Malina Island
January 6, 20:48 HAST
Cassie never considered those who she fought against as anything of a very serious nature. Of course, the puppet masters who controlled them, and controlled the vast network of spies, assassins, and thieves that Cassie saw every other day were of the deadly serious kind; but their three-dollar ski mask-wearing pawns were certainly not. Cassie could blow through a whole brigade of them without batting an eye. Therefore, on missions where their foes were stacked against them like dominoes, she rarely had cause to fear for her life or the lives of her teammates.
Now though, as she stood in the middle of a small tropical island in the dead of night waiting for something to happen, she found herself facing a greater enemy than she could possibly imagine.
Her true and longtime nemesis; boredom.
The exact same boredom that scratched down her back as she paced languidly in the same circle for ten minutes. She had started to drag one of her blue sneakers against the jungle floor, leaving behind a small indent in the dirt. The elongated oval she created on the ground of her hiding spot stimulated her attention for a hot-second, but nothing more.
Most of the squads had already invaded the hidden Krolotean base, leaving Cassie, her mentor, Superboy, and Superman all waiting outside ready to jump into action. They had been in there a long time though.
She and her said mentor sat by on an abandoned trail not too far from the volcano's facade. Earlier, during the mission briefing, it was decided that there would be the best place for the two, with the two Kryptonians on the adjacent side. As this was supposed to be a covert operation, all four were only meant to be back up in case everything went to hell.
Cassie found it a little funny how things always went to hell. As she was about to huff at her frustration, "Patience, Cassandra."
Looking up towards the hill's crest, Cassie's eyes became glued to where her mentor proudly stood. Without even trying, Diana's natural-born confidence and beauty radiated off of her like sun rays. Or more like the bright moonbeams, just like the ones that were bathing the Amazonian princess in ethereal light at that very moment. If there was ever such a person to preach patience to Cassie, Diana was the only one she would actually listen to.
Yet, even now Cassie was testing that very piece of knowledge, "They've been in there too long. Something's not right."
"This is a covert operation, you know we are to only get involved if matters become dire."
Cassie slumped down onto one of the large rocks littering the ground. She muttered under her breath, "Yeah, but it doesn't mean I want to sit here and do nothing."
"I hope you knew that I would hear that," Diana spoke with indifference.
Blushing heavily, Cassie turned her face downward. It was enough to be embarrassed by her mentor, but to look her in the eye while doing so? No.
Diana kept her focus on the volcano, awaiting any signal from her comrades. The girl didn't mean anything by what she said. Anyone could see that the anxiety of being kept away from battle got to the protégé of Wonder Woman. Diana had once felt the same yearning for the battlefield as the young blonde had now. That very yearning and drive to do good in man's world made the Amazonian leave her island of Themyscira decades ago. She had never regretted that decision and only hoped that Cassie was driven by the same things that she was, and that she might one day meet Diana upon the same tier; as equals.
Catching a quick glance at the young girl who had just taken off one of her shoes to shake out a loose pebble made Diana realize that she might be waiting a few centuries before that day ever came.
Cassie knew she felt something rolling around in her shoe, and it was going to drive her crazy if she did not find it. She had barely been walking, so why did she have to sit down in the middle of a perilous mission and dig for a possibly non-existent pebble.
If there was one and if she did find it, she would take it in between two of her fingers and snuff it out. She'd make sure that not even an atom of the tiny rock would exist after she was done with it.
Now, if she were, to be honest with herself, she'd accept that the pebble wasn't what was bothering her. She'd come to terms with her disappointment that all of this sitting and waiting did not come up to par with her usually fast-paced and action-packed missions. She'd tell Diana that she didn't have the stomach for just sitting there and doing nothing while her friends were inside enemy lines, risking their lives.
She and Superboy were the ones who were near-bulletproof. They could take the damage and give it right back to those aliens. They should have been able to just bust through the joint, gotten the information on the Kroloteans that they needed, and been on their merry way, to Hades with anything and everything that got in their way.
"That's right," a voice spoke against her mind. It felt as though it was said right against her ear and then drifted down along her back, sending a frenzy of shivers down her spine.
