I do not own any of the Star Wars and DC characters and ideas represented in this work.
Barbara Gordon, in her Batgirl attire, walked along the Watchtower's pristine futuristic hallways with her older friend and co-heroine, Dinah Lance, but the rest of the world only knew Dinah's hero persona, Black Canary. Dinah has been Black Canary for probably a year or so and has been operating in Gotham, with Bruce's bat-seal of approval, of course, after her debut. Both of them met not long after when they crossed paths during a nightly patrol. Just like that, they got along pretty well. After all, there aren't really a lot of female vigilantes in Gotham; there was that one hero that goes by the name of Huntress, but neither Barbara nor Dinah had really gotten the chance to meet her until today.
In all of her time crime fighting, she and most likely Dinah never thought their careers as heroes would land them straight to a space station. Yeah, there was that one time with teaming up with Kara and becoming good friends with the Kryptonian, but going up in space was a step above. Working with Bruce had shown her different and strange things, especially in Gotham, but seeing all of these heroes in different forms really made her head spin. When she took the mantle of Batgirl, she never thought she would be looking through a window that showed Earth down below, but here she was.
Maybe it was the fact that she dealt with some relatively strange things that made her not be overwhelmed by the situation, because right now she was handling it better than Dinah. She especially took being teleported to the Watchtower more than Dinah; the first second they got teleported here, Dinah almost ran to the nearest bathroom, which thankfully didn't result in a puke filled toilet.
Walking on Canary's right, she saw the blonde keeping a continued stare at the protective glass that let anyone see space outside and the Earth spinning.
"Can you believe it, Batgirl?" Said the blonde, still showing a good amount of being figuratively and literally star-struck. She also noted that Dinah didn't call her 'Babs', seeing how they were still with strangers who didn't know their real identities—friendly strangers, if you can add to the statement.
"More than you know," Barbra replied.
Black Canary shook her head when they passed the long stretch of window that ended the beautiful view of Earth. "I just can't believe we're out here. I mean… Just the other day, I stopped two scumbags trying to rob a couple in Blüdhaven of all places," she gestured all around. "Now I'm in space!"
Barbara, having some time to process reality now, couldn't help but shrug. "I guess it's part of the hero lifestyle now."
"Still," Black Canary continued, "I don't know what we're supposed to do here, you know? Like you and me, the other street level crime fighters are expected to help out with the heavy hitters; I don't see how I'm going to help Supes stop an alien invasion or a demonic takeoff from happening."
Batgirl took the older woman's concern to heart and remembered that little team she had with Kara to take down Livewire, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn. "Personally, the more heavy hitters underestimate those that can't hit as hard, the more they get a little surprised when we fight smarter than them." She tapped her head, which was hidden in her bat-cowl.
Black Canary gave a smirk, "Is that fine word of wisdom from the big bat, or are they your own?"
"Uhhh." Batgirl said it with an unprepared answer that she herself barely knew. "Let's go fifty-fifty," she said, swaying her hands side to side.
Dinah giggled, tension leaving her. "Alright, I'll keep that in mind, and I definitely won't tell bats about the fifty-fifty possible plagiarized quote."
"Hey, sue me."
Canary snorted, "I'm sure you won't be saying that if he does." A few moments passed of them walking the steel hallway when Dinah commented, "Well, guess I'm bored now." She faced Barbara, "Wanna spar?"
Barbara thought about it and agreed internally but contested, "Yeah, I wouldn't mind doing that, but to be frank with you, I have no idea where the training room is."
Black Canary stopped in revelation, and so did Batgirl. "Great, you're right." The blonde hero looked around the hallway to see if she could spot anyone who could give them any discernible directions.
Coincidentally, both Batgirl and Black Canary saw the third Gothamite heroine, Huntress, walking down the hallway on their opposite sides. With average height and slightly tanned skin, she had raven hair that ended at her upper back. Huntress wore a dark purple-oriented costume with a white line that dragged itself from the middle of her collared neck, meeting another white line that went horizontal with her shoulders to the end of her lower chest. She had a cut-off of her costume that revealed her midriff, with a lighter purple utility belt at her hip. She wore the same dark purple thigh-highs that were integrated with boots and had arm gloves. All of it was topped off with a dark purple cape and a purple mask that had two points going up.
Not minding them going to a location she was previously walking to, she would have passed them except when Dinah tapped her on the shoulder. The black-haired woman stopped, then Canary asked, "Hey, you don't happen to know where the sparring room is, do you?"
Huntress eyed Canary, studied Batgirl, then regarded Canary and said, "Yeah, actually, I was just about to head there myself."
"Cool, you don't mind if we come, do you?" Black Canary asked.
Huntress shrugged nonchalantly and indifferently, "I don't care." Then I continued to walk in the direction that was probably the sparring area.
Batgirl and Black Canary looked at each other to give one another a silent look, then followed Huntress behind her. Boots clicking at their own pace, the trio of Gotham crime fighters silently walked along the space station's hallways for a considerable time until Black Canary tried to break the awkward silence.
"Sooo… Huntress right?"
Huntress had a side-long look over to Canary's direction. "Yeah, Black Canary, right?"
"Yep, how are you liking it so far?"
Huntress didn't respond for a brief time while the trio still walked. "It's alright, I suppose."
"You suppose?" Black Canary cheerfully and disbelievingly repeated back. "You don't think that being onboard a space station of all places is exciting enough?"
Huntress only blinked, "Exciting, sure, emotional to the point where I'm gawking like a fish? No. Sightseeing isn't really a hobby of mine. Besides, I work better by myself."
That last line really reminded Barbara of a certain caped crusader.
Black Canary had a look between laughter and confusion, she pointed out, "In that case, why join the League? Kinda defeats the whole purpose of going solo."
Batgirl noticed Huntress twisting her mouth for a moment, then adopting an expression of general annoyance. "Let's just say that someone didn't like how I was doing my job and decided to draft me here to... be watched over." She said it cryptically.
Black Canary may have gotten the message, but Batgirl did because Huntress's vague statement about being here reminded Batgirl of a detail that she had forgotten. This detail involved Huntress overbrutalizing criminals, even though some likely did deserve it, when she started as Huntress. Short-lived as it was, Huntress did stir the Gotham mobs a little bit before Batman had a little "talk," which afterwards Batgirl asked happened and was only replied by an obscure "It's handled.".
With that re-found knowledge, Batgirl guessed Huntress was here to be watched over by the League itself so that she wouldn't cross that line. Looking at Huntress more intently without trying to be suspicious looking, Batgirl spotted what appeared to be the outline of a Catholic cross under the raven-haired hero's costume, just below the base of the neck. She also noticed the cross's chain around her neck, though it was subtle.
Batgirl was caught gazing. "Something you like, Reddie?" The huntress strongly asked, giving no quarter to the batgirl, who were spying.
Batgirl's composure broke, and she fumbled her words embarrassingly: "Well, huh... I, uh, just noticed you're wearing a cross." That wasn't a lie; it was the truth that she did spot a cross.
Huntress eased her aggression by saying, "It is... What? You never seen one before?"
"Well, no, of course not," Batgirl said. "I've just never seen a hero wear one."
Huntress breathed in Batgirl's answer, "Well, let this be a surprise. Despite all of the crazies, monsters, aliens, and mojo nonsense that go all around the world, there's still a few of us who believe in a higher power above us."
