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Chapter Text

Life Closed Twice

Cassandra Cain's life had been destroyed twice. This did not include the time that she had been killed by Lady Shiva, her life ended temporarily at Shiva's hands to cure Cassandra of her death wish. That moment had preceded her victory over the world's premier martial artist, and had been a new beginning rather than an ending.

The first time her life had been destroyed had been because she had succeeded.

Tiny fingers had dug through flesh to tear out a man's throat. Cassandra had looked into his eyes as she had killed him, and she had seen death as he had seen it. Terror... then nothing. Her hands had been soaked red with blood, staining them with a crime that could never be washed clean... while her father had looked at her with pride.

Her life had been destroyed that day, when she had killed a man whose name she had never learned. She had run from her father, run as far and as fast as she could, never stopping, always afraid that he would find her and force her to kill again. She had been little better than an animal, with no name, no words, no friends save wild beasts she sometimes shared dinner with. All the while her hands had stayed stained, unable to ever come clean after what she had done.

The second time her life had been destroyed had been because she had failed.

She had finally stopped running when she had met Barbara. Barbara had taken her in, given her missions in the torn warzone that had been the Gotham of No Man's Land. Eventually, she had been given the most important mission imaginable: Batman had chosen her to bear his symbol, gifting her with the mantle of Batgirl. She had finally found a way to give back something to the world that she had torn something from when she had been a child of eight.

The stains on her hands had never truly disappeared but they had faded, becoming memories even she rarely saw. She had made friends, gained a purpose, a life. She had been... happy. But she had still felt alone. Her only true friend, Stephanie, had a boyfriend, and a life, and a family... while Cassandra had her mission, Barbara and Batman as mentors... and nothing else.

It had been enough... barely. She had been feuding off and on with both of them, but she had still done her job... still had her mission. Until the day she hadn't.

It had begun in fire. A battle with a killer robot in a huge library, with the only way to stop it being a command word hidden in a book. A book that she couldn't read.

She had tried to learn to read... some. It had been hard, and with so many other, easier, more useful things to do, she hadn't devoted that much time to it. Every time she had tried to learn, it had seemed as though the letters got away from her, changing into gibberish before her eyes. She would always give up, confused and upset, and go practice her martial arts instead.

But that day, she had needed to read... and she hadn't been able to. The robot had rampaged through the library, burning books, and nearly causing the death of countless people. All of her efforts to stop it otherwise had been in vain, and Barbara – Oracle – had spoken endlessly in her ear, trying to help her win, growing more and more upset at the destruction of the books.

Finally, when Cassandra had held the key to stopping the robot in her hands, and had been unable to even tell her the letters... Oracle had had enough. "How stupid can you be..."

Stupid. Surrounded by geniuses like Oracle, Batman, Robin... she had always felt stupid. In a world where everyone could read, being the only one who couldn't do what five year olds could... she had always felt so stupid. She had kept it secret, her private shame, her fear that she wasn't good enough, not smart enough to deserve to wear the Bat...

Then to have Barbara, a woman who was like an older sister to her... the closest thing to a mother that she had ever had... to have her tell Cassandra that she was what she had always feared. That she was stupid... it had been too much. Cassandra had stormed out of Oracle's home after her debriefing, not wanting to hear her apologies for saying what she really thought, ready to take her aggressions out on the criminals of Gotham.

She had found criminals, all right. An entire ring of them, kidnapping people to ship to other countries. She had seen things like that during her years wandering the streets, although she had always been able to fight off anyone who had tried to take her. But she still remembered the fear and misery that she had seen in those who had been taken before her as a little girl.

While she had been hunting for the rest of the victims, Barbara... Oracle, and Batman had tried to call her. They had asked her repeatedly to return to the Clock Tower, but she had refused. In the end she had caught the criminals, although she had been wounded in the process, with Batman arriving to rescue her at the last minute. Everything had seemed fine... until Alfred was wrapping her injured ribs.

While she was receiving medical attention Batman had explained to her the reason why he had tried to recall her. He had been following the human traffickers, and had been on the verge of busting the entire operation. Her rescue of a handful of people had prevented that. He had been angry that she had disobeyed orders, been erratic... and so he had fired her.

He had taken Batgirl away from her... taken her cave away from her... taken her life away from her. She was Batgirl no more. She was nothing anymore.

Her life destroyed in a single night by her failures.

Chapter Text

Certain Slant of Light

For the first time in her life Cassandra had skipped her morning routine. Ever since she could remember, she had done a lengthy training regimen created for her by her father, which had practiced everything that she had needed to be the perfect assassin. She had done it without fail, only skipping the parts that she had lacked the resources for, even when she had lived on the streets.