Cassie's head whipped around to see who spoke, but there was no one but her mentor several feet away. Her eyes scanned the small trees and vegetation around her, but nothing in them moved with the exception of the gentle breeze that fell across the landscape. Deciding it was nothing, Cassie sat back down on her rock. She brought her hand up to her ear, wringing it out as though whatever she heard was just a fluke.
Her commlink suddenly beeped to life, "Nightwing to Delta Squad, enemy is attempting escape. Request back up."
"That's our queue," Cassie squealed. Without a single moment of hesitation, she leaped into the air heading straight for the mountain.
The loud roar of the Manta-Flyer's engines made it easy to understand that Kaldur'ahm's men were making their escape. In Cassie's mind; like hell they were.
She ran full-speed at the craft, "They're getting away!"
Luckily for her, La'gaan was hot on her tail, "We'll stop them!"
"Negative," Nightwing interrupted through the commlinks, "We have a bomb down here, alien tech. I cannot disarm it."
'A bomb? Why here?' Cassie's mind asked. She didn't think to answer it as she continued to run a little bit further down the dock leading to where the Manta-Flyer was. She only slowed down after hearing Nightwing's communications, and when she realized she could not catch up to the escaping ship. She could only stare as the intensely dark flyer sunk under the waves, it's massive size represented by its hulking shadow. Then, she saw as that same shadow fell underneath the rocky interior of the secret watery-entrance of the volcano and disappeared into the depths of the ocean.
Within seconds, Nightwing spoke again, "All squads, evacuate to Bioship. Now!"
She turned back to see that La'gaan had not halted in his tracks as she had. Instead, the Atlantean had regrouped with his mentor, Aquaman. The two taking on several Krolotean mechs that were firing on them. Luckily for La'gaan, he was given enough time in between the mechs individual attacks to be able to go into his puffer mode, which allowed his upper body and strength to grow to a gargantuan size.
Taking ahold of a large boulder that had fallen from the ceiling earlier in the fight, La'gaan chucked it right at one of the mechs that were showering him with plasma blasts. The mech dodged the projectile and continued to fire at Cassie's teammate.
None of the other mechs seemed to have noticed Cassie, as she stood out on the open battlefield unmolested. Not wanting to risk fighting on anything but her own terms, Cassie pulled herself up into the air right alongside her mentor.
Down on one of the base's catwalks, Cassie spotted Batman and two of his subordinates, Batgirl and Robin, dodging fire from the mechs. Batgirl evaded them by performing several backflips and back handsprings like they were nothing. Coming out of one her handsprings, she threw a batarang directly into the front of one of the mechs that were shooting at her. Though it exploded on impact, it did little to bother the Kroloteans machine, as it continued to fire at her; forcing her to do even more impressive maneuvers to get out of its weapon's range.
'Perfect gymnast that she is...has to make everybody feel insecure about everything,' the little voice in Cassie's head whined.
The voice did go silent as Cassie looked down on Robin, who had just pushed back several Krolotean soldiers. The little green creatures scurried away as Robin swung his bo-staff from one hand, around the back of his neck, and into his other hand, forcing them further from him and his teammates. There were two of the Kroloteans that were able to get past him and run down one of the bases many hallways.
One of the Kroloteans finally spotted her, as it pointed up to the air where she was hovering. Several of the aliens drew out guns, also alien in their nature, that was probably a foot taller than their wielders. Cassie was able to shield herself behind her bulletproof bracelets just as they were beginning to lay fire on her.
The sheer brightness of the blasts forced Cassie to close one eye and leave the other squinting to the point that the eye was almost closed. The heat that was coming off her bracelets was nearly as intolerable, but she had to hold on long enough to get a good moment to redirect the blasts that were being aimed at her and throw them back at the aliens. She was able to see the small group of them hiding behind some fallen rocks. Taken that she was high up in the air, they'd be an easy target if she could just fire back at them.
Far behind her, she heard Batman shout, "You heard Nightwing, move!"