Batgirl nodded respectfully, as did Black Canary. "Right, I didn't mean any harm to it then," Barbara said apologetically. "So do you fight crime on your faith then?"
Huntress stiffened, contained a grimace with just a twitch, and only looked forward to saying flatly, "No."
Batgirl didn't follow up on a question and kept silent with Black Canary, who was only watching the two talk. This pause of silence happened for a few moments until Huntress slowed down and stopped at a closed sliding door in the watchtower's wall. When that got close, Batgirl heard the sounds of fast footsteps circling and a distinct hum of 'whooshing' and 'weaving' sounds.
The huntress clicks a button on a wall panel, and the doors slide open to let the sounds of an interesting sparring match escape. The sparring room was more like a weight training area or gym with a sparring mat in the center. Weights of varying shapes and sizes were on racks next to the wall, with gym machines around the room. Batgirl, Black Canary, and Huntress weren't the only heroes who had the idea of using the gym. She saw a couple she recognized, and others she didn't. Most of them, however, were just standing around the gym's sparring mat, which was in the center of the room, and looking at the current duel.
Some of the heroes Batgirl knew the names of were Wildcat, Nemesis, Vigilante, Dr. Light, and two others that Batgirl honestly hadn't heard of or seen before. She thought about how they must've come to the Watchtower's gym for the first time but got distracted by the two people sparring. One of them she recognized as the Shining Knight, dressed in his golden chainmail armor with a red tunic over his chest, having a coat of arms that was a black eagle of sorts.
The person who was dueling with the knight from Arthurian England was someone Batgirl had never seen before. She was maybe sixteen or seventeen and Asian, wearing a black jacket with yellow lines on it and black pants and boots. Not really a costume, she thought. But there were two distinct details that she noticed about the younger girl.
One was the scars, and there were many. If she had to guess, it looked like they were inflicted by a blade. None made her disfigured, but it was nonetheless freighting and horrible for a girl of her age to have them. She looked like one of those stereotypical battle hardened movie characters from those cheesy films her dad used to watch. She was a bit older than Tim, but a gut turning image popped into her head if Tim had the same scars as her. It was a sick picture that immediately made Barbara feel sad for the girl and angry at anyone who could have done that to her.
The second detail was the girl's weapon, which was the same weapon she was using to duel the Shining Knight against his own medieval style sword. Emitting a bar of white and purple energy and humming in the air, the laser sword had a silver cylinder frame. Batgirl actually recognized the weapon rather than the girl's name. The weapon, a lightsaber, if she remembers correctly, was a device that the first member used when the League took them in after the Thanagarian invasion, Luke Skywalker.
She doesn't really know that much about the blonde man other than that he's from a different galaxy or universe or something by accident, has a high-speed spaceship, has a robot friend that's in a pretty high position in the League with himself included, has some sort of magic that's different from what most people see, which is used by some order of peacekeeping monks that use it, and gave Bruce a good amount of tech from his home to Bruce's company.
All of the information she lacked about the man came mostly from her not paying attention and Bruce not really saying a whole lot about him. Granted, Bruce mentioned Skywalker here and there about the technologies the space monk provided, and she could have sworn he was somewhat impressed by the man's intelligence on mechanics, with him helping upgrade Javelins, amongst other things. But in Bruce Wayne fashion, he is also skeptical and slightly cautious about the man's unique magic.
Coming back into today, she theorized that the girl must be Skywalker's sidekick, or ward, if she could not be offensive about it. The same logic extends to how Bruce gives her, Tim, and, to an extent, Dick training and equipment; maybe Skywalker gave this girl her own lightsaber. She remembered that Bruce asked about replicating the laser sword or perhaps studying it so he could sell it to his company, but she also remembered Bruce slightly getting disappointed that Skywalker strongly said no. Not fully recollecting, she just knows that Skywalker said something about a lightsaber that could only be used in the hands of a Jedi or something; well, that was what Bruce retold back to her at any rate.
So if she follows the theory that this girl is Skywalker's ward of that nature, then would he know how she got those scars? She kept that question running around her head as the trio of Gotham heroines entered the gym and the doors closed behind them. The heroes only watched off to the side while the two swords clashed.
Batgirl knew of Black Canary's close relationship with Wildcat, so she went to him with Batgirl close behind while Huntress entered herself in the watching crowd.
"Wildcat," Black Canary greeted, obviously knowing his real name but only keeping that to her and Wildcat when they are near people.
Wildcat motioned his head to Dinah with his arms crossed to regard her as "Black Canary." He said it with a noticeable East Coast accent.
The blonde woman looked over to the duel and asked, "Are you enjoying the show?"
Wildcat shrugged with his broad shoulders. "I was testing the weights, but these two have been at it since I got here. But, sure, I'm enjoying the light show."
Barbara isn't really a sword person. Sure, it is a martial art, but she only knows hand-to-hand combat like boxing, Krav Maga, and other things. She isn't wholly into the katanas, or fencing, which Bruce probably is. But regardless of her personal interests in whatever form of martial arts, she saw that the fight between the girl and the Shining Knight was something interesting to look at.
To some, Shining Knight's weapon might be noteworthy on its own, if they were historians, of course, but the girl's purple energy sword took on the spotlight. Her blade weaved and spun, trying to connect with the Shining Knight's body. Shining Knight's sword kept it at bay. Barbara thought that the lightsaber, at least what Bruce told her, could practically cut through anything; either the knight's blade was magical, which it probably is, or the energy sword could change settings on its cutting ability, which raises more questions than answers.
Her sword wasn't the only thing that took the spotlight; her whole style and tactic were a eye-catcher. She relentlessly struck at Shining Knight with such astonishing speed that Batgirl wondered if she was a meta-human or was an unsual, highly trained sixteen year old. The girl slashed, thrust, and twirled the blade at the knight as of she was everywhere.
Her opponent was always on the defensive, never getting the chance to counterattack. When he attempted to mount an assault, she quickly jumped her nimble body over him or sidestepped around him to attack his sides. Every time her energy blade met his sword from the past, sparks sizzled from the contact. Every turn and attempt to evade was met with her moving accordingly and being the image in his view, never letting up.
Shining Knight looked like he was struggling, sweating and groaning at each strike she made. The girl, though, looked focused and calm, not really even breaking a sweat. Was she really that good, or does it have to do with age more than anything else?
"So, who's the girl?" Huntress asked Wildcat, as the girl she asked the name of, to let off a series of spinning attacks of her blade that made it a circle of purple energy for the exhausted knight.
Wildcat replied, "Like I know, mister shining knight over there was only the one that really talked out of the two," he explained. "Girl didn't even make a peep, shy, I guess."
Being shy and being very competent in swordsmanship seems like an interesting matchup.
"Well," Huntress remarked, "purple definitely suits her." She looked at Wildcat and asked, "And how long have they been doing this?"
Wildcat thought about the question, "Eh, think like an hour or something, but it ain't a continuous round that, no-name here beat him like five or six times already."
Vigilante, one of the heroes who were there before the trio entered, budded in the conversation with a disappointed voice and shook his head. "Beaten up by a girl with a glorified glow stick, what has this country gone to?" He put up his hands exaggeratedly to his face as if he needed his voice heard and yelled at Shining Knight, "You better pull yourself by the bootstraps partner and win this round, cuz it wouldn't be funny if you didn't at this point!"