She had instead lain in bed for hours, staring out at nothing, her mind blank. She had eventually risen, throwing on the same clothing from the night before, and poured herself some of the cereal she had found in a cupboard for breakfast. She had barely eaten any of it, just pushing it around listlessly for nearly an hour before dumping it in the sink.

She had then sat on the couch in front of a television and stared out the window at Gotham for the rest of the day as the light of the sun slowly moved across the floor. She was numb. Empty.

She wanted to go to Barbara, to ask for help. To go to the woman who had been like a mother to her and let herself be weak for just a moment, to break down and just cry. To hope that somehow Barbara could give her life back to her.

But she couldn't. Barbara... Oracle had called her stupid. Barbara had once been Batgirl herself, and she prized her mind so highly. Cassandra wasn't sure that Oracle would want the heir to her mantle to be someone who couldn't even read.

The only other person that she was close to was Stephanie. She knew that her friend would listen to her, but... it wasn't the same. She didn't want a friend to tell about what had happened. She wanted someone who could help her fix what had gone wrong. The only two people she knew who could didn't want her anymore.

She also didn't want to get turned away by the only person in the world she had left. When Stephanie had been fired by Batman before, he had ordered Cassandra to have nothing to do with her only friend. Now that she had been fired, if Stephanie had been told to do the same...

Maybe Stephanie would let her in the same way that Cassandra had let her friend in. But she knew how much being Robin meant to Stephanie, and she wouldn't do anything to risk having that taken away. And, sitting on the couch as the room slowly turned dark as night fell, Cassandra also wasn't sure that her friend would care. She wasn't sure that she was worth caring about.

After the final rays of the setting sun departed her room, Cassandra wallowed deeper into her self-loathing. She was quite surprised when her reverie was suddenly broken by a knock at her window. Looking up listlessly, she was shocked to see Stephanie dressed as Spoiler crouching on the ledge. Shaking herself, Cassandra slowly crossed the room and opened the window, letting her friend in.

"Cass... hey, I've been looking for you..." Stephanie started, before trailing off as she really looked at her friend for the first time.

Cassandra was a mess. Her eyes were flat and dead, her posture slumped, her hair greasy and lank. She smelled faintly of smoke, and she had deep bags under her eyes. Stephanie had never seen her friend look so defeated.

"Cass... what happened?" Stephanie said as she pulled her mask off. Her eyes were red with tears. "I looked in your cave, but you weren't there. What's wrong?"

"Not Batgirl," Cassandra choked. "Not... enough."

She looked into Stephanie's eyes, and suddenly she was crying. She hadn't really cried since she was four, and her father had punished her for that weakness. She had learned to never, ever cry. But looking into her best friend's caring eyes...

Stephanie caught Cass as she collapsed weeping. Her face was screwed up in pain as great sobs wracked her body. Stephanie had never felt so helpless as she did that moment – not as a child locked in a closet when her father was angry, not as a pregnant teenager, not when she had been fired by Batman. Before her eyes the strongest person she knew completely fell apart at the seams, reduced to a sobbing wreck with nothing she could do to comfort her.

Stephanie held Cassandra close, rubbing her back in gentle circles for a long time until she had finally cried herself out. When she did Cass pulled back, her face burning with shame at having lost control of herself. Stephanie just smiled gently at her, every bit of her body language saying that she understood.

Cassandra cleared her throat and wiped her face. The silence between them wasn't awkward, but she was still determined to move past her breakdown as quickly as possible. "Why Spoiler? You're... Robin now."

Stephanie's face crumbled as she was reminded of her own problems. "Actually, that's why I came to see you... I'm not. Robin anymore, I mean. He... he fired me. Again. He said..."

"Fire too," Cass said, her voice wavering.

"How could he fire you?" Stephanie asked, outraged. "You're so... perfect. At everything. I mean, you beat Shiva. Even Batman never beat Shiva!"

Cassandra hesitated for a moment, before finally voicing her deepest shame and fear to the one person she still trusted. "Stupid. Can't... read. Can't do anything... but fight."

"You are not stupid!" Stephanie said, jumping to her feet, her entire body screaming her indignation. "If anyone says you're stupid, I'll show them who's stupid!"

"Oracle," Cass said quietly. "Oracle said stupid."

"Well she's stupid!" Stephanie shouted. "And Batman's stupid too! I wanted to... to show them what I can do. Show them all that I'm not just a screw up. But you know what? Screw them!"

"Screw them?" Cass asked.