She turned her one good eye to see Robin and Batgirl fleeing down a tunnel, which must have been their way in, as Batman followed only a few seconds behind them. Said Batman's command was just the thing that Cassie had been waiting for, as most of the Kroloteans that were firing on her looked up to see what the winged-crusader was yelling about. Taking advantage of their distraction, Cassie pushed back on the blasts, angling her two gauntlet-covered wrists so that her shots would hit the Kroloteans on both ends of their cluster, and it worked.
Dodging more of the fire from the Kroloteans, she met back up with Diana, swinging around so that the two would fly down to Aquaman and La'gaan. Diana picked up the King of Atlantis, and Cassie nabbed her teammate. The four went up and out through the hole that Superman's heat vision ever so helpfully created.
"Oh come on," La'gaan grumbled to Cassie. "I wasn't done yet!"
"Yeah, well, you're done now. The place is gonna blow."
The Amazons and their carry-ons made it through to the outside, right above where the Bioship had just landed. Cassie let go of La'gaan right as their feet touched the ramp that led inside the ship. Batman along with his two subordinates trailed not too far behind.
Cassie made it into the ship's cargo hold and came up to the entrance of the main hull. La'gaan sped up in front of her, so he entered the hull first and cried, "Neptune's beard."
From where she was standing, Cassie was able to see two Kroloteans seated comfortably in two of the ship's seats. One in the front, and one at the controls. The one at the controls began to speak, "Hello, Megan." It suddenly morphed into the familiar guise of M'gann M'orzz, Miss Martian. At the same time, the other alien transformed back into Martian Manhunter. "Knew we forgot something."
Without even taking a step into the hull, Cassie felt a gloved hand grab onto her shoulder and eased her to the side away from the doorway. The blonde turned to see Barbara was holding onto her as Batman swept past them, as though he did not see them there. Cassie smiled at Barbara, silently thanking her for being saved from blocking the terrifying man.
Just a few feet away from Barb stood Robin, his head cast downward. Though with the angle that his mask was in, Cassie could have sworn that if he was not wearing it, he'd be looking right at her. So, assuming that, she turned looked directly at him and nodded. The boy's head turned away from her, not returning the acknowledgment.
From the central hull, M'gann firmly spoke, "Find a seat, it's time to go."
Superboy yelled, "Wait, where's Superman."
"It's too late," Batman replied calmly. "We have to leave now."
Robin brushed aside Barbara, heading right into the other room without as much as a side glance to Cassie, even though she was standing only inches away from him. Cassie had to make a sideways glance at Barb to make sure she was seeing things correctly. The other girl just threw a shrug and a half smile at her friend and pushed her on in to find seats.
Barbara moved to the front of the ship were the rest of her family was sitting. That left Cassie to stand around staring at a room full of seats that had already been commandeered by someone. Her and Superboy's eyes met for a second, as he was sitting in the closest seat to her.
He got up from the spot and moved closer to her, "Take it."
Cassie wouldn't argue with him, as the amount of worry etched onto his face made her not even want to look him in the eye; given the irrational fear that if she did, the death glare that he would give her would be so powerful, the ability to shoot lasers out of his eyes that everyone was told was accessible to all earthbound Kryptonians, (save him) would suddenly become available to him and he'd kill her instantly.
The Bioship took off into the sky just as Cassie had taken the freshly made vacant seat and buckled in. She was very thankful to Superboy, as the speed that the ship was going at was giving off so much force, Cassie could feel herself being pushed into her seat. Behind her head, she could feel Superboy's fingers digging into her chair. He was doing his best not to do so, but she couldn't really blame him. The ship needed to go at its breakneck speed so that it could avoid the blast of the bomb still sitting on Manila Island. It was due to go off any second.
When it did, boy did it go off. The sound of what could only be described as a faint puff of air came up behind the ship. It didn't suddenly roar up to the forefront of everyone onboards eardrums, it instead gradually grew louder and louder, as an intense bright yellow light raced towards the fleeing heroes.