Deflecting a flurry of amethyst energy that was a blur, Shining Knight gritted his teeth as he tried to push the girl's numerous attacks to the side away from his body. "I don't need!" he responded to the comment in between breaths, saying it loudly, and was clearly frustrated. "Advice…when you…haven't done this…yourself!"
Doctor Light put a hand on her hip and turned to Vigilante. "First of all, we're in space; there isn't a country 'going down hill' if there ain't one at all."
Vigilante let out a huff. "Figure of speech, ma'am."
"Second of all," she continued with a two finger gesture. "So what if he gets beaten by a girl, cowboy?"
The hero with a heavy American southwest accent held up a hand and said, "Okay, I didn't mean like that; I meant by the account of her age more than anything else."
"Well, it sure didn't sound like it."
Vigilante rolled his eyes and scoffed in a murmur, "Women."
Doctor Light gave Vigilante a death stare, and Wildcat and Huntress only watched the sparse session. Black Canary hasn't really said a word after saying hello to Wildcat.
Batgirl went back to viewing the fight. The girl's array of flashing purple lights connected to bombard the Shining Knight to the brink. It brought him to the edge of the mat due to the severity of the attacks, forcing him to backpedal. At the edge, he attempted to break his attackers' assault with an attack of his own. He unleashed multiple heavy swings and overhand strikes that prevented the girl from attacking, but none of them even hit her. She simply maneuvered her body away by sidestepping or ducking the swing with uncanny casual movements. It looked like she knew exactly where and when his blade was going.
His swings only hit empty air, but he pressed on and pushed her, grunting. When he made a heavy diagonal power swing, she blocked it with her lightsaber. Shining Knight switched his face from frustration to shock; he probably put all of his strength into the attack but didn't even make her move an inch. The girl looked into his eyes and renewed her offensive. The confidence that the English knight had vanished when he was put back into defense. The strikes she made seemed more surgical now, batting away his parries to land a shot at him.
A parry was his undoing; when the blades connected, she twisted his blade with such speed and force that he didn't have a good grip on it, and it was knocked out of his hand. She amazingly manipulated her blade to force his own sword towards her when it left his hands. She perfectly caught it in her other hand, and before the Shining Knight could react and the crowd could process what happened, she brought both blades to his neck like a pair of open scissors.
Then she said her first words, "Yield." Her voice somewhat sounded broken and not very used to speaking, like if she just learned English though Batgirl and didn't hear any accents to promote that theory.
The Shining Knight's eyes went wide, as did everyone else's. Dinah looked shocked, while Huntress seemed impressed. No one said a word or moved; the only thing that made any noise was the humming of the girl's lightsaber.
The English Arthurian Knight gulped lightly; if he had exaggerated it, he might've made his neck bulge out too much and hit the blades. "I…yield."
The girl moved her mouth to a victorious and satisfied smile. She pressed a button on the sophisticated laser sword, and the beam of purple energy retreated back to its hilt. She clicked the lightsaber onto her belt and gave back the sword to the knight.
The Shining Knight took the sword and sheathed it. He took one step back from the smaller girl and bowed to the waist. "You are a skillful and honorable duelist, young Cassandra. I am glad. that I've encountered someone with such talent at such a young age. I hope we have many matches like this in the future."
The girl, Cassandra, bowed to show the same amount of respect to him and simply said, "Yes, you too."
The man said, "If Skywalker is your teacher, then he must be proud of your progress, and I sincerely hope I myself could test his art on the blade as well."
Cassandra slightly blushed and said, "Yes." The girl turned around and walked out of the sparring mat to the far side of the gym, pulling out something from a bag. She didn't walk up to the heroes, unlike the Shining Knight.
He rubbed away a bead of sweat pouring from his forehead. "What an exercise that certainly was."
Vigilante went up to the knight and said, "Pardon my manners, partner, but I would rather worry about the credibility of your manhood than focus on whether or not it was a good workout."
Shining Knight got offended and said, "Good sir! How could you say a thing?" He gestured his hand over to where Cassandra was. "The young girl clearly shows a great deal of skill at the blade; she was a worthy opponent to lose to and humbled my state of being."
"Well," the cowboy said, "if that is what you keep telling yourself and not that you lost to a small girl, go right ahead."
"Then may I suggest that you personally duel with young Cassandra, since you feel that you could do better?"
Vigilante shook his head and said, "Sorry, not my style." He pulled out his revolver and twirled it like they do it in one of the spaghetti western films: "This right here is all I ever need."
Shining Knight showed his disapproval, saying, "Uncivilized and most dishonorable to use such a weapon."
"What the!" Vigilante twirled his revolver back to his holster and pointed an accusing finger. "Now look here, mister." They bicker and argue for a couple of moments, which led them out of the gym and to the hallway.
Meanwhile, Black Canary and Wildcat went off to the other side of the gym to discuss; the other heroes either left or went about using the gym since the show ended. Leaving Batgirl with Huntress.
"You know," the black-haired woman said. "You would think that Cassandra would have a hero name or something to protect her identity."
This was true, she thought. The hero call sign was to protect the crime fighter's identity as much as the costume did. There were exceptions, of course; there were heroes here that didn't wear a costume that covered their entire face, Black Canary being one of them, while there were others that didn't really use specifically hero names like J'onn J'onn or Wonder Woman, who didn't really have any name other than Diana when she left that island of hers.
If that girl's name is indeed her actual name, maybe there's a reason why she chose not to hide her identity. If she is Skywalker's ward by the look and sound of it, maybe she's following his example. If that is his last name, that would have been a cool hero name, but it wouldn't mean anything since it probably was his last name.
"Maybe she doesn't have anything to hide," Batgirl said, referring to the Martian's lack of an actual personal life on account of being the last surviving member of his race.
Huntress gave Batgirl a look. "You kidding me?" She made a quick glance at the mysterious girl who, at the moment, activated a strange metal ball and had it float in the air. "You look at those scars and tell me she doesn't have anything to hide."
Batgirl had a moment of silence to herself as she looked over to the girl. Something horrible and bad happened to her; what exactly she couldn't say. Skywalker most likely knows, going off the basis of a mentor knowing those ward's life story through her experience. When watching the girl focus on the floating ball, she couldn't help but feel sad for her. Maybe it was because she had that many scars and probably a lot more for a young age, not really going to have a normal life to begin with. Or maybe she felt sad that it was possible that whatever happened in her past led her to the protection of Skywalker.
This feeling of sympathy was so overwhelming for Barbara that she couldn't help but make herself go to talk with the girl.
"Maybe we should go talk to her." Barbara suggested.
"Yeah, you do that," a disinterested huntress said.
"You're not the least curious about her?"
Huntress didn't say for a long moment when she looked back at the girl, "From experience, a person with that many scars probably doesn't want to talk about their past."
"Well," Batgirl considered Huntress' vague advice, "I'll keep that in mind, but I ain't going to ask about her life story; I'm just curious about her personality."
"Uh huh, well, since this place already has a crowd, I'm just going to head off." She turned and went out of the gym with no other words about where she was going. She's probably fed up with being here and just wants to leave all together.
