Washington D.C.

January 22, 15:15 EST

The school bell hadn't finished ringing out the end of the school day and already, the school's hallways were swamped. It became so packed, Cassie had no other option than to shove her way through a cluster of fellow freshmen that were moving too slow for her.

She had almost broken through the group when a hand wrapped around her forearm, "Cassie?"

Her eyes looked down on the manicured nails that clung to her, then glided along the sleeve of a long black turtle neck up until she was staring her friend Liz square in the face. When she fully recognized who she was, Liz spoke again, "What the hell? Cass, I yelled at you like 20 times."

"Sorry," she replied. "I guess I wasn't listening."

"Yeah, I can tell." Liz wrapped her arm around Cassie's and marched with her down the hallway and out of the school. The two lived blocks apart from one another, but their buildings were close enough that they could share a walk home together.

When they came to a crosswalk, Liz started up again,"You know, we missed you at the last club meeting."

Just as the crossing signal turned, Cassie sighed. Liz got a few steps ahead of her, but Cassie quickly caught up, "History Club meets on Thursdays…"

"Don't worry, we survived without you."

"Nobody told me we were meeting up so early this year."

"Cassie, you're the president, you're in charge of the schedule," Even though Liz tried not to sound angry, Cassie could feel some amount of annoyance coming through her words.

"Well, why are there meetings that I didn't call for?"

Liz stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. Cassie took a few steps ahead, but stopped walking so she could turn back to face her friend, "What?"

"Cass, you've missed the last four meetings." Liz cleared her throat and pushed away the long chunks of brown hair that flew into her face as she spoke, "I've asked you for months, 'Do you know that we're meeting up this week? Are you coming back?' And you say yeah, yeah, you'll be there; and you never show up!"

Cassie stood by, mouth gaping open. When her mouth did close, she couldn't say if she did it on purpose, or if it was done unconsciously. Come to think of it, Cassie had no memory of the last time she joined her fellow history buffs for one of their discussions.

For several moments, neither of the pair moved or said anything. Both expected the other to talk first, so they stood at a standstill. Dozens of other classmates who lived nearby brushed past the two as though they were just a minor obstacle.

Liz eventually gave out, "Nobody knows where you've been. You don't talk to anyone anymore, especially me. Everybody thinks you're not coming back."

"Harsh," Cassie thought, but how could she fight back when Liz was absolutely right? For the past six months, she'd been juggling the responsibilities of being Wonder Girl, maintaining a decent GPA, as well as a shadow of a personal life outside of crime fighting. Of course, Diana told Cassie if her vigilante life became too much to handle, she'd let her back out. Her mother offered, more or less threatened the same thing if her grades ever slipped. Those two aspects weren't really the problems though. Scratch that, they weren't the parts that were suffering from lack of attention.

And here she was, staring at the proverbial ball she had dropped ages ago, "You're right."

Liz's blank face morphed into a puzzled look, "So, you're not coming back?"

"No, you're right to be angry with me. I've been neglecting you guys, I'm a bad president-"

"Cass, don't do that! We just want to know what's going on. If you're going through something-"

"No, it's my mom…" Cassie swallowed. "I got an internship with my mom. And it's taking up literally all my time."

Liz crossed her arms, "You mean you get to fly off to Greece every weekend? If so, sign me up."

"It's desk work. Nothing fun."

"Do you get to spend time with your mom?"

Cassie shrugged, "We have more video chats, but there's no small talk. It's all about cultural attachés and agreements with community guidelines. It's super boring."

"But you get to spend more time with her?"

"Yeah," she answered. Cassie had to keep her head down as she talked so that she didn't have to make eye contact with Liz. It made the lying a little easier. Still, a few truths did come out. "It only makes me miss her more."

"Hey, it's okay," Cassie felt Liz pull her into a tight bear hug. Without her super strength and durability, Liz would have been squeezing the life out of her. It didn't stop Cassie from reaching around and pulling her friend closer to her. Maybe she was holding her a little too tight, as her voice was strained when she said, "It's good you're spending more time with her. Everybody will understand. None of them could imagine living without their moms."

Cassie nodded along, pulling out of her hug. The cool winter chill was catching up to them, and staying out any longer sounded downright unpleasant. Arm in arm, the two walked at a faster rate to Liz's building.

Liz went on about what Cassie had missed in the last few meetings, though she didn't listen. Her thoughts about what she said to her friend were able to tune out any noise.

Lying to her friend wasn't new. The summer Cassie spent training with the Amazons was according to what she told Liz, a summer long dig with her mother in Athens. The first two months of her superhero career? Online archeology seminars. The level of trust Liz had for her friend's laundry list of excuses any time she had to bail on her made it all the worse. Hell, Cassie was terrified that one day, all those lies would blow up the second Liz turned on the news and saw Wonder Woman with a new blonde sidekick who looked a little too familiar.

