, and thus had no interest in asking. She knew Stephanie would tell her eventually, anyway.
After a moment, Stephanie couldn't wait any longer. "So! Wanna know how I figured it out?"
Cassandra shrugged nonchalantly. Stephanie huffed and explained anyway.
"So I was looking at the list, and I realized this place was probably set up near the docks because of the smuggling – if they needed to lay low for some reason, or stash something, having a big property to hide out near their interests would make sense."
Cassandra pointedly ignored her. Stephanie pouted slightly, but continued. "So, the nice thing about this place is it's big, so plenty of space to stash the kid and set up shop without feeling cramped. And when I was staking out that warehouse, I noticed most of the area wasn't very busy. So even if the kid screamed her lungs out, no one would notice. Even more so since things cut back after we shut down the smugglers."
"No one see people coming," Cassandra said. "So many people... go to ships."
"I know, right," Stephanie said. "So, how are we gonna get in?"
"Go quiet, sneak in," Cass said. "Try from roof."
"We shouldn't wait too long," Stephanie pointed out. "If Mandragora notices his address book is gone, he's sure to call and tip Burgess off."
Cassandra nodded. "Follow. Don't get caught."
"Jeez, get captured once," Stephanie muttered.
The two vigilantes slipped through the dark, avoiding the cameras and other security systems with practiced ease until they arrived at the factory itself. Circling around the building, they found a small nook that was a blind spot in the security and fired their lines, quickly reaching the roof. It didn't take them long to find an old skylight, and they peered inside.
Sitting around a large wooden crate playing cards were three beefy men who looked like the typical thugs working for Mandragora. They couldn't see anything else of interest, nor could they hear anything. After taking in the scene, Cassandra carefully cracked the skylight open and Stephanie pulled out a bug and section of fishing line.
They slowly lowered the bug into the room, being careful to keep it from casting a shadow below. Once it was in a position to help them eavesdrop, Cassandra eased the skylight closed again, pinching the line into place. They then pulled out receivers and began to listen.
In just a few minutes they saw the card players straighten up, and they heard a voice come from the far side of the room. "Where's the girl?"
The owner of the voice was a large, somewhat overweight man whose posture revealed a casual cruelty that Cassandra found sickening. Even if she couldn't tell from the way his subordinates acted, she would have known he was in charge from the way that he carried himself. She could also see a deadly anger burning in him.
"The girl was tryin' to shout for help again, so we stuck her in the closet, boss," one of the criminals said.
Cassandra could see Stephanie stiffen beside her, dangerous intent filling her friend. She frowned for a second before remembering a story that Stephanie had told her a long time before in Gotham. Stephanie's father had often locked her in the closet when she was younger to punish her. Cass had been taking the case personally from the beginning, but now, faced with the people responsible, her previous anger was transforming into a cold rage.
Burgess chuckled darkly. "How long she been in there?"
One of the men checked his watch. "Oh, five hours now? Six?"
The men laughed cruelly before Burgess reached under his coat and pulled out a knife. "Apparently those vigilantes were pokin' around, trying to figure out who I was. They took some stuff that might give this place away. We're gonna have to move, in case they figure out where we are."
"Where we goin'?" one of the card players whined.
"I've got a place," Burgess said. "Nobody knows about it. Smaller than this, but we should fit. Grab the package – my cousin went to a lotta trouble to get it to me."
"But it's heavy, boss," the whiny criminal said. "What are you gonna be doin?"
"I'm gonna make sure the kid doesn't cause us any trouble during the move," Burgess growled, looking down at his knife. "She's been too much trouble as it is."
"I thought you said you didn't want to mess her up none?" one of the criminals asked.
"That was the plan, 'til I learned how much of a mouth she's got on her," Burgess answered. "She'll get the point when I cut off a finger. I'll send it to her mommy, make sure she knows to put more pressure on those costumed freaks."
When he started to head towards the back, Stephanie dropped her receiver and pulled out her grapple gun. Without even a word to Cass she jumped on the skylight, shattering it and falling into the room nearly thirty feet below. Moments into her freefall she fired a line, slowing her descent slightly, but still landing hard on the wooden crate the mobsters had been using as a table.
The criminals stumbled backwards, shocked at her entrance and the shower of glass that had preceded her. "Stop!" Stephanie said as she pointed at Burgess. "Surrender. Or I'm going to turn you into paste."
The criminals started to pull guns, but Cassandra jumped down, throwing four spoilerangs at once before firing her grapple at the last second to slow her own fall so that she could land safely. She then moved through the thugs like a hot breeze, knocking them down and out in seconds. Only Burgess remained, stumbling backwards while holding something small in his hand.
"I don't know how the hell you found me so fast," he growled. "But you're dead meat."