Alone, she went across where the girl was. Cassandra, with her lightsaber reactivated, carefully watched the floating ball as it hovered in the air, gliding in one direction at a time with an escape of air. For a split second, the ball would send a bolt of laser energy towards Cassandra from one of its holes. Cassandra moved at a ridiculous speed and caught the laser bolt with her purple lightsaber, which dissipated when it met the bar of energy.
Not trying to get herself, Batgirl was a few paces behind Cassandra and closer enough to where she should hear her. "Looks cool!"
Cassandra heard Batgirl; she turned around while keeping the lightsaber in front of the ball. Batgirl wasn't fast enough to warn Cassandra about the ball stopping and shooting out another bolt at her. By the time she made the first sound of a warning, the girl already had the lightsaber at the place where the bolt targeted her and was deflected. All of this while Cassandra stared at Batgirl and said, "Yes?"
Batgirl was speechless. She was about to start all over again, but the ball let out another bolt of energy at a different position, targeting a different portion of her body. Cassandra was a step ahead of it and just angled the blade to catch the bolt, and she did the same thing when it shot again and again and again. Not bothering to turn around to face the floating shooting ball.
Batgirl blinked multiple times and said, "Uh, I said that was cool."
A long, silent pause ensued after Batgirl's sentence. Cassandra sighed, turned off the lightsaber, and stretched out her hand toward the ball. The metal orb stopped moving and floated still. Cassandra, facing the ball, closed her eyes and looked like she was in intense concentration.
"What are you…" Batgirl asked, but Cassandra hushed her.
"Shhh! Don't…talk… need quiet."
Batgirl silently apologized. The ball then floated toward, straight down, and onto the hands of Cassandra. When done, she opened her eyes and breathed in as if she were exhausted. "So, she has that magic thing Skywalker has or something," she observed in her head. "She also looks more exhausted now for doing that than the sparring match she just did."
Cassandra looked at the ball in her hand and seemed to be disappointed in something. "Hey," Batgirl said, "You didn't need to stop; I just wanted to talk."
Cassandra didn't respond, only putting back the orb into a bag that also contained a helmet that curiously had a visor that blocked its wearer's vision and curiously had earmuffs on the inside—a training aid of some sort?
When she finished putting away her things, Cassandra fully turned to Batgirl. "No…we can…talk."
She didn't sound that happy about it or sure of herself. "Well, my name is Batgirl." Barbara brought on a genuine smile and reached out to the girl for a handshake.
Cassandra looked down at the hand, back up to Batgirl, and back down again three times in a row. She slowly extended her own arm and said, "Cassandra."
She took the girl's hand. "Nice to meet you, Cassandra." She dropped the handshake. "If you don't mind me asking, how come you don't have a hero name or a costume?"
Cassandra looked annoyed and was about to open her mouth, but stopped herself. A moment of silence entered her thinking to herself before she said, "Don't...need one."
"Oh…well alright." Batgirl quickly changed the subject: "So that fight you had with Shining Knight was really cool, by the way. Definitely kicked butt."
Cassandra let up a small smile and said, "Yes."
"So, are you with that Skywalker guy?"
"Yes."
"Does he like to train you and stuff?"
"Yes."
"You're not really a talkative person, are you?" Batgirl observed.
Cassandra shook her head and said, "No."
Not surprising. "That's fair, I suppose, so, like, you have that magic thing like he does, right?"
Cassandra didn't say anything immediately. "Not... magic... the force... its name."
"Oh, okay, my bad then. So have the force or something like that."
Cassandra nodded. "Yes."
"Is there anything you could use it for, like doing something special?"
Cassandra looked down and said, "Master... hasn't taught me... those things yet."
"Master?" Batgirl questioned, "What kind of?" She stopped herself when she realized that it must've been what Cassandra calls Luke Skywalker since he would be the master or teacher and she would be the student. It makes sense since Bruce deceived the order Skywalker is in as a cross between Buddhist monks, knights, and samurai. To her, it might have made her uncomfortable, but to people like Bruce, Alfred, and even Dick, who traveled around the world to see other cultures, it was just another term for a teacher. It was also a great show of respect when someone referred to an older and wiser teacher.
"Oh, um, Skywalker, right? He's not teaching everything, or?"
Cassandra got frustrated and said, "Some things... don't make sense... to me... "I think he's holding me back."
Barbara understood the girl even though it was a choppy statement. There were times when she, Tim, and especially Dick got fed up with all of Bruce's nonsense that went from underestimating them and being too protective to not telling them enough information about certain things.
When he would tell them to stay at the cave while he handled a super-powered criminal rampaging through Gotham, he wouldn't ask for backup and then get his rear kicked in. Times when they went on patrol and they handled a minor problem, but Bruce has to step in when he thinks they can't control the situation or he'll just end up spying on them.
She liked Bruce, but there were times when she just wanted to yell at him for being paranoid and too controlling. Batgirl and Nightwing narrowly get invited to the League, with the obstruction being Bruce's mentality that they aren't ready yet. They thankfully got accepted, of course, but Bruce just had to get reserve member status.
"So you think he's just being too strict, too controlling, and not giving you enough lessons?" Batgirl asked.
Cassandra thought about the question, "Feel like he doesn't trust me... sometimes…feel I…disappoint him….don't know… if me…or him."
"Yeah," Batgirl let out exhaustedly, "I'm with you, sister." She shrugged, "Maybe he just cares about you."
"He does." Cassandra said admittedly, "But... I think..." She drifted off and looked guilty about something.
Barbara saw the girl's change of demeanor and wanted to cheer her up. "Hey, don't get sad eyed at me; earlier you were kicking butt; next you're depressed on anything. I'm sure Skywalker has his reasons to keep things from you. It doesn't mean he's a bad guy for not telling everything. I-,"
"Don't get it," Cassandra said, abruptly ending Batgirl's sentence. "Jedi…suppose to tell…everything…to their…students."
"Well, how long does it take to be a Jedi?"
Cassandra looked unsure. "I... don't know."
Batgirl made a dismissive wave, "Well, I'm sure it won't take that long. Besides, I'm sure he'll tell you everything there is to know about how to be a Jedi or whatever. Trust me, these types of things take time. You'll get there in no time."
Cassandra's expression lightened up, and she slowly nodded, "Thank you."
"Oh, no problem. Say, You like fighting, right?"
Cassandra shifted to a smile and said, "Yes."
"How about a good ole' round of fisticuffs?" Batgirl made a fist for an exaggerated effect.
Cassandra went from smiling to dangerously smirking, "Yes."
Oliver Queen just had one of the best damn showers that he had the pleasure of using in his natural life. The shower room that was in the Watchtower's locker room wasn't a prestigious exotic place lined with gold and masterful interwoven art in the walls. Nor was it a technological wonder with automatic machines and robots helping you scrub your back. It was a plain and simple shower room—clean, if he can add that.
The reason for him enjoying a shower that would have been mediocre at best wasn't because of the location but rather the context. And it was a long, tiring, frustrating, and terrifying context.
He went from stopping a robbery of a grocery store in Star City, being de-atomized and atomized to normal to the Watchtower without his consent, being pressured to join a club he has no intentions of joining, and being forced to go down to a mission that, oh, so happened to involve a giant radioactive robot, causing mayhem to a bunch of Chong-Mai farmers.
