Washington D.C.
January 6, 15:16 EST
With how wild most of Cassie's life had become, evenings that she could spend with her mother had been few and far between. Alien invasion or not, her hectic extracurriculars were starting to screw with her sleep schedule.
So, imagine her surprise when the night before, Nightwing offered her two nights off to do whatever she wanted.
The young protege of Wonder Woman was left with a smorgasbord of ideas on what to do with herself. She could have gotten started on homework, called up some of her civilian friends for a night out, or maybe treat herself to the new Wendy the Werewolf Stalker movie. She instead chose to spend the evening at home with her mother and some very unhealthy Chinese food. She loved the team, of course. She loved to go out on missions, she would have stayed if they asked her to. Still, if she was one hundred percent honest with herself, she would describe her well deserved night off as being heaven-sent.
Cassie pattered out of the kitchen, her cold bare feet sinking into the plush carpeted floor of the living room. She paid no mind to the empty take-out boxes littering both the coffee and end tables nor the muted news report on the television. She just carried on towards her mother's bedroom with a stack of freshly laundered button ups destined to become wrinkled and riddled with sweat stains by the time her mother returned from her week-long conference in New York.
"Sweetheart, I think I can pack a suitcase by myself," Helena stated as she stuffed rolled up pants into her check-on bag. From how disheveled Helena looked with her stringy brown hair chaotically tied in a knot and her choice to only half-dress for bed, one could only guess the catastrophe that was waiting inside the woman's bag.
Cassie swept past her and placed the nicely ironed shirts down on the bed. She had to do her best in pretending that she wouldn't pounce on her mother's bag the second she stopped shoving her clothes in it. It was her moral duty to reverse some of the damage her parent had done.
"If you did, I wouldn't have to fix it now would I?"
The older woman's head slowly rolled to her child, "I don't like that tone, young lady."
Cassie to her mother, "Just being honest with you. And did you see how easy that was to do?"
Helena could hardly believe her ears. Was Cassie still holding the "Great and Almighty Zeus is My Father" card over her head, "Really? You're still holding a grudge against me?"
"Well, you did keep my father's real identity from me my whole life," Cassie spoke, her words dripping heavily with sarcasm. "So...yeah, I'm still a little ticked off about that."
The older woman quit stuffing her bag and let herself plop down onto her bed, "
"Mom," Cassie whispered. She leaned down to Helena, "I'm sorry. I was just messing with you. I'm not that mad, I'm fine."
Helena lifted her head up immediately. Staring back at her was Cassie's bright blue eyes somewhat hidden away behind her uneven blonde bangs. The girl's eyes flickered down towards her mother's hand just before her own started to slide underneath it. Helena's limb remained motionless as Cassie's small fingers lacing within her own.
Helena, her mind dumbstruck, asked, "Really?"
"As I said, I'm not that mad."
Without hesitation, Helena pulled her child against her chest, almost crushing the girl. Cradling one of her hands against her child's back and the other on top of the blonde's messy hair.
Cassie stood by in panic for a few moments. It took another few before her arms shifted upwards, resting against her mother's back. She closed her eyes, letting herself take a few deep breaths and inhale the almost pungent smell of Helena's body. Cassie had gotten used to the smell, it had accompanied her mother all of her life. When she was a little girl, if Cassie ever had a terrible day at school, her mother would come into her room after dinner and pull her into a comforting hug. Right along with that embrace came the powerful smell. In truth, Cassie never felt better than when her mother's head rested on her own and she caught wind of the smell.
Two sudden chirps erupted from the radio inside Cassie's ear. The two made no movements, trying to pretend that the small sounds were only a figment of their imaginations. Seconds later, three chirps with a little more force cut through the silence stripping the nice moment away from the two women.
Slipping out of Helena's arms, Cassie trudged over to the other side of the room, "Hello?"
"Wonder Girl," Mal's deeply rich voice replied. "Something just came up. Everybody's coming back to the Cave."
Helena stood up from where she sat, waiting for Cassie to turn back around and face her. Though she could not hear the conversation that was being held, she assumed that her daughter would be leaving sooner than she was. She didn't notice that her anxiety had seeped through to her aged face.
"Cassie?"
The girl didn't move, "Nightwing needs me back at the Cave."
"Oh," Helena trailed off, unconsciously fiddling with her shirt's sleeve. "Did he say why?"
A tear ran down Cassie's warm face in under a second. As her back was still turned away from her mother, she was able to wipe her tears away with her arm without her seeing it, "No, I have to go."
