Mount Justice
January 8, 20:49 EST
It was a bit unusual for Tim to shower so early in the evening. Usually, his evening patrols with Batman would keep him out until one or two in the morning. If he was with the team, he'd only get to clean himself up after debriefing and returning home to Wayne Manor. That would usually mean he'd be out of the shower and in bed at around three. If he was lucky, he'd get a few hours rest before he had to get up and attend classes at Gotham Academy.
His schedule was always that hectic, but he could handle. To be honest, he didn't think he could handle a normal sleep schedule anymore.
This week though was peculiar tough, as it made him as busy as ever with his team's missions and all of the schoolwork he had to catch up on in his downtime. Despite all of that craziness, he found himself in the Cave late at night on a weekend with nothing to do. No mission, homework, or any other engagements crossed his mind. He was utterly free.
So, he didn't see it as much of a crime if he would take a shower there at the Cave instead of at home. The showers were always vacant, so he was able to slip in and out of the washrooms in under ten minutes, clean as a whistle.
He walked down the empty corridors of the Cave wondering where everyone had gone. Malcolm and Karen were most likely out on the town, and Nightwing said he and a few of the other seniors were going out to investigate a lead on the Light's connection with the Kroloteans and they wouldn't be back till later; but that didn't explain where everyone else was.
Rubbing his hand along the back of his neck and into the ends of his damp black hair, Tim heard a loud commotion coming all the way down from the tv room. No doubt it was his fellow teammates. He was intrigued to see what was causing them to yell so much.
He strolled into the tv room just as Jaime's arm flew over the coffee table reaching for his friend's handful of cards, "Gar, that is cheating!"
"No it's not, I made my bid," Garfield complained. His face took on a look of sudden despair, he turned to Cassie for reassurance, "I did do that right, Cassie?"
"Yes," lounging blonde agreed, pulling herself up from where she was leaning against the room's bright green couch. When earlier that evening she had suggested to Garfield, Jaime, and La'gaan that she teach them Pitch, she also gave them the idea that they should all sit on the floor around the coffee table as a way to draw them closer. Only now, Gar's competitive side was rearing its ugly head by peeking at everyone's cards. It was fittingly though with how much he was craning over to peak at other's cards, his cards became visible to his Atlantean friend.
La'gaan's eyes daggered his younger friend, "Nice going moron, now I know you're holding an ace." Garfield leaned back to his original spot and threw down a five of clubs.
Cassie's eyes shifted towards her own cards, "I hope you weren't planning on that being low." As she said that, she laid down a 2 of clubs right next to Gar's card.
La'gaan and Jaime both threw cards of little consequence into the pile. Jaime took all but Cassie's 2, which made Garfield mutter in irritation.
While Cassie marked down everyone's points onto a spare napkin, Tim approached the table, "Are you playing High Low Jack?"
"We call it Pitch, but yeah," Cassie stated.
La'gaan got up from his seat, "You want to join? You can take my place."
Before Tim could say no, he had already been handed the Atlantean's pile of cards. He was halfway out the the door before he had made the excuse that the game had gotten stale. Tim could have just walked away, but he figured that he didn't have any reason to not play. So without a second thought, he took La'gaan's place at the coffee table. Right next to Cassie.
Cassie looked to him, "You ever played this?"
"Once. I'm surprised you have."
With the deck in her hand, the blonde casually dealt out the next hand. "Whenever my mom would take me on digs with no wifi, we'd play this." After dealing out everyone's cards, she glanced over at the scoreboard, "We're playing to twenty one. You-or La'gaan had sixteen points, Jaime has twelve points, Gar has eight, and I have nineteen. You bid first."
Tim looked at the hand he was dealt, "We each try to get high, low, jack, and game with one suit of cards, right?"
"Yeah. If you think you have all four; you bid four points. If you think you only have the highest and/or lowest of a suit, or you have the jack of a suit, then you can bid two," Jaime confirmed. He turned his head to Cassie, silently asking if he was right in his description of the rules.
She nodded. "Game is settled by adding up the values of all face cards at the end of every round. If you bid two or three but you don't get the points, we'll subtract whatever you bid from your current score"
"Okay, I'll bid three."
"Right off the bat?" asked Jaime.