When he woke up from being exhausted, he had to go through a grueling decontamination procedure, which involved him being downgraded to his drawers since his Arrow costume definitely got some of that unwelcoming spunk on it. After that awkward moment, he finally debriefed Boy Scout himself with Green Lantern and Supergirl on what happened. Thankfully, all of them were okay, especially Captain Atom, who, at the moment, is getting his containment suit fixed up.
Now it was time to leave Mount Olympus and get back to Star City. And this time, he'll put his foot down for good and say, "Hell no, Supes, I ain't joining your clubhouse."
No matter what, they might call him or tell him that the world might be better off. He ain't joining the League. He'll stick with the little guy when they're eventually forgotten by the League when they're fighting aliens or monsters. This place isn't for him, and he'll tell that to anyone who tries to stop him. He doesn't even care how he gets out of here, whether just strapping a parachute on his back, kicking him out of the door and saying 'sayonara' or him getting carried by the man of steel himself.
The sooner he gets out of here, the better.
Satisfied with the fine, warm shower, he turned off the water, got a towel to cover himself, and left the shower room. The doors slid open, and steam escaped. Getting out of the room, he was greeted by a kindly voice. "I hope you liked the shower; I definitely would if was you."
Turning his head to the voice, he saw a blonde, younger man in his twenties in all black clothing leaning against a locker with a white and blue domed head robot next to him. Oliver, still wearing his Green Arrow domino mask, remembered the man's name as Luke Skywalker, and the robot was named R2 or something. Even though he would like to forget this place and move on, he somewhat remembered the man's name and the speech he made. He replied with a snarky comment, "Well, I definitely enjoyed the radiation burn, which, by the way, would highly recommend it if your life goal is to grow three arms."
Skywalker chuckled, "I can't say it's on my list to have three, but I definitely wouldn't mind regrowing my own." Green Arrow arched an eyebrow. The kid paced over to him and said, "You've probably seen me during the conference, but we haven't really met." He extended his hand, which was the only one that had a black glove. "I'm Luke Skywalker."
Seeing how the kid were the few here who gave him some respect, Oliver was inclined to take the offer, "Green Arrow. " When taking the handshake, Oliver noticed the guy's unusually strong grip, which felt like arm-wrestling a bodybuilder despite the kid's average frame.
"Unless I'm blind and have a bad hand myself," Green Arrow said, "I ain't seeing anything wrong with your hand."
"It's, huh, complicated to say the least."
Oliver shrugged. "Looks well to me."
"Unless you want to know," Luke said, "it's not that important."
"Pfft, please, it's not like it's going to scare me or anything; I went up to a freaking radioactive monster robot; what's a hand going to do?"
Luke eyed Green Arrow for a moment and said, "Alright then." He took off the glove to reveal a normal hand. Now why was he getting worked up over? Pulling his black sleeve up showed a strange rectangle crevice on his forearm. He pushed out the crevice to have it open, to reveal servos and wires in his arm. He bunged and unbunged his fingers, which the servos followed up and down with each motion.
"Okay, that is a little creepy." Oliver carefully remarked to himself. "You have a point," he said wide-eyed, with disbelief in his voice. Luke closed the compartment, pulled back his sleeve, and put his glove back on. "So, like," Green Arrow asks, "Was it an accident or something?"
Luke's face darkened a bit and he grimly nodded. "Yeah, something like that."
Despite the uncanny image of a robot hand looking completely identical to a real one, Oliver wondered just how much it would have cost the kid to have that cybernetic hand. It must've been millions. There definitely wasn't anything on the commercial market like that he knew of; he doesn't even think Wayne Enterprise or LexCorp have that sophisticated technology, and that goes for Oliver's family business too.
He wanted to ask who or what made it so he could maybe work out a deal and use the schematics to sell it from his company to those who needed it, but he wasn't too sure if Skywalker would agree. Hell, it might've been something from the League. He also figured that something bad happened and that's why the kid's tone dropped, so he'll leave it be for now.
"Huh, sorry if I overstepped or something," Green Arrow apologized.
Luke gave a relaxed smile. "It's fine; you were just curious; besides, I guess Earth is not really used to cybernetic re-enhancements."
"Yeah, I suppose so."
"Well," Luke said, "Clearly, I'm not here to discuss me being crippled. I came with my friend to see how you're holding up."
Green Arrow did his best not to scoff: "Well, from my molecules getting played with like Ping-Pong to almost getting burned alive, I'm peachy all considering."
Luke nodded. "Please understand when I say this: I am deeply sorry for you being dragged into that mission and risking your own life for not wanting to do it. Note that I will personally bring this up to Green Lantern when he fully recovers so this won't happen again."
"Well, that's fine and dandy, but..." he didn't finish his words when he just processed the kid's apology. "You're sorry?" He asked bewilderingly.
"I am," the younger blonde said honestly. "He and Batman knew you're disinterested in joining, much less actually going on a mission and risking your life for a cause you don't believe in. They should of known better not to do that."
"Well, when you put it that way," Oliver couldn't help but feel defeated.
"Regardless," Skywalker continues, "If you want to, I can personally take you down onto the surface with no strings attached. I promise."
"I, huh, don't know what to say, but huh, thanks." Green Arrow could only reply to those words on the fly due to him being caught off guard by the younger man's manners and hospitality.
Skywalker smiled. "It's nothing really; after all, it's the least I could do since you bravely saved the day; that's what Artoo here says." He gestures to the blue and white robot behind him, and the little machine wheels itself to be on the younger man's side. It beeped and booped and slightly sounded like the chirping of a bird but was more machine-like. Oliver only stared at the robot with blatant confusion.
The younger blonde chuckles and pats the robot's silver domed head. "He showed me the recordings he had of you taking down the droid; I saw it and thought it was pretty impressive for using a bow."
Green Arrow got slightly at the flattered, "Oh, well, it wasn't a big of a deal that it might... Wait a minute, recording?"
"Yep."
Green Arrow tried to go back to his memories of seeing the little robot but couldn't remember anything that he connected. "From where?"
"He said that he did it when you and him fought against the droid; he was on the X-Wing." The kid saw the man's confusion on the terminology: "Uh, the ship that blasted at the droid at the last minute."
Skywalker's explanation made Oliver's eyes go wide when he realized that the pilot made those spectacular maneuvers and daring moves with one hell of a ship, which was in fact a trash can. He rubbed the back of his blonde hair as he attempted to converse with the robot. "Well, I don't know what to say then, but thank you, really. You kind of did really save my skin."
R2 beeped out a response, and Skywalker translated, "He says anytime," which followed another series of beeps that made Skywalker look at the robot with a disappointed look and tone that reminded Oliver of a disapproving parent. "Artoo…"
"What? What did he say?"
Skywalker kept looking at his mechanical friend, then back at Green Arrow. "He said how you're not bad of a shot, and I say this quote on quote, 'For a meatbag,'"
Who knew a robot could have some personality in them? "Well," he said, folding his arms and looking at the domed robot. "And you're not such a bad pilot or a bad shot yourself... for a trashcan."
R2 let out a beep that sounded offended and swiveled his head toward his blonde friend. Skywalker held up a hand and said, "Don't look at me, mister, you did that to yourself." He let out a whinish mechanic sigh that made Oliver couldn't help but think to himself that the little robot was kind of cute.
"Alright," Skywalker said. "Since you look like you just got out of the shower, I'll let you change before we head."
Oliver couldn't be any happier. "Sounds like a plan."