Worst part was, she didn't want to keep such an integral part of her life a secret from her best friend. She wanted to show her how she could crush a pop can with her pinky. She wanted her to see Mount Justice. Meet Barbara, Robin, Jaime, and Gar. She didn't know how her friend would react to a green monkey boy, but she just knew Liz would like him. Liz would love all of it.

But Liz couldn't keep a secret. Come to think of it, Cassie was surprised she was able to keep her own mouth shut this long. How did she manage that?

Her thoughts were interrupted when a low beeping sound rang in her ear, "Right, Nightwing." He had to pick now to bother her.

Though the constant beeping was distracting, Cassie was able to turn her attention back to Liz's conversation. She was rambling on about the infighting on what subject each of the club's members wanted to talk about. Without Cassie's stern but fair hand there to negotiate, it sounded like everyone had become rather cutthroat about it. Luckily, Liz was able to keep everything afloat.

"I mean it's been wild," Liz exhaustingly stated. "I'm surprised you haven't heard anything about it."

"Don't you know I only listen to the cool kids drama?" Cassie joked. The two had walked so far that she could see that sitting at the end of the block was the old brick building Liz's family had lived in for years. Cassie pulled on her companion's arm to get her to move a little faster. The longer it took for them to get Liz home, the longer Cassie would have to listen to her earpiece beep at her. Only now, it was getting louder.

Liz didn't seem to mind the faster pace, "Vanessa Kapatelis gossiping over the latest drama concerning the History Club. What a picture."

Cassie responded in a loud and annoying voice, "I hear the nerds will be discussing the Peloponnesian War. Quite scandalous."

"Oh please, she couldn't spell Peloponnesian."

"I can't," Cassie laughed, delighted in the fact that Liz found it amusing as well.

Keys in hand, Liz went up the stairs that led into her home while Cassie remained down below. When she was able to unlock the front door, she turned, "Are you coming back? Because if you miss one more meeting, I'm staging a coup."

Cassie smiled, "Let's keep this peaceful. I'll tender my resignation tomorrow. Let you lead for a while."

"Just until your internship is over. Right?"

Cassie didn't know if she heard her say right. She couldn't hear it.

She must have, as she went inside without another word.

And Cassie was left alone.

Two men being pulled by their leashed dalmation rounded the corner near the apartment complex. The dog's frantic movements made it clear he wanted his dads to move faster, however, the couple made no effort to speed up their lovely stroll. They were so engrossed in each other that they didn't notice the sullen-faced young blonde girl they passed by. Even after they walked six blocks, they were oblivious to the fact that the girl was still standing there. Lost in thought.

The incessant beeping in Cassie's head finally ended when her fingers hit the earbud, "What?"

"Wonder Girl, report to the Cave." The voice was too rich to be Nightwing's.

It was Batman.

Cassie huffed in annoyance. There was no way she could talk her way out of going. Not when it was coming from him, "Acknowledged. Wonder Girl out."

Mount Justice

January 22, 16:16 EST

The Cave's computer loudly announced Cassie's arrival. As her eyes adjusted to her new surroundings, she felt all the other eyes in the room on her. From the oldest members on down to the newest recruits, Batman called in everybody.

M'gann and La'gaan stood the closest to the zeta tubes and they did nod to the newest arrival, but their attention was immediately drawn back to each other. Further away were Jaime and Garfield, messing about on the room's sparring circle. Mal, Karen, and Rocket weren't too far off, in the middle of their own conversation. Rocket's presence struck Cassie as odd, as it had been a few months since she left the team for the Justice League. Still, she was a welcomed surprise.

It looked like Barbara and Nightwing were missing. The same could not be said for the youngest member of the bat clan.

Robin lingered on the edge of the sparring ring away from the rest of the team. Cassie hadn't really seen him in the two weeks it had been since their last mission together, so she eagerly strode over to him.

With his cape covering up two-thirds of his body, she was still able to see that the boy was tense. The closer she got to him, the more prominent it became that he was physically uncomfortable. To make things worse, when she came to stand next to him, his body had tensed up even more.

"Did Batman call in everybody? I've never seen this many people here before."

"I guess," he muttered. His voice was so hard to hear, he may as well been talking to himself.

"What's going on?"

Robin chose not to look at her, instead he lowered his head to focus on his boots, "I don't know."

That was a surprise, "Batman didn't tell you anything?"

Still he refused to look at her, "I haven't seen him at all today."

Before she could get another word in, a door had opened somewhere in the cave. Both looked to where it sounded like it came from, but Robin was the only one who walked towards it.

Cassie's instincts shifted into automatic as she held onto his sleeve. That got his attention, "Robin, I thought you'd know what this was about."