Tim shrugged, "Why not. It's not like I'll win."
Jaime and Garfield laid their cards face down, each murmuring a pass under their breath.
Cassie however, was not so quick to pass. She sat staring at her cards, shuffling them around as though looking at them in a different progression would make it better. She let out a dramatic sigh, "Well, shoot, I was gonna bid three." She sighed a few more times, letting the fingers of her free hand tap the Lone Ranger theme song against the coffee table.
"Whenever you're ready," Garfield whined.
"Alright, I'll bid four," Cassie whined right back. She threw down a three of diamonds, "I'll count that as low."
From the corner of her eye, Cassie could see that the boy sitting next to her was looking a little perturbed. "Uhm…" He pulled a single card from his deck and laid it down, revealing it as a two of diamonds.
There was a moment of silence that swallowed up the room. Cassie could understand that the game was continuing, as Jaime and Gar were putting down their own cards and then handing the cards over to the apparent winner of the round, but her eyes were solely focused on the tiny printed number two. It mocked her.
Shaking it off for a moment, Cassie noticed Jaime had placed down a five of clubs, which made a perfect target for the queen she had in her hand. Neither of the other two players at the table had any objection to this play, and she was able to clean up the table and keep her queen. In the back of her mind, she had been hoping that it was going to be considered the high of the round. She had to rely on that hope, as it was the only thing that made her feel that she could keep the Jack she had saved for the last part of the round.
She led again with a small clubs, one she was willing to sacrifice. The batboy next to her didn't hesitate in throwing down a ten of clubs, which neither Garfield or Jaime could succeed it taking. So the round went to Robin.
Cassie started to regret throwing away her queen when there was a ten out there. Oh well, if she was going to fail in getting her four points for this round, the least she could do was make sure that the boy wonder wouldn't get any points either.
That would prove more difficult than she would believe.
In the last part of the round, Garfield and Jaime had revealed they both had terrible cards. There was no way Cassie could keep herself from smiling as she threw her Jack down onto the table for everyone to see, "Read it and weep." Her hands moved for the pile of cards that were to be her winnings-
"Not so fast," Robin said without any hint of remorse. He laid directly above her Jack, his own ace. "I think these both belong to me." Cassie didn't object. She physically couldn't. No part of her body would move. "So, that would make my two count as low, the ace as high, the jack as well, jack and...the ten as game. Cause I don't think your queen beats a ten."
Garfield wasted no time in saying, "It doesn't."
"Great, then that gives me high, low, jack, and game. All four points." With that, Robin swept up all of the cards, and all of Cassie's hopes of winning anything.
She sat in her spot for a few moments doing a great impression of someone in a coma. No help came from her as all three guys grabbed at the cards and put them back into the box they came in.
"Why did I suck at that game?" Garfield wondered out loud.
"You suck at a lot of things. It's the Law of Averages," Jaime said rather casually.
That riled Gar up, "That's not how that works!"
As the two bickered, they moved into the kitchen area to see if there were any Chicken Whizees left in the pantry. Jaime doubted it, but Garfield made the point that it was always a safe bet to look. Robin did not follow, as he lingered in the living space a few feet away from the stone-like Cassie.
"You okay, Cassie?"
There was a moment of pause, "Yeah." And then another, "Yeah." Only followed by another few moments of silence where Cassie didn't blink or show any emotion whatsoever. "Actually,no. I don't like you right now."
She got up from her spot to move towards the kitchen, with a bewildered Robin close behind her just as Nightwing's voice came over their earpieces, "Robin, Wonder Girl, Blue Beetle, and Beast Boy, report for mission briefing."
Garfield slammed one of the pantry doors shouting, "Mission time!"
New York City
January 9, 21:38 EST
Cassie could forgive Nightwing for not handing out life-threatening missions so soon after Malina Island. It was too soon for any information that was taken from there to be used, and Cassie didn't want to think about how Aqualad's defection was affecting all those around her. That aside, she couldn't help but be a little underwhelmed with the itinerary of her evening.
Shadow the movements of the United Nations' Secretary General? This hardly qualified as a mission for Gamma Squad, let alone Beta. There were no noticeable death threats made to the General's life recently. In fact, his favorability in the polls had been at a record high for the past few weeks.