The younger blonde made a half-turn and stopped, then faced the Green Archer with a curious look. "You don't mind asking a question, do you?"
"Is it 'how fast do you want to go down to Earth?"
The kid chuckled and said, "No, that's later."
"Well, you're my personal chauffeur at the moment, so be my guest."
"Is there a specific reason why you don't want to join the Justice League?"
Oh, brother, here we go again. As much as he wants to complain to the guy about the loaded question as he did with Batman, Green Lantern, and Superman, he can't bring himself to lash out at the kid. With him being polite and all, there was no need for that. "Listen… Skywalker-,"
Skywalker gestured a hand up for Oliver to stop stalking. "Please call me Luke; there's no need to be formal; we're just having a friendly discussion."
Oliver blew out his breath. He's really going to regret this next decision. "Oliver, my name's Oliver Queen. Since you want to be honest and go with your real name," he shrugged, "I might as well be fair."
"I appreciate the honesty, but you don't have to..."
"Oh, don't give me any of the sentimental crap," Oliver said. "And you don't seem to be a person who talks about people's secrets. You are the mental counselor or whatever."
"Alirght, that's fair," Luke replied with a defeated smile, and he sat down at the nearest bench. "So, you were about to say why you don't want to join?"
Ollie nodded. "Right, yeah, since we're both being honest with each other, we might as well get it out of the way." The older blonde took a couple of seconds to think about his answer and folded his arms. "Well, let's see," he stroked his golden goatee. "We have a bunch of super-powered people in one super futuristic space station, high and mighty above Earth, while the people down probably won't be able to land a single scratch on this thing. There is also the possibility of you guys forgetting about the little guy since this whole thing was built for larger threats. Finally, why should I? I don't want to cut myself short here, but I'm just a guy with a bow and arrow. I'm fine dealing with thugs with guns rather than aliens and freaking ghosts or whatever."
Luke only silently and respectfully nodded and gave his full attention to the green archer. "Is that all of it?"
"Yep! So you're going to argue now, How 'I'm so wrong?'"
"Well… I agree with you with some of it to a degree."
"Thats just," Oliver stopped when he was shocked again. "Wait, do you agree with me?"
"To an extent," Luke repeated, holding up a finger. "Regarding the 'special individuals' like here coming together, not all of us here have any powers. Rocket Red, Steel, and STRIPE use mechanized suits. Huntress, Wildcat, Question, Black Canary, Vigilante, Batman, and a couple others don't have powers what so ever but are extremely skilled to go up against those who do. Trust me, I've met some people from a specific group in my past, and they can be deadly if you underestimate them."
"Okay, sure," Oliver admitted. "There's some, but that's it; some. I bet the majority of the roster here has powers one what or the other."
"You're right," Luke said. "Going back to the people on this planet not being able to defend themselves from us, using the recent example, the Droid from Chong-Mai seemed to prove itself up against a Kryptionian of all things. There's definitely more countries on Earth that are developing similar, if not better, versions of it or defense systems of that nature. And if we want to go further, we have that Lex Luthor character that seems to develop every weapon just to combat the League and put up a good fight. So the question is not whether or not they can develop weapons or plans to go up against us, because they can. The question is whether they'll actually use them as a defense or for something with not-so-good intentions."
Oliver arched an eyebrow. "You don't seem to be upset about people trying to kill you left or right?"
Luke smirked. "I'm kind of used to it; I was famous from where I'm from, and either people want to give me their newborn or find the best way to behead me just because of my last name and what I stand for." Oliver continued his brow. "It's a long story," Luke explained. "But the point I'm trying to get is that everyone has the right to defend themselves, and that extends to nations. The difference is how and why."
"Alright," Oliver said with an understanding voice. "Fair point." He sat down on the same bench next to the young blonde. He was starting to like him, and he might as well be in the same headspace. "Okay, so you got me there, but what about me?" He points to himself, "Why should I be involved in this little club?"
Luke stared at Oliver for a few seconds, looked downward with his arms at his knees, leaning, and smiled warmly. "You know, you remind me of someone."
"Really?" Oliver jokingly asked, "Is it one of those jerks who's a contrarian at every turn?"
The younger blonde chuckled and said, "No, not in that way." He paused. "In some ways, he's kind of like you. Independent, daring, likes to make a lot of comments, and has ideas you never back down from. And for most, you're honest." He looked to the side and said, "Well, he wasn't always like that, but he's still a good man, like you."
"Sounds like he was a character," Oliver remarked.
"He was; he never really believed in good causes; he always wanted to be by himself. He definitely tried to put up a 'tough man' persona around everyone to act like he doesn't care. But deep down, I think he actually did believe in those good causes; he actually cared for people. I just think it took some time for him to realize that." Luke sounded like he remembered a good friend who had been dead for a long time.
"If you don't mind me asking," Oliver was curious, which might not have been a good idea. "What happened to him?"
Luke's demeanor changed to a look of longing remembrance to a grieving loss, though he did show little of it. Yeah, he shouldn't have asked that question. "Nothing, I hope," Luke answered, "It's complicated, but," he looked over to his robotic friend, "Simply put, both of us aren't going to see our friends anytime soon." He put his cybernetic hand on R2's head. R2 let out a robotic whine that honestly and strangely tugged Oliver's heartstrings.
"Hey," Oliver managed to summon up the courage for an open apology. "I didn't mean—"
"Any harm?" Luke said, then smiled, though sadly. "It's fine; we both had a lot of time to come to terms with it." Luke's mood lit up a little. "Besides, you're curious; I was, after all, comparing you to an ex-smuggler."
A smuggler? As in a drug smuggler? Luke saw Oliver's concern and said, "Yeah, he wasn't really proud of that either, but he changed."
"Alright, let's skip that part and go to the main reason why you want me here."
Luke nodded and straightened himself. "I think you're a good man who will always do the right thing, no matter how many people say not to do it. Because you follow your feelings about the situation and nothing more. I think that is a noble mentality that you should keep and inspire people here to have. For those reasons, you would be a great addition to this group."
Oliver, slightly, ever so slightly, blushed. "Well, I... geez, kid, I appreciate the words, but I can't really say I'm a good man." He thought about the time when he inherited his parents' company and how he unforgivably lived lavishly, drinking, partying, and spending money on women and cars. Living like a Roman emperor. That all, thankfully and unfortunately, changed when he got stranded on that island. It would be a real wake up call if somebody asked him.
"Really?" Luke questioned, "If you weren't a good man, then you wouldn't have been asked to join the League. You wouldn't have helped those people when that droid was going haywire. You wouldn't risk your life for others." Oliver only stayed silent. "I think you're really cutting yourself short." He put his real hand over Oliver's bare shoulder and said, "I know all of this might seem crazy, and to tell you the truth, I was in your position too. But believe me when I say that you could be an amazing person to those here and to others that you fight for. You could do so much good if you join us, because not only do you cut yourself short, you cut out the good things you could be doing."
The kid dropped the hand and let his words sink into the older blonde's head. Maybe he could join. Or maybe he shouldn't. Luke was right, or at least partially, but could he really join the 'big leagues', could he really be with them?
"Yeah," he said distractedly. "But I don't think..." he stopped when he noticed someone across the locker room.