Stephanie hopped down from the crate beside Cass, crossing her arms over her chest as she did. "Oh yeah? 'Cause from here it looks like all your buddies are down. You really think you can take us both by yourself?"
"No," Burgess said calmly as he pressed a button on the small device in his hand. The vigilantes heard a brief hum behind them before the wooden crate burst open in a shower of splinters. Standing in its wreckage was a huge, eight foot tall robot.
Cassandra didn't hesitate. She spun and kicked hard, her foot striking with enough force to shatter concrete. The thud of her strike echoed through the large factory, but the robot didn't move an inch. When she pulled her sore foot away, she saw that she hadn't left a scratch.
Burgess began to laugh loudly. "You're... kicking it? I got that from my cousin in Intergang. It's designed to fight Superman!"
"Oh, shi..." Stephanie started, before yelping as she was knocked off of her feet by Cassandra, who tackled her out the way as the robot suddenly sprang forward, launching a punch that would have cleanly taken her head from her body. They tumbled away, the warehouse shaking as the robot punched the ground where they had been, leaving a large crater in the concrete.
Cassandra stood, studying the robot carefully. It was human shaped but large and bulky, with an exterior made of plates of metal and a head shaped like a security camera with a single bright red light beneath its camera lens. The camera was locked firmly on Cassandra, who slowly began to circle backwards, putting enough distance between her and the robot to let her react in time, as well as getting its attention away from her friend.
Stephanie stood, pulling out a spoilerang as she eyed the robotic menace. "No," Cassandra told her without taking her eyes from the robot. "You, stop him."
"What?" Stephanie said. "You can't take that thing on your own! You didn't even scratch it."
"Save girl," Cassandra said firmly. "Get controller from him. Turn off."
Stephanie nodded before slowly circling toward Burgess. The robot started to turn towards her, only to return its attention to Cassandra when she bounced a spoilerang off of its head. It then charged at Cass, almost too fast for her to dodge, forcing her to focus all of her attention on staying alive.
Stephanie waited until the robot had moved away from her before moving directly towards Burgess. He sneered at her, pulling off his coat and rolling up his sleeves before assuming a boxing stance. "Let's see what you've got, little girl."
Stephanie ran at him, jumping into the air and launching a powerful jump kick. Despite his size, Burgess was fast, dodging the attack and coming up behind her as she landed, throwing a hard roundhouse punch which she barely managed to dodge. He kept up the pressure for over a minute, driving her back towards the far side of the factory until he had her pinned against a large piece of industrial equipment.
Stephanie balanced on the balls of her feet, ready for anything. After a moment he launched another punch, but instead of dodging as she had been doing, she grabbed his arm and pulled it forward, slamming it into the steel machinery with bone breaking force. Burgess howled before she swept his feet out from under him, sending him to the ground. Before she could finish him, however, he swept her feet in return, grabbing her and rolling on top of her, trying to pin her arms.
Stephanie squirmed, his greater strength and weight giving him an advantage in wrestling, but she had learned several tricks from Cassandra on how to beat someone larger than her. While he was very skilled at boxing, he had also tired himself considerably with his extended offense, and she was soon able to shift her weight so that she rolled on top of him, his arm behind his back as she sat astride him. When he began to struggle she pushed his arm hard, straining his shoulder and making him grunt in pain.
They struggled for a few more seconds, but her leverage was too great for him to overcome and he finally collapsed, panting and sweating. Stephanie wasted no time cuffing his hands before reaching into his pocket and pulling out the remote control. Her heart fell at what she found.
Stephanie turned on her radio, and spoke quietly. "Cass? Um... the remote? He kinda fell on it."
"Kinda?" Cass panted, the off-the-shelf radio system crackling and faint.
"It's broken," Stephanie said. "Can you stop it?"
"Will try," Cassandra said as she dodged another punch from the robot. "You save girl."
It had taken her several minutes and had earned her a number of painful bruises, but Cassandra had finally figured out how to handle the robot. It was immensely strong, and even swinging her spoilerang into the camera lens hadn't been able to damage it. On the other hand, it moved awkwardly, and with very little skill. Knowing what Superman was capable of from Batman's files, she suspected that the robot wouldn't have even slowed him down. Unfortunately, she wasn't Superman.
Considering her options, Cassandra took the last of her plastic explosive from her belt and began to work it. She attached a small timer as she retreated towards the back of the far side of the building. She knew that she would only get one shot with the explosive, so she had to make it count.
When the robot lined itself up for another powerful charge, she timed her move to flip back and through a window before it could reach her. Landing lightly, she covered her head with her cloak as she moved to the side, just in time to avoid the flying rubble as the robot simply crashed through the cement wall of the factory. She was on her feet in a second, slapping the explosive underneath the robot's still raised arm, leaning back parallel to the ground to avoid its quick counterattack, before backflipping to safety.