Only thing was that the spike in his popularity was made when the General himself was in captivity and replaced with an alien impostor. So, take it or leave it. Nightwing feared there might be another attempt to abduct the General, so that brought Cassie to where she was now. Flying above the official's entourage.
Nightwing's heart was in the right place, but he couldn't get the League interested in the job? No, instead she had to be part of the glorified security while the General spent the night brushing elbows with the world's elite.
Robin's voice cut in over her thoughts, "Remember team, we're only to follow the Secretary General until he returns to the UN at 2300."
With him being the team leader, he decided that the squad would be better splitting up into twos, one on the ground and the other in the air. Seeing as he was the only one who couldn't fly, he elected to hijack one of Nightwing's old motorcycles and follow the motorcade from a few cars behind. Garfield followed up on Robin's decision by shifting into a mouse and hiding in one of Robin's pockets. That left Cassie and Jaime with aerial support.
"Who do you think the Secretary General has to meet with back at the UN? My money's on the President," Jaime yelled just loud enough for Cassie to hear over the wind.
Cassie rolled herself around in mid air in order to look at Jaime, "Don't know. It'd be pretty sinister if he'd had a secret meeting with the President at eleven o'clock at night."
"Yeah, but it'd be the perfect time!"
"Why?"
"No one...would be awake-Hermana, I don't know...time zones or something." Two seconds later, he caught himself on his logic. He laughed hesitantly, "No wait, they'd be in the same time zone…"
Cassie couldn't stop herself from joining him in laughter, though hers was genuine versus Jaime's awkwardness. It was rare for them to be a part of the same squad and that just made Cassie feel all the poorer for it. She and the beetle had always gotten along. Heck, she was one of the people who got him to join the team in the first place.
Robin's voice came through her comm-link, "You got visuals on Tseng?"
Following his words, the blonde looked down to notice that the Secretary General's car had already left the busy New York streets and pulled up to the atrium of a hotel. A mass of people, all media no doubt, had begun to crowd around his and his security's cars. The flash of cameras and phones could still be easily seen from the height that Cassie and her teammate were at.
Jaime did Cassie a favor by reporting in, "Sí, jefe is being escorted into the building. Right on schedule."
"Confirmed. Continue on to the rendezvous point. Beast Boy and I will join you asap. Radio in if there's any trouble. Clear?"
Both Cassie and Jaime's responses, her "clear" and his "entendido" overlapped over the other.
Robin made a good team leader, which was a given with any member of the Bat family, but Cassie felt that he didn't need to remind them of what their mission was. Nightwing had already seen to hammering in each step of this mission into their skulls. First, meet with Tseng and his security detail, then the second part came the unending crawl towards the Secretary General's obligations that evening.
The third part was being executed at that moment as Cassie and Jaime flew towards one of the larger skyscrapers in the area. It was a good place to meet not only for its location (which was right across the street from Tseng's party), but also for its height. See, the roof that the pair was about to land on was just a few levels above the floor Tseng was going to be on, but there was enough distance between them that they were at the right angle to see everything going on within the party. And they were high up enough no one would notice four kids staring intently at an adult gathering.
The two landed safely, and immediately began checking every corner of the place for any sign that someone was already there.
"Roof's secure," Jaime radioed in.
"Understood," Robin answered. "Will be arriving soon, e.t.a two minutes."
Cassie looked over the roof once again, seeing that there was not much to be seen. There were just a few edge barriers around it just to keep anyone from having any funny ideas, and the only other noticeable thing there was the door marked as the rooftop entrance. Jaime strolled over to the edge, giving him the perfect vantage point for watching the Secretary General's position. One of his armored hands transformed into what looked like a pair of high-tech binoculars. Him bringing them up to his eyes confirmed that idea in Cassie's head, "See anything interesting?"
"No, nothing's going on."
She walked over to join him in his watch. Her eyes darted across the street to the giant panes of glass which let her look upon what seemed like a warm and fun party. A subtle crackling fire which no doubt brought some warmth into the room. Some twinkling lights hung around the room along with some garlands and other decorations to make it feel festive. The Secretary General's wave of bodyguards moved throughout the room, letting only Tseng's hand out of their protection to shake the hands of anyone brave enough to walk up to his intimidating guards.