No, it wasn't someone, or just not anyone; it was her. And she was a woman, for sure. On the other side of the locker room was a woman who really ought to be illegal, because the way she looks, no one should look that beautiful. She had golden hair that made Oliver and Luke's blonde hair look like a joke. Lips in the color of a rose. Eyes in a shade of the most wonderful sky imaginable.
She had an outfit that was borderline scandalous and was questionably alike to a lady of the night. Fishnet stockings did her a disservice by not revealing enough of her legs. A tight fitting black corset with a dark blue jacket over her shoulders. A black choker that hung neatly on her neck.
And to top it off, she had a body that would make the pope have unsavory thoughts. He thought about something: if the League thought this angel's costume was 'acceptable', he wondered, almost perversely, what would be deemed 'unacceptable' by their standards.
Thank the good lord that she was busy putting her boots up, because if she hadn't, she would have noticed that he was staring at her. Realizing that he still had the towel on, he rather embarrassingly crossed one leg over the other.
Luke hopefully either didn't know Oliver's attention drawing to the blonde siren or played dumb when he said, "I know this might be a tough decision, but you could..."
"I'm in." Oliver answered so quickly that he cut off Luke.
Luke tilted his head to the side and said, "I'm sorry."
"I said, I'm in. As in, I'll join."
Luke looked out of the corner of his eye at the blonde bombshell for only a moment. She was done with whatever she was doing. The beautiful blonde finished putting on her boot, closed her locker, and walked off from the locker room. Luke then looked back at Oliver, the Green Archer hoped that he's not a mind reader. "I'm glad that you made up your decision to join, but I'm curious as to what changed your mind."
One thing in particular, or many things if one can look at it that way, "uh," he quickly made up a half-assed, half truth answer, "I thought it would be a good experience to meet new people. You know, comradery and all."
Luke smiled as if he shamelessly understood "Anyone in particular."
"Nope, but that's what I'll be here for anyway."
The younger blonde chuckled and stood up. "Well, then I congratulate you on officially joining the Justice League," he said, extending out his gloved robotic hand. "Welcome."
Oliver got up as well and couldn't help but smile back, "Pleasure all mine," and both blondes took in the handshake.
"Uncle!" The girl named Batgirl pleaded out with her stomach to the floor and both arms at her back, held by Cassandra's grip. "Uncle!"
Cassandra let off her death grip, and the red headed girl got up from the sparring mat, rubbing her now tender arms. "Gez," the red-headed girl complained. "Did that Skywalker guy cornfeed you or something?"
In a way, yes and no. "Not exactly," the young Jedi in training said.
Batgirl chuckled. "You know, usually when people say 'beaten by a girl' when I kick their butts, it usually makes me feel good; now I know what it feels like."
Cassandra shrugged. "New experiences."
"Yeah, eight different experiences of getting my butt whooped," Batgirl defeatedly said.
Despite that Cassandra was reluctant to see and meet new people here earlier, she was actually glad she did. She had several sparring matches with that man with the funny accent and several unarmed sessions with this batgirl. Granted, Batgirl did talk a lot, yet it wasn't in the same talkative manner as that of Stargirl. The redhead is more respectable when conversing, or, at least in Cassandra's case, easier to hear.
The young Jedi smiled and said, "Good fight."
"Yeah, it was pretty great, actually. I'm definitely going to keep those pointers you gave me."
Cassandra smiled. Both girls walked out of the sparring mat and the gym altogether. They walked across the hallways, with Batgirl being the only one talking. She talked about things that pertained to her costumed life, such as going out on patrols, doing detective work, and so forth, though she may have accidentally said some things about her personal life unconsciously.
Cassandra could only think about one question: when could she leave the island? When could she go on a mission of some sort? She's been training for a month, and that does not include her assassin training. Surely she's ready, right?
"Hey," a concerned batgirl asked, "Are you alright? You kind of stopped all of a sudden."
Cassandra realized that the older girl was right; she stood in the middle of the hallway, though, for not that long. "Yes," Cassandra said. "Fine.
Batgirl accepted the answer, "Okay, then." She didn't say anything for a moment. "Well, I guess it's best if I head out and all; I still have school in the morning and all."
Cassandra automatically questioned, "S-School?"
Batgirl awkwardly laughed. "Don't tell me Skywalker didn't teach you stuff about school, right?" Cassandra shook her head. "Oh, you're serious... Well, how about this? I'll give you my phone number, and we could talk outside of here. Does that sound cool?"
Phone number? That's definitely the first time Cassandra has heard of it. "Phone…number?"
Batgirl saw Cassandra's confusion and said, "You know, next time we here together, we'll have enough time to get you one." The red head took out a small notebook from her utility belt, wrote on it, and tore a piece of paper to hand it to Cassandra. "But keep this for safekeeping till then."
Cassandra nodded.
"Well, I gotta go then," she waved Cassandra goodbye. "See you!"
Cassandra followed the same gesture and watched the costumed bat leave her gaze. Now with nothing else to do, she decided to find a master and hopefully get that Holocron, if he decides to give it to her. Casually walking across the space station's corridors, avoiding passing heroes and volunteers, she searched through the Force to find his location. When she was close, she detected two people next to him. Around the corner, she stayed behind the corner as she peaked out to whom her Jedi Master was taking two.
Standing with two men, one tall, shirtless, long blonde hair with a beard and a hook for a hand. The other is in a regal like outfit. With a shiny golden helmet and a cape. She felt him through the force, though he didn't have it. It was similar, but different. She was not alarmed, as she felt his presence was as strong but benevolent as her masters.
Cassandra eavesdropped into the middle of their conversation, "She's been very different ever since she's gotten back from your trip from that moon you two went on." The golden man said it with a slight echo in his words.
"Yeah…I figured." Her master said, knowing the reason for whoever the three were talking about.
"Well, for good and worse," the blonde bearded man said. "She's become more of an irritant now than before if that's even possible. But I guess that's better than the usual depressive Shayera I've come to know of."
"I must agree with Arthur," the golden hero said. "She's gotten better since your trip; she's stopped accumulating in her room and has become more open now with Inza and me. Yet when discussing anything involving you, she goes silent."
Luke's face grew grim, "I feel I know why."
Both of the older men looked at each other and asked, "Care to explain?" The bearded one asked.
The Jedi Knight sighed, "Right after the trip, when we were saying our goodbyes. She uh…" He trailed off, and Cassandra could have sworn she saw him lightly blush. She could also feel his embarrassment and confusion so openly through the force. She's never seen him in this situation before. Disappointed? Yes. Frustrated or embarrassed? Yes. But this range of emotions she felt toward him was quite different, and she especially did not expect them to come from her master. "She kissed me."
Both men looked at each other, the older blonde with a surprising look while the golden man, though having a helmet shroud his expression, must have had the same reaction. "This is an unexpected cause," the golden helmet man said.
"Yeah."
"Have you known that Miss Shayera had these feelings for you?"
Luke stood silent. "No, I don't think so at least."
The older blonde, Arthur, apparently, quirked an eyebrow. "Is that the only thing you two did?" He teased.
Luke's face then got more color, though he kept his composure and narrowed his eyes on Arthur. "Yeah, that's the only thing she did."
Arthur laughed while the helmet and Luke talked some more about this Shayera character. After a minute, both of the men left Luke in that hallway. Cassandra still stood hiding around the croner until her master said, "You can come out now, Cassandra."