Helena nodded, pivoting back around to stuff all of her toiletries into her bag. She heard a gust of wind rush behind her, right as a small pair of tanned arms wrapped around her waist. She nearly fell backward, but the stone-strong girl standing behind her kept her from going anywhere.
"I love you, mom." More tears slipped out of her eyes, Cassie didn't try to fight them. She did her best to try and stay positive, "I'll see you when I get back."
Before Helena even had the opportunity to blink, her daughter had let go of her and flown straight of the bedroom's window. Helena looked out to watch Cassie vanish from view, but after sticking her head out into the chilly afternoon sky, she could not see her anywhere. Her window's thin white curtains brushed up against her as her head turned in every direction, to no avail.
Mount Justice
January 6, 16:16 EST
Foot tapping echoed in the main room of the Cave. Cassie didn't care though if Mal made it clear to her that coming back for a very important mission was a top priority, then he should have been waiting right outside of the zeta tube for her. Still, she comes in ready to knock skulls against each other, all for nothing. She was getting ready to knock his skull the next time she saw him. If she had to wait one more minute...
"Where in Hera's-" she muttered to herself. She would have used much coarser language if she hadn't caught Nightwing marching down the hallway in her peripherals. Stalking behind him were Conner and M'gann, but they were at least six-feet apart from one another. Their poor attempts to avoid any awkwardness between them only accomplish their unwanted goal. La'gaan did his best to trot closely with his girlfriend, but she was too busy "avoiding" Conner that she didn't see the jittery Atlantean trying desperately to walk with her.
Trailing at the end of the pack was the rest of the batkids, Barbara and Robin. Whereas Barbara's face lit up at the sight of Cassie, Robin's downward gaze did not move an inch.
Cassie tried not to dwell on him, as Nightwing and the rest of the party had moved around her and became settled. Robin moved past Cassie and stood before her and most of the team. Barbara came to a stop right next to her blonde friend, waiting as holographic screens sprung to life behind Nightwing.
What Cassie didn't know was that the boy's eyes, hidden behind his domino mask, did quickly glance up at her. They lingered for less than a moment, then moved onward to Nightwing standing in the middle of the Cave.
"With last night's raids, we weren't able to find out whether or not the Kroloteans that remain here on Earth have a secret base that we do not know about. But with the help of Miss Martian, we have discovered that there is such a base, and where it is," An image of a small tropical island appeared on the holoscreen behind the team's leader. "Malina Island."
Cassie leaned over to her friend, "What's he talking about?"
Barbara wasted no time in explaining, "Last night, we sent out three teams to root out the Kroloteans. Like some of the ones we faced, the ones in the robot-human suits."
"And I wasn't invited?"
The older girl had to shush Cassie, as their whispers were starting to grow in volume. Nightwing death-glared at them for a moment, but continued on with his spiel, "As this is a highly volatile situation, members of the League will-"
Not quite showing the respect that was demanded by their leader, Barbara resumed their quiet conversation, "It was a discreet operation. We didn't want anyone to be torn limb from limb."
"Shocked, I tell you," the blonde whined. Her profane use of sarcasm was not fun to listen to from Barbara's standpoint. "I am shocked. I'm not an animal, you know."
Out of the corner of her eye, Cassie noticed that Garfield was looking directly at her. The displeasure shown on his freckled-green face was enough to make Cassie mouth her apologizes to him.
Barbara rolled her eyes as slowly as were humanly possible, "Don't be melodramatic."
Cassie rolled her eyes in return, but they suddenly rested on the boy standing a few feet in front of her. Moments ago, he was totally engrossed in the mission briefing, his cropped black hair the only thing visible from Cassie's view. Now, his head was turned enough that she could see a sliver of one of the white lenses of his mask. If she hadn't known any better, she would have guessed that he was eavesdropping.
Cassie did her best to whisper to him, "Did you know about this?"
The boy made no attempt to acknowledge her. She began to seriously question whether or not he had heard what she asked him. If he was going to give her the answer she thought that he would give, it would be best if he remained silent. Her mind quieted as she directed her attention back to Nightwing.
"It will take us a few hours for us to get there, and as there are no zeta tubes anywhere near that location, we will need to travel by Bioship," his faced turned to look right at Cassie, "Miss Martian and Martian Manhunter will be Alpha squad."