The robot ignored the explosive charge that she had planted on it, and she turned and ran, trying to put as much distance between herself and the bomb as possible. Unfortunately, the robot was incredibly fast for something so heavy, catching up to her quickly out in the open. Before it could slam into her from behind she pivoted and ran down a narrow alley, nearly slamming into the wall from her own momentum.
The robot, on the other hand, had a much greater mass and was unable to stop in time. It ran well past where she had turned off of the road before it was able to halt its rush. It doubled back around quickly, however, entering the alley just as Cassandra left its other side. She dove around the bend, covering her head as she did.
The explosion shook the ground. Cassandra climbed to her feet and moved cautiously back, peering around the corner and into the alley. It took a long second for the smoke to clear, and when it did she stared in dismay.
The explosive had been planted underneath the arm, and that had contained the blast, maximizing its effectiveness against the robot. The amount of explosive she had used would have taken out a tank. All it had done to the robot was tear one arm off, but otherwise left it completely functional. Its camera focused in on her, and the robot began to move again.
For the next five minutes Cassandra played a deadly game of tag with the robot. It was far faster than any human in a sprint, but almost comically bad at cornering, a condition that had only worsened now with its balance thrown off by the missing arm. Unfortunately, it was also incredibly strong, and she knew that even a single mistake would cost her her life.
When she saw a large, abandoned parking garage near the docks, Cassandra finally came up with a plan. Altering her course, she led the robot to the huge concrete structure, ducking inside and running towards one of the major support columns. Just as the robot closed in on her, she ducked out of the way, letting the machine smash through the steel reinforced concrete with ease.
Cassandra ducked, dodged, and rolled around the garage, leading her opponent to support structure after support structure until the entire six story building began to groan all around her. Choking on the dust drifting down from large cracks slowly spreading across the ceiling, she lined the robot up for one more charge, this time at the last significant pillar.
She had originally planned on running for the exit, but she realized as she began to move that she had miscalculated. In order to ensure that the robot would still be inside the garage when it collapsed, she needed to have it strike the central most pillar last. Unfortunately, that meant that she'd had to be near the center of the garage as well, which didn't give her enough time to reach safety. At the last moment she turned around and ran back to the middle of the building, diving into the elevator shaft just as the roof came down.
Cassandra curled up in a ball, covering the back of her neck with her hands as she held her breath. The sound of the collapse was deafening and seemed to take hours as she waited to be buried in rubble at any moment. A few small pieces did strike her now and then, each time making her flinch as she expected to be crushed, but instead the elevator shaft stayed mostly intact as the building fell straight down, all six thick concrete layers piling up like a stack of pancakes with the robot on the bottom.
When the collapse finally stopped, Cassandra stood, her ears ringing. Looking around shakily, she saw that she had been even more fortunate, as the roof of the elevator shaft had cracked open, revealing the stars above, giving her a way out. With a few well placed kicks she managed to finish breaking the damaged wall, letting her climb out onto the collapsed building.
Everything was still as Cassandra took a long breath of air, relief flowing through her. She finished collecting herself and began to head back towards the factory. Suddenly, she felt a tiny vibration through her feet. Turning around, she stared in awed dismay as cracks slowly began to form in the concrete.
When a metal hand broke the surface, its fingers missing and sparks and smoke drifting up with each awkward motion of the deformed limb, Cassandra shook off her surprise and ran towards the emerging robot. Reaching into her utility belt, she pulled out the only weapon that she had left with any chance of destroying the damaged robot. Working quickly, she primed all four of her homemade thermite devices.
When the robot finished widening the crack, it began to pull itself slowly up from the rubble, its camera-like head flattened and the lens cracked. Smiling coldly, she planted all four devices on top of the robot's head. It focused its camera on her, the lens whirring as it slowly rotated, seeking to focus in on her.
The incendiary devices went off, sending sparks shooting high into the air like a reverse waterfall. The white glow was so bright that she couldn't look at it, and the heat so intense that she had to back away. After a moment the devices finished eating through the top of the robot's armor, burning metal falling inside the chassis as they continued to burn paths straight through the robot. Other systems began to ignite until the entire inside of the robot was a contained inferno, which spread outwards through the cracks that riddled its damaged armor.
With the incendiaries inside of it, Cassandra watched as the robot reached out for her with a flaming arm, sparks shooting outwards as it still attempted to kill her even as it was consumed. Then, with another great burst of white sparks, the red light on its head went out, and the robot collapsed forward. In moments all that remained was a pile of molten slag.