The light engulfed the Bioship in a dome of its fierce brightness. Cassie felt as though it was creating a pulsing effect on her mind, giving her wave after wave of acute pressure inside her head.
Then, there came a surge of energy, hitting the back of the Martian craft and sending anyone that was not seated up against any wall or ceiling. Luckily, the only people not seated were Aquaman and Superboy, they could take the hit. Still, Cassie felt a small part in the back of her brain feel bad for the two, especially since she had been given one of their seats. Yet the majority of her focus was riding out the tremendous amount of discomfort and head that was radiating off of the energy cloud surrounding her.
To her, It was as though she was on a rollercoaster, going down the first big hill of the ride; but she could not feel the ride's decline give way to another incline. It just kept going down and down, with no end in sight.
M'gann did get the ship to go higher into the atmosphere, which lead the whole team out of the imminent death trap and back out into the clear night air.
Cassie looked out through the ship's panoramic window to see the explosion that had engulfed the entirety of Malina Island. 'Gods,' she found her mind saying over and over again as the evidence of the island's destruction became more clear.
The volcano, what was left of it after the Kroloteans hollowed it out, the ship inside of it, and all of the Kroloteans that were there, were now nothing more than a memory.
Thinking about those aliens, who caused nothing but trouble, made Cassie's loud and befuddled mind go silent. The bright cloud that could have eaten her up only moments ago, had wiped away those creatures from existence. As much as she wanted to stop thinking about it, one thing resurfaced in her memory; Superman.
The group had to circle around the island only for a few moments to try and find the unconscious Kryptonian. He was quickly taken aboard and inspected for injury. Since there was no big fuss going on in the cargo hold where he was being held, Cassie assumed he would make a full recovery.
Her thoughts went directly back to the explosion in which he was hurt in, "What just happened?"
M'gann wasted no time in replying, "The Kroloteans were clearly trying to build a new ship."
"They had to angelfish," La'gaan interrupted. "It was their only way to leave Earth without their Zeta platforms or their original ship."
Cassie's eyes darted between the two, "But, was Aqualad helping them escape? Or luring them into a trap?"
La'gaan turned his head back so that he was facing straight onwards, not answering Cassie's question. Cassie turned to see that M'gann had also turned away, avoiding any eye contact with whom she was just talking to. Taking this as a "now's not a good time to ask" moment, Cassie slunk back down in her seat, silently pondering why Aqualad would want to hurt his so-called business associates.
Mount Justice
January 7th, 18:16 EST
Cassie loved to work with the training dummies inside the Cave's workout room. She still loved training and sparring with her teammates in the Cave's mission room, sure, but she liked to beat up a partner that didn't have thoughts or feelings. Or breakable bones. So it was nice to cut loose on them.
Although, she had gotten reprimanded once or twice by Nightwing because she had broken six dummies within a month. She couldn't cut completely loose, but she could let go just a little bit, and that was heaven to her.
She struck a few jabs at one of the dummy's arms, and then roundhouse kicked with a little assistance from her ability to hover in the air. Most of her Amazonian sisters would call that cheating, she saw it as using her abilities to the full of their potential. She also was not engaged in real combat, so it didn't really count.
For her, the earlier day had been a truly stressful day, as the small amount of Krolotean information that M'gann and her uncle, Martian Manhunter, had swiped from Malina Island during that fateful mission had to be heavily decrypted and translated before they could do anything with it. No one, not even Batman knew how long that was going to take.
To add insult to injury, Cassie's thoughts kept going back to the Kroloteans on that island.
Frustrated, the young girl started to rapidly punch at the dummy, trying to hit the same spots over and over again. The images of the creatures still swam around in her head. She had to keep reminding herself that they were the bad guys, she shouldn't feel sorry for them. If M'gann, who was one of the sweetest people Cassie knew, barely even flinched at the thought of the dead aliens, she shouldn't either.
"Your friend is right," a voice in the back of Cassie's mind whispered.
The voice made Cassie pause in her assault on her wooden adversary. Breathing heavily, she waited to see if it would speak again. A few moments passed with no reply, and she chalked it up to her exhaustion catching up to her. She pushed it from her thoughts and began punching the doll again.