M'gann nodded in agreement as Nightwing prattled on, "Aquaman will be joining us within the hour, he and Lagoon Boy will make up Beta squad. Along with Batman, Batgirl, Robin, and I will be Gamma squad."
Cassie looked around to see that out of everyone that was mentioned, she and Conner were the only people who were not assigned to a squad. From where she stood, she could see that he was just as aware of their lack of mission.
"And the rest of us?" Conner cut in. "Are you expecting a fight?"
"We aren't expecting one, but you never know…" Nightwing's gaze moved from Conner to Cassie Superboy and Wonder Girl, you along with your mentors will make up Delta. You'll be our reserves. Anything goes wrong-"
"Something always goes wrong," Conner muttered to himself.
Everyone started to disband from the group, even though Nightwing still had some things to say, "We leave when the League gets here."
Being inside the Bioship's cargo hold was always strange for Cassie. The G-rated flying-Cronenberg contraption nearly gave her a heart attack the first time she flew in it. She had sat down in one of the ship's' seats when it apparated into existence, molding itself against Cassie's body. She didn't know that if she punched the seat it would shatter it a hundred pieces. Nor that her punch could severely hurt the Bioship. She had to apologize to M'gann for weeks after her little freakout.
It took months for her to get back on the Bioship's good side. There were days when during a mission she would sit down, only for the ship's seat to melt away, letting her butt collide with the floor. Some time had passed, and Cassie felt that she had put herself back in the ship's good graces.
Diana, along with Superman and Connor came into the cargo bay, passing right by Cassie on their way to the ship's bridge. It took the blonde a minute to register that it was them who walked past her, but she came to her senses and followed right after them.
Right as she moved to the entryway of the bridge, a large black shadow swooped across the ship, landing right behind the girl. She spun out of the way just in time to watch Batman sweep past her, his cape billowing behind him. Less than a step behind him was Nightwing, even further back came the last two members of the batclub.
Barbara flashed a quick smile at Cassie, only to continue along with the rest of her family. Cassie was able to smile back and nod at Barb before the redhead moved beyond her into the bridge.
Cassie kept smiling, turning to look at the last member who was trailing far behind the others. She expected Robin to keep his head down, only to give her a quick nod as he joined everyone else up in the front of the ship.
As suspected, Robin moved in silence up to the bridge, his face cast downwards. If he kept that up, he'd be a crookback before his twenties. The thought made Cassie's smile a tiny bit bigger as she waited for him to acknowledge her.
Her whole head moved from one side to the next, following his movements as he moved right around her, not sparing a single moment to look at her. All she could see was a faint pink blush blooming on his cheeks, but she was a bit too shocked at the boy's lack of interest towards her to let that fully register with her.
South Pacific
January 6, 20:25 HAST
"Dropzone Delta; five minutes," Nightwing clearly stated. With how focused he was at keeping the Bioship camouflaged and properly flying, Cassie was surprised that he didn't even move a muscle when addressing the rest of the squads.
Diana rose from her seat and strode to the back of the ship, "Wonder Girl, come."
Cassie shot a glance at Barbara, who looked at her in return. Both couldn't help but smile, nor could Cassie help that her eyes drifted a little to the raven-haired boy sitting in front of Barbara, staring on ahead.
Not wanting to linger on any longer, she turned and headed straight back to the cargo hold. Both Conner and Superman stood firmly in front of the ship's entrance waiting, while Diana stood close by.
Worry graced her face, "Are you ready?"
"Yeah...let's do this."
With that said, the entrance melted away, letting Cassie look onto the black night sky. Both the ocean and sky were so dark a hue, she could hardly believe that such two different planes existed. Tendrils of the stars' light danced across the waters, making Cassie daydream that they were millions of fish swimming to the top of the ocean to see the night's majesty.
"Come," Diana uttered to Cassie right before she flew out of the ship alongside the two Kryptonians.
Cassie's eyes scanned the ship, getting a quick last look before jumping. She spoke quietly through the psychic link, "Good luck, everybody."
Sitting passively in his seat, Tim's eyes stayed glued out towards the ink black waters surrounding the island. Too afraid to turn and look back on his friend. Too afraid to send her a mental reply. Too afraid to even mouth to himself the words, "Good luck, Wonder Girl."
Author's Notes: Hope you all have had a nice month, I've had such a nice one I haven't had time to upload this. I know, it's gonna be a while for Cass and Tim to be nice towards each other again. Stick around...only if you want to. I'm not holding you against your will. Shout out to Angel-Gidget; you're the real MVP.
Cheers,
EKG