Overall, the party just seemed too nice for anything exciting to happen. Just gazing over at it made Cassie just want to fly over and crash it. Maybe steal a few horderves before being shuffled out of the building. Who knows? Maybe one of the dignitaries there would love to meet Wonder Woman's protege? All of those thoughts just made standing out in the cold even more unbearable.
"It's only for one night," Cassie silently repeated to herself. Blue Beetle was known on the team as the guy who mutters weird things to himself, and she was not prepared to join him in that regard. To keep her mind occupied, she tried to envision any reason as to why they'd be helpful outside.
The scenario she liked the best was someone down at ground level was going to grapple their way up the side of the building and blow up the party. What look would be on that person's face when they come face-to-face-to-face-to-face with Blue Beetle, Wonder Girl, and Beast Boy? Robin would be back down on the ground with bat cuffs waiting for them to bring him the perp. Cassie sighed, as that scenario would only work if bat cuffs were a real thing. She wasn't prepared to ask Robin whether or not they were real. She didn't need anymore weird conversations with him. Plus, she was still kinda mad that he beat her at pitch.
And speaking of the devil, the roof entry door swung open to reveal the boy wonder and his green-skinned sidekick. Right before Robin was about to speak, Garfield beat him to the punch, "Anything we miss?"
"No, ese. Just a bunch of talking. Anything happen on ground level?"
Robin didn't take the time to reply, instead choosing to move over next to him and watch the party in silence.
Garfield came up from behind Cassie and stood next to her, but honestly she didn't notice. She was too preoccupied watching her team leader watch a bunch of people who she's never heard of. The only foreign dignitary that she ever paid attention to was the ambassador Themyscira. And she was back in the homeland taking care of some treaty between the Amazons and some place called Bana-Mighdall. At least she thought it was a treaty. It could have been a trade agreement or something, when Diana was talking about it, Cassie's attention faded in and out of the conversation.
Cassie had to wonder what was going on in that little investigator's mind. Were there any threats to the Secretary General? Which people at the party drew his attention? What details was he seeing that she didn't?
Perhaps in a bid to air some of his thoughts, Jaime started talking out loud, "Security said they had the building surrounded. Airspace is clear too. If anything bigger than a drone get within a mile of the building, they'll know about it."
Robin didn't seem to understand, "What's your point?"
"My point is, if extraterrestres really do want to kidnap him again, it's more likely they'll attack from the inside and not the out. We should be in there."
Cassie couldn't help but agree with Jaime. But Robin had other ideas, "And have the Secretary General explain to a room full of dignitaries why one of his bodyguards is green? No offense, Beast Boy."
"None taken," said Garfield. Though he didn't sound mad, his tail quipped around too much. Like a cat's when it's about to strike. He then slunk away from the group, just so he could sulk over in some corner away from them. Cassie noticed that Robin took in Gar's acceptance of his apology, but he didn't seem to notice that his words against the boy were not taken as lightly as he thought they were. Cassie decided against confronting Robin or comforting Gar. Give or take a few hours, the two would kiss and make up.
It only took an hour for Gar to be talking to him again. Tim felt bad that he hurt his teammates feelings, but Gar always proved to him that he could bounce back from anything. So now, the two of them were monitoring any frequency changes within the hotel's security system. If anyone tried to override the cameras and sneak in, they know about it.
Jaime switched from watching the party to listening to it, as his armor switched from binoculars to a listening device strong enough to pick up all of the conversations being held across the street. Only he tuned in specifically to Tseng and all of his associates. This left Wonder Girl to fly around the building a few times to make sure there were no suspicious vehicles parked nearby. Tim could see her flying back to them, "See anything?"
"Again," she started. "Nothing."
He nodded to her as she moved back over to where Blue Beetle was stationed. The mission was almost over, so hopefully they could all relax and continue their monitoring without incident.
Gar apparently decided to use the quiet moment as an opportunity to ask Tim a question, "Rob, did you hear about the league? You know about…" Gar looked over to Cassie and Blue, both of whom were busy watching wavelengths on Blue's listening device go up and down. His voice then went into a whisper that was just as loud as his normal voice, "About the leaguers on Rimbor?"
That caught Cassie's attention.