"Yeah!" Stephanie said, pacing up and down the room angrily. "If they don't think you should be out there, then they're the stupid ones! And if they think you can't cut it, there's no way they'd ever think I can!

"So screw 'em," Stephanie continued forcefully. "We don't need them. When I first started I didn't go to the big bad Bat to show me what to do. I made my own costume, and I figured out a way to stop my dad all by myself! And I didn't know anything back then. And I didn't have a super ninja for a best friend."

"What can... we do?" Cassandra asked, her voice gaining some of its life back.

Stephanie stopped pacing right in front of her friend, placing her hands on her hips. "I'm Spoiler again. So we just need to get you a costume of your own. They won't be able to take that away from you! We can do it on our own."

"They catch," Cass said. "Make stop."

"Yeah," Stephanie said thoughtfully. "If we tried to do it, they'd catch us... if we were here."

"Huh?"

Stephanie grinned conspiratorially. "We can go anywhere. Somewhere where Batman isn't in charge, and then we can do our own thing. We can fight crime and help people without anyone trying to stop us, or tell us what to do! Two girls against the world!"

Cassandra hesitated for only a moment as the possibilities filled her head. She knew it would be difficult, trying to to fight without Oracle and Batman to provide resources and backup. The only time that she had lived on her own, she had been forced to live on the streets. But looking at her friend, seeing the hope and excitement in her eyes, she knew what her answer had to be.

"Okay."

"Yes!" Stephanie shouted, hugging her and jumping up and down excitedly.

Despite their intentions to leave Gotham as soon as possible, the two girls soon realized that they had quite a bit of preparations to do before they could safely do so. If they brought the credit card Batman had left with Cass with them to wherever they went, then they would be easily found. Since they wouldn't have much money once they left it, the best plan was to outfit themselves as best they could before leaving the city, all without tipping anyone off to their plans.

The latter part turned out to be depressingly easy. No one visited Cass during the entire week they spent in Gotham, and, after explaining what she could and leaving her mother, no one looked for Stephanie either. The two girls holed up in the apartment Batman had given Cass, and were able to work around the clock to get ready.

The first step had been creating a costume for Cassandra. Stephanie had more experience in that area, although Cass did know how to sew by hand. Stephanie bought an art pad with the credit card, and the two of them spent several hours laughing and enjoying themselves as they drew various outrageous costume designs.

They finally settled on something simple, which combined aspects of both the Spoiler costume as well as the Batgirl one. It took two days to make even with a new sewing machine, the process being slowed by the time that it took for them to track down tough, Kevlar-based bolts of cloth to use in its creation. The final result wasn't as armored or as advanced as something made by Batman, but was much better than the first Spoiler costume Stephanie had originally put together.

Putting it on for the first time, Cassandra took her time studying herself in the mirror. Like her old Batgirl costume, her new outfit was tight and covered her entire body. The body cloth was gray, which would blend into the shadows easily. The mask was similar to the Spoiler mask, being made of gray cloth which covered her entire face, with lighter spots for her eyes. Cassandra used a thick black string to add stitches across the mouth, making it appear to be sewn shut.

They also acquired knee high black boots and elbow length black gloves, as well as a black utility belt, which went around her waist as well as over one shoulder, just like Spoiler's did. Over this outfit she added a dark gray hooded cloak, with the bottom cut so as to appear to be roughly torn. The final result was impressive, making her look like the silent, creepy, gray ghostly version of Spoiler.

"I like it," Stephanie said, eying the outfit critically. "Now you just need a name... and a bunch of junk to fill the belt with."

Cass nodded thoughtfully, tilting her head as she looked at her reflection. She had loved her Batgirl costume, but something about having helped design and build it herself made the costume feel more... hers. Like she wasn't just a tool for Oracle and Batman.

"Hey!" Stephanie said excitedly after a minute. "I've got an idea! I'm Spoiler, and you look like me, but with the sewn up mouth and being quiet all the time and everything. So how's this sound? We can call you Silent!"

Cass turned to look at her, tilting her head questioningly.

"Yeah!" Stephanie said, bouncing with excitement. "When we do stuff you can avoid saying anything, and then you'll be even better at scaring the bad guys! Plus, we can make our own batarangs, but we can make them like Robin's, just shaped like 'S's. We can call them spoilerangs!"

Cassandra put her hands on her hips, using her body language to convey disdain for that idea.

"Fine, you can call yours silenterangs or something," Stephanie said, rolling her eyes. "Not that anyone would know that, since you won't say it. So they'll just think they're all called spoilerangs."