"How can you sit by as the crimes that those things did get swept aside; forgotten?" the voice came again. Agitated, yet still calm. "Do you truly care so little for your fellow man that you're skin does not crawl to think about what they did to their prisoners?"
Cassie kneed the dummy in its center, "The abductees told us what happened, they were barely harmed."
"Yes, but how many more of those vile monsters maintain a presence here? A hundred? A thousand? Does your "team" truly care to know?"
Cassie grew upset, "We're doing our best!"
"I know you are, but what of your masters?"
"I don't have any masters! Shut up!" Cassie punched a hole straight through the dummy's head.
Realizing very quickly what she did, Cassie regained a bit of herself before trying to pull her hand back out of the dummy, but it became stuck. The damn head had to be ripped right off of the body, but then its head was still stuck on Cassie's wrist.
'I'd tell you to be careful of that temper of yours,' the voice spoke mocking her. 'I was not even trying to offend you.'
Cassie felt relief as the presence of the voice left her mind, as gentle as though it were as thin as a gossamer. She was left alone in the room with her hand stuck in her dummy's head.
"Great job, Cass," she whispered to herself.
As she tried to pull her hand out from the block of wood, she noticed a presence lurking in the doorway. Unable to get her hand out, she huffed in frustration, giving up the embarrassing task. Though, she would rather clean Beast Boy's bedroom for a month than let whoever was watching her see her embarrassment.
"Yeah, I broke it. I'll pay for another one," she said while she turned to look at her visitor. Both her normal hand and her unusually weighted one resting on her hips in defiance.
Standing halfway in the room, just about as comfortable as he could be, was Robin. The tall boy's deep black cape hung well over him, covering up his chest so much, Cassie could only see a glimpse of red beneath his cloak. His eyes resting right on Cassie's stuck hand.
"Do you need help?" he asked.
"What?" Cassie looked down at her hand. She took it off of her hips, examining it, "No, no. It's fine-I've got under control."
The boy nodded, biting his lower lip like it was an unconscious reflex. He re-anchored his feet on the ground, wobbling a little as he did so. Then he just stood in his spot, saying and betraying nothing.
With the two of them just standing there, it was plain as day that the boy was deeply uncomfortable with being there. Cassie had no idea why he'd continue to say if he had no reason to be there. Maybe he was waiting for a chance encounter with Nightwing or one of the other senior members of the team to show them what she had done to the dummy.
Not wanting to give him that chance or be any more awkward than she already was, Cassie licked her lips, "If you're going to tell Nightwing, I'll just do it for you."
"I wasn't going to say anything," he said a little quieter than usual. If that was possible for him. "Besides, if he did see it, he'd already know it was you."
Cassie opened her mouth, only to shut it seconds later, 'He's right. Of course, he's right,' her mind raced.
Dead silence filled the room again. Neither one of the teenagers looked the other right in the eye, as that would increase both of their anxieties. Cassie fiddled with some of the loose pieces of wood that were projecting from the block attached to her hand, she didn't really think about if it would give her splinters. She was just hoping that the raven-haired boy across the room would either leave or say something.
Right on cue, "Are you sure you don't need help-"
"No, I'll be fine. Thank you."
"I'll...see you then," He nodded again and continued on his way down the hall. His cape fluttering behind him.
Standing alone in the workroom, Cassie didn't find herself thinking about her encounter with the boy wonder. She wasn't even really thinking about him or what she said to him. She couldn't quite put into words what she was thinking about, all she could say is that whatever it was that she was thinking about, helped her become so focused or relaxed, whichever of the two she was feeling, that she was able to slip the block right from her hand, freeing it once again.
She rubbed at the irritated red skin as the block fell to the floor, creating a loud enough thud that she was sure that Robin heard it down the hall, or wherever he was.
Author's Notes: Thank you all so much for reading. I know it probably wasn't worth the wait, but we'll be getting to more Tim and Cassie centered moments soon. Please leave a comment or review if you want, they help me get to writing quicker.
Cheers,
EKG