Her cover was blown and embarrassed, so if she could add it, she got out of the corner and went to her teacher. "Sorry," she flustered an apology.
He sighed. "You're fine, Cassandra; it's nothing important to you anyway, so don't worry about it." He gestured for them to walk, and they did so. Some time passed when her master folded his arms while continuing to walk and said, "So I've heard you've been making some friends."
Friends… a very weird word to call them that, but...
"Yes," she replied.
He smirked. "When I said 'go talk to people,' I actually meant talk. I didn't really say anything about beating people up in a training session," he joked and shrugged. "But I've come to realize now that your way of interaction is different than most people's."
Cassandra felt a sense of failure when her master sounded like he was somewhat disappointed. "I failed?" she asked.
He paused for a moment of silence and looked at her with a proud smile. "No, Cassandra, this wasn't really a test to begin with, as it was more of a thing I wanted you to do. But if it were a test, I would have called it a pass." They stopped at his room, and he opened the sliding doors with a flick of a wrist. When entering, she saw it—the holocron—presenting itself on Luke's bed. He grabbed it and showed it to her. "A deal's a deal," he said, "But I want you to continue talking to people when we're here or even someplace else. Get on?"
She nodded, staring at the blue cube of Jedi power.
He rubbed the cube, as if he were once in the same place as she was. "This is very important to me, Cassandra," he stated. "This isn't just some holocron, even if there's not a lot to begin with. This used to be the holocron of my former master, Master Yoda."
Those words rang throughout her head, and with such anticipation, she mentally told herself not to immediately grab it from his hands and see what ancient knowledge it held. Almost a thousand years of Jedi knowledge, techniques, skills, traditions, and lore are simply contained in a blue cube in the palm of his hand.
"But because this is the only few Jedi materials I have," he continued, "Because the Jedi have left, this is just as responsible as you having your lightsaber. Here is old power and knowledge that could be easily turned into something evil. I will always teach you, whether or not I give this to you, but this holocron holds knowledge that will improve your studies if I give it to you, or it will jeopardize your entire journey as a Jedi." He grabbed her hand to extend it and grew serious. "Promise me that you will not let anyone see this holocron open; you will not give it to anyone who isn't a Jedi; and use it's knowledge responsibility."
Determined and ready for the responsibility that she will undertake, she said confidently, "Yes, master."
He placed the cube on her hand, and it felt heavy. She didn't know if it was the object's true weight or if it was the fact that this cube in her hand was touched, used, and created by one of the greatest Jedi in history. She held it in two hands and saw it as not just a blue cube by some eyes, but rather almost holding the hands of Master Yoda himself. She turned it and studied in order to find a secret passageway or some kind of keyhole to open it, but found nothing.
She gazed at her master with obvious confusion, pointed at it, and said, "How... to use?"
Luke smiled. "Do you remember when I gave you your first kyber crystal and to use it?" shed nodded, "Well, it's kind of like this, but this time, imagine the holocron as an empty bucket and the force as water; simply let yourself be the funnel, let it flow through you, and finally to the holocron."
She looked down at the Jedi holocron with more intent now. "Here," he said, "I'll let you try to figure it out on your own; we'll be here for another hour before we'll leave, so that should give you enough time to open, okay?" She nodded, and he left her all alone in his room.
Steadying her breath, she sat cross legged on her master's meditation blanket, putting the holocron on the floor, extinguishing her arm out, and attempting to follow her master's instructions. She closed her eyes to let the force flow through her and onto the blue Jedi box. As if it were a wandering creature in the desert, dehrayed, it woke to life and glowed a blue arua. The box then floated a good amount of inches off the ground, and its pieces in the corners, disconnected, floated next to the holocron, which now, without the edges, became a hexagon. The floating, glowing holocron then winked out a blue aura on top of it, which morphed into a figure.
A person, it was Yoda! It has to be! He must be...
Her breath was caught in her throat when the exciting surprise became a very unexpected and confusing surprise.
When the aura of the simulacrum finally faded into existence with its blue scanline details, it showed a person who wasn't really human. In the glow of blue, there was a short creature dressed in old robes. The creature had both his hands, which only had three stubby fingers, on a wooden cane, as if he took a branch off a tree and used it to support himself. The creature—this goblin, if some would call it—had a small head. He had two long ears on the sides of his head and fading hair on top of his aged head; the image barely defined it. Finally, the goblin had a wrinkly face that was like aged leather with a stern look of infinite wisdom and knowledge that made him seem like he knew everything about the universe itself, and nothing could surprise him.
This can't be Yoda, can it? When Luke first told Cassandra about Yoda, he had never really described his physique, so she fantastically imagined Yoda as an old but burly man with scars that made her own joke, with trophy lightsabers attached to his belt that were from foes that he conquered. Or she imagined him as an alien, tall and strong as a tree. Having four arms with a lightsaber in each hand. Yet, this goblin was the complete opposite of her initial image of Yoda. Unless he wasn't, she thought, unless it must be some kind of guide to show her the real Master Yoda. The holocron's knowledge must be so expansive that it takes some sort of librarian to help the student traverse it.
That was the conclusion she told herself and admittedly believed; she believed it until the image of the goblin spoke in an electrically simulated voice. "Hello Jedi, my name is Grand Master Yoda of the Jedi Council." He looked upon her, and suddenly, her understanding of the universe, her understanding of the Force itself, seemed to crumble under his gaze. "Many things do I have to teach you. Listen…and learn, you will."
She blinked and could only summon one word in her stupor: "Yoda?"
She was wrong about the goblin's look of not being surprised, for when she asked unbelievably, he lifted a brow and seemed fairly amused. "Hmmm, surprised?"
Notes
So next chapter we will Luke and Shayera talk things over. How do you like the interactions of Batgirl, Cassandra, and Green Arrow with Luke? did my best. BTW, if anybody watches me, Im gonan post a new crossoer fanfic either today or tommorow, should be fun
(B1ack0ut) yeah thanks, Like Artoo so thought it could be cool to give him his own stories here and there. I try my best to mix up the action and give the Xwing its spotlight. Yeah the whole harem thing wasn't the thing I was coming across. That little interaction with Fire and Ice about Luke was just a joke and nothing. I do hate harems, they really do just destroy stories that are interesting and just become's the writers piece. I know it's hard to pick one person for a character and can see the draw on having multiple, but Luke's character isn't that type of man. Not to worries, there will be no harem what so ever in this story. Will there be women interested in Luke, for sure. Will it be the entire cast, no. I say I will bring one more woman that has some interest in Luke but that is just that interest, it shouldn't be anything actually serious.
(Perseus) thanks
(DBxBeserk) Sorry that you don't like it.
(Franceso99) I might of said this before, but I'll say it again, I just don't fine parings with Diana, power girl, or supergirl very interesting anymore. Because everyone and their grandma does it in these DC fics and there's no real variety. Yea I maybe can see Diana a bit, and maybe I could do a side story of Luke being involved with different women (alternate relationships I guess). But I thought Hawkgirl was best. If not Hawkgirl, then maybe Black Canary, if not Huntress, (okay that last part is because I had a crush on her when I saw her in the show when I was a little lad) but you get the point. I just want to be different. Every pairing that does Hawkgirl, she's basically a side piece in a harem. Be here, she's the full course for Luke :).