She was met with his blank stare. Whatever his emotion was at that moment, he chose not to clue her in on it. All she got was her own look of confusion and concern reflecting back at her through his mask's lenses.

The sound of footsteps got him to turn away from her again, to where they both could see Batman and Superman entering the room. Behind them, a plethora of heroes. Captain Atom, Wonder Woman, John Stewart, Martian Manhunter, Icon, and both Hawkman and Hawkwoman. Seeing so many suited up heroes made Cassie wish she had changed out of her civilian clothes before she got to the cave.

"I think we're about to find out," Robin stated. "I'm sorry." This time as he was walking away, Cassie didn't try to stop him.

He slithered his way through the crowd all the way up to the front right next to Barbara and Nightwing who had appeared out of the blue. Probably when she was occupied with her teammate.

As Superman's speech began, Cassie's mind flitted about, focusing on anything but what the man was saying, "Many of you know that five years ago, six members of the Justice League were taken under the mental domination of Vandal Savage and the Light. The full picture of what happened during that time has been a mystery until now."

Batman continued, "For sixteen hours, six members of the Justice League attacked the planet, Rimbor."

The full weight of the situation was understood by everyone in the room. Whatever hope Cassie had of this being a minor issue was dashed.

Her eyes shifted to Barbara. Or, to the back of her head. The tall redhead hadn't reacted at all.

Neither had Nightwing.

Cassie scoffed, 'They probably already knew all this…'

"Ever since this has been brought to our attention," Superman continued, "We have been in contact with the High Court of Rimbor, with the Guardians of the Universe acting as a mediator. It has been decided… that we will go to Rimbor and stand on trial for what happened there five years ago…"

Neither side of the room spoke after that. Each member of the team processed the information internally, with some looking to each other to confirm with each other that they heard the same thing.

All the questions in anyone's heads were silenced by the one Superboy asked his mentor, "You're leaving?"

Superman nodded. And if that wasn't clear, he added a small but firm yes.

Cassie had some of her own questions to ask, "You're all going into space?"

"Yeah, that's where Rimbor is," La'gaan snickered.

Before Cassie could call La'gaan out on his comment, the rest of the team's courage returned to them, as they all had questions on what they were going to do.

"Who's gonna be left in charge," Karen asked.

Garfield followed up, "What happens when the bad guys find out?"

Each voiced concern piled on top of one another until the cacophony of displeasure made Nightwing yell, "Alright, enough!"

Taking his place in front of the Leaguers, facing his subordinates, he didn't mince words, "We're cleaving the Justice League in half. This is a new precedent for everyone. But we can't let that distract us from what we have to do which is this; keep the world safe. We have all of you and another dozen Leaguers here to make sure we can do that."

M'gann walked up beside him, "We're not alone. We can handle this."

Nightwing pointed to his superiors, "We know they're innocent, but they have to give their case. They need to give the citizens of Rimbor a chance at getting justice. If not, why call themselves the Justice League?"

The tense body language of all of her other teammates relaxed. Even Cassie begrudgingly admitted to herself that Nightwing was right.

Afterwards, a few statements were made by the rest of the League going into what they expected out of the team once they were gone. Their quote-unquote, "Don't burn the house down while we're gone" speech. Once they were done, Batman declared the meeting was over. A good chunk of the team had returned to whatever they were doing before they were summoned.

With nothing better to do, Cassie lingered in the middle of the room. She cast her eyes on Diana, and found her heading directly towards her.

Though she wanted nothing more than to curl up and avoid the conversation they were about to have, Cassie's feet shuffled a few steps forward to meet the Amazon.

How could she beg her greatest role model not to go? Or at least take her with the rest of the Leaguers. She had never been to space before. The idea of going outside Earth's orbit, zooming past moons and asteroids, off into a pocket of the universe she dared not dream of made the girl flutter with excitement.

But how long would they be gone? Would the aliens believe their story? What would happen if they didn't?

Cassie purged those questions from her mind. She couldn't keep them away forever, but she could at least fake a smile and enjoy what time she had left with Diana.

Besides, it looked like she'd have to get used to not having a mentor for a while.

Mount Justice

January 26, 00:14 EST

Tim wasn't ready to say goodbye.

He'd known for weeks that if Rimbor agreed to giving the league a trial, Batman and the others would leave without a second thought. There was no way they could let anyone, let alone a whole quadrant of space think that they were criminals.

It didn't take any of the sting away as he, Dick, and Barbara stood with their leader out on the cold New England beach. He could barely bring himself to say anything to the man.

Lucky for him, Dick had him covered, "Take care of yourself, alright?"

"I was about to say the same to you three. I fear we leave the more dangerous task here on Earth," he replied.