Tim's eyes moved from his holographic screen over to Gar even though his mask hid this, "We should talk about this later."
Both Gar and Cassie's attention shifted back over to the party. Some of the guests had already left, and it looked like Tseng's group were about to depart as well. That would mean that all they had to do was get him back to the UN safely and the mission was a success.
Too bad Gar couldn't let things lie, "M'gann said the Green Lanterns are trying to get them a trial with some High Court there. To clear their names. But, that would mean that all the leaguers involved would have to go into space. That's like...breaking the Justice League in half."
"Gar," Tim snapped. When he turned his head to face him, he saw three sets of eyes staring back at him. He huffed, "I don't know what'll happen to them. I'd like to know, but we can't focus on that right now. We have a job to do."
Both Gar and Blue nodded and turned away. Cassie's eyes lingered. She didn't appear to be shocked by his outburst, there was only worry on her face.
Not wanting to be stared at any longer, he turned back to see that Tseng's entourage were moving for the exit.
Tim stood up just as his holographic screen disappeared, "It's time to go."
Mount Justice
January 9, 01:37 EST
All in all, it was a good mission. No one was hurt, the Secretary General was safe, and nothing exploded. That was a mark up compared to the ways that "simple security jobs" typically went for the team. Even if it was boring, Tim couldn't complain since nothing went wrong.
Nightwing didn't hide the pride within his voice, "Excellent work, Beta. Now hit the showers and head home."
Neither Blue nor Gar had to be told twice. The two raced each other as they headed towards the showers. Blue was in the lead before Gar turned into a falcon and zoomed past his friend.
Nightwing quietly congratulated Tim before he too marched off into a different part of the cave. That left him and Cassie alone in the briefing room. He was about to make her the last person in the room, but she spoke to him before he could make it to the zeta tubes, "Gar and I were talking about doing a night in here. You know, movies, tv, video games."
He turned to face her as she continued, "It's late and there's no point in going home, might as well stay up, right? Jaime said he's on board and La'gaan is already asleep. You in?"
Tim did take a moment to think about it, but then decided against it. "I should be getting back to Gotham. Maybe next time."
"Yeah, okay. I mean, I think we had enough team-building with the mission today. And with that card game earlier."
The two stood by silently. Tim didn't think it would be right for him to slowly back into the zeta tube behind him. But he didn't know what else to say, "T-That was fun, though. We should do that again. Y-you know, later. Not now. Cause I have to go home."
Cassie nodded along, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, hopefully I won't be such an ogre the next time I lose to you."
"What makes you think you'll lose next time?"
She shrugged, "Any time we've fought each other, you've won. It'd be pretty dumb of me to think that I'll beat you."
Why did that comment sting at Tim? "It's a bit pessimistic to think that you can't beat me. You might win next time, don't doubt yourself."
Even though the blonde smiled and nodded to him, Tim didn't really think that his words got to her. She played it cool, not letting any negative feelings slip as she quickly spoke, "Thanks, Robin. Now I'm gonna hold you to that next time, though. It'll be fun. Besides, you kinda need to lighten up- loosen up. Get crazy."
Tim feared that Cassie could see how much his eyes widened at that statement. His mind raced asking, "Do I respond to that?", "How do I respond to that?", "Can I just silently disappear like Batman? No, she is staring me and the zeta tubes are not silent."
Internally panicking, he decided the best way to successfully avoid any awkwardness was just to say one thing so he could avoid rambling or sounding weird, "Sure."
Avoiding awkwardness: failed.
The overall weirdness of the situation seemed to become too much for Cassie, as she backed away from him and headed back towards the kitchen. "I should get going, have a good night!"
She flew off down the hallway without a second glance towards him. Tim's mind still didn't know how to respond. Some part of his brain, probably the more logical part, must have known what to do, as he found himself moving back into the zeta tube. He wasn't fully comprehending what he was doing, but he was able to hear the computer above him read out, "Recognized: Robin. B20." as he disappeared into the ether.
Author's Notes: Well look who final got a new chapter up. I know nothing really happened in this chapter, but we'll get to where we're going eventually. I'm planning on making this thirty chapters long, with a possible epilogue. Idk. So please bear with me and maybe we both might make it to the end. Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated. Thanks for reading this.
Cheers,
EKG