The three proteges shared a knowing look with each other. Sure, it'd be hard. They'd have to handle Gotham all by themselves. Not to mention they'd have to figure out a way to keep not only the Light and the majority of Batman's rogue's gallery in the dark about his disappearance, but the entire world. It was gonna be a tall order to fill.

"We'll manage," Dick cooly stated.

John Stewart's boom voice interrupted the bats' moment, "Time to go."

All of the leaguers destined for Rimbor gathered together on the shoreline. Captain Atom, Superboy, and Rocket formed their own group away from the other, designating it as the spot for all those who meant to stay on the planet.

Icon and both Hawks were ready to go. In their custody, bound with Wonder Woman's lasso of truth, was the weary Krolotean that Tim and his squad had captured back around New Year's.

That seemed so long ago for him, as each of the weeks following that incident and leading up to the moment they were at now had piled on top of him, weighing him down. The destruction of Malina Island only expedited his issues as that very night, he and Dick stayed up preparing press statements for their mentor's imminent departure. Though Batman was known to disappear for weeks on end, Bruce Wayne couldn't exactly drop off the face of the earth. Last time that happened, a media firestorm accused him of joining an off the grid cult.

He was with the League of Assassins. So, they weren't that far off.

Tim didn't like thinking about how the next few months would be. He didn't want to think about how quiet the house would be once he got back home. Back to the foreboding Gothic Wayne Manor.

It's long, dark hallways. Rooms he was still apprehensive to go in alone.

It'd be too much like his dad's old apartment after the crime scene tape was taken down and the cleaners had removed what little evidence remained. Except for the scratch marks in the floor. Tim had only spent a few hours there alone before Bruce swooped in and brought him to his new home.

A few days later, the adoption went into effect, and Bruce told him he'd never have to be alone again. And here he was, losing another father figure.

Tim trailed behind everyone in his family as they went to their respective sides. He noticed how unhappy M'gann was to let go of her uncle, but she nonetheless smiled at him when he waved his final goodbye to her.

On her way over to Tim's group, she passed by Cassie and Wonder Woman, who were finishing up their own hugs. The blonde giggled and wiped away the tears in her eyes as Wonder Woman joined the rest of the Leaguers. Cassie's one dimple showed itself long enough for Tim to catch a glimpse at. It always made him smile a little, but the look faded once he remembered how curt he was with her the day before. He let his unhappiness with the Rimbor situation get the better of him, and he took it out on his teammate.

He would apologize to her the next time they had a moment together.

As Green Lantern's ring cast a glowing construct around the leaving party, Wonder Woman called out, "May the gods be with you all."

The basic solid orb surrounding them transformed before Tim's eyes. It elongated, adding a rudder and two wings along with engines and thrusters. It perfectly reflected his image of what a space shuttle looked like, only with a few minor adjustments that he imagined would make the ship far superior to anything NASA ever built.

The main thrusters roared aloud as the ship rose above the beach. Gusts of wind whipped at the clothing and hair of those remaining on the ground.

Tim's eyes were protected behind his mask, but they reflexively squinted as he watched the ship climb higher into the air. Up to and above the peak of Mount Justice, and then even higher. It accelerated its speed as it left the atmosphere, growing closer to its destination, and becoming smaller and smaller to the naked eye.

And then it was gone.

With his head leaning up to look out to where he last saw the craft, he didn't see Captain Atom leave. He did hear Dick and Barbara walk away, so he figured he should leave with them.

Following along with them, M'gann, and Superboy, Tim made it a few steps before he turned around to check on Cassie and Rocket.

The two remained in their spots, and only Rocket seemed aware that he was looking at her. She quickly joined him and the rest of the group, but not Cassie. Her attention was focused only on the night sky. Cassie always wore her emotions on her sleeve, so seeing her with such a placid expression was new for him.

Maybe he could apologize to her now? After she gave him a tongue-lashing for how he acted, she'd forgive him. He wouldn't argue, he deserved it.

From behind Tim, Rocket yelled, "Are you coming?"

Both Tim and Cassie turned toward the voice. It was clear to him that she was talking to Cassie, but he took this as an opportunity to catch up with the others who were now several yards ahead of him.

Tim didn't have to turn back around to see Cassie walking back with them. He could hear her footsteps following him.

As much as he wanted to slow down so she could catch up, his feet kept on moving at their own pace, and she remained behind him.

And their awkward, silent march went on.

This is not a real goodbye, it's just the title of the chapter. There are many more chapters coming. I've had the time to go back and look at how I want the story to go, and suffice it to say, this will try to stick to what is canon but at the end, we are really jumping off the deep end.

Thank you for sticking around, please stay safe, wear a mask, keep donating to BLM and other organizations, and KEEP PROTESTING!

EKG