With the costume dealt with, Cassandra turned to their arsenal. While she could have bought off-the-shelf throwing blades or stars, she had to admit that Stephanie had had a good point about making custom throwing weapons. In addition to being distinctive and leaving no real paper trail, batarangs had the advantage of being customizable, with parts of them being dull and parts being sharp to allow a skilled user to employ them in a variety of manners.

Fortunately, in addition to using them, Cain had taught his daughter about making weapons and demolitions, and so manufacturing custom throwing weapons was easily within her capabilities. She purchased several expensive tools, including a high end metal grinder, as well as a significant amount of high grade steel. For days she carefully worked the metal into stylized 'S's, with one curved side razor sharp, and the other blunt. It took her several tries to get the balance right, but eventually she had a large supply of multipurpose throwing weapons.

While she was busy doing that, Stephanie turned her attention to other equipment that they would need. She visited electronics and specialty stores all over Gotham, eventually coming up with a nice selection of secure radios, bugs, cameras, lock picking equipment, medical and forensics kits, and small gas masks. While all of the equipment was larger and less flexible than the oldest gear Batman had, it was still sufficient for their work.

Stephanie was also glad that she had two of the grapple guns that Batman had given her originally, as they were one item that she didn't want to compromise on – she had enough difficulties roof hopping without risking using gear that would break on her. Having filled their utility belts with various useful, if commercially available, equipment, she then purchased a variety of other items, such as clothing, that she and Cass would need in the future. A selection of luggage completed her purchases, as they had acquired quite a bit of gear to take with them for their new life.

Cass, meanwhile, had moved on to using her knowledge of demolitions to build or acquire a selection of devices. She made thermite charges, flash bangs, and smoke grenades, and bought plastic explosives with detonators. Finally, she withdrew as much money in cash as she could before packing the luggage that Stephanie had bought.

Loaded down with their equipment, they headed to the train station, excitement bubbling inside them about the future. After purchasing two tickets to Hub City, chosen nearly at random as a major city without any famous costumed protector since the Question left it years before, the two girls stood at the train station looking out over Gotham together. Stephanie finally turned away with a sigh, leading Cassandra to their seats.

"Part of me can't believe I'm leaving... I thought I'd live my whole life in Gotham," Stephanie said as they sat down. "But after everything... I'm just looking forward to a new start."

"I thought... was done running," Cass said quietly. "But no... home. Not anymore."

"Yeah," Stephanie said. "You know what that means, right?"

"No."

"That means we're gonna have to make our own home. Together."

Cassandra slowly smiled, her expression matched by her friend. As the train left the station, neither girl looked back. Instead, they enjoyed the warm sun as it streamed through the window, and thought about the future that lay before them.

Barbara Gordon was feeling very guilty. She had intended to check on Cassandra immediately after she had lost her Batgirl mantle, but things had come up. It wasn't every day that she was possessed by Brainiac, after all.

She had finally recovered enough to visit her errant protege, stopping only to pick up a nice fruit basket on the way. She wasn't sure that Cass would actually want a fruit basket, but she usually ate anything within arms reach, and she wanted to give her something. At the very least, she hoped that arriving with a present would keep the door from being slammed in her face.

When she reached the door of the apartment, she took a long, steadying breath. She knew Cass would be angry, between thoughtlessly calling her stupid, and then her getting pulled from the field later that same night. Finally, using all of her Batgirl courage, Barbara knocked.

She almost laughed when no one answered. Barbara had spent so much time steeling herself, and Cassandra wasn't even home. She quickly dug out the spare key, and used it to let herself in.

Once she was inside, she knew immediately that something was wrong. Several large power tools sat on the floor, surrounded by scrap metal and pieces of cloth. Moving quickly around the apartment, she soon found that all of the toiletries and clothing were missing, and the credit card Bruce had given her was sitting next to the apartment keys on the kitchen table.

"Batman," Barbara said into her communicator.

"Yes?" Batman asked gruffly.

"Cass is missing," she said.

"Missing?"

"I just let myself into the apartment, and she isn't here anymore."

"I thought the point of this was to make sure that she got a personal life," he asked. "That usually involves going out."

"No!" she said sharply. "She's not out. She's gone. All of her clothes are gone. And her keys and credit card on sitting on the table."

He was silent for a long moment. "I'll be there shortly."

Ten minutes later Batman slipped in through a window, quickly taking everything in. "Oracle, report."

Barbara glanced up from her laptop, giving him her attention. "She made some significant purchases this week, along with a large withdrawal of cash. Most of the purchases are things like communicators, electronic bugs, some power tools, Kevlar..."

Batman nodded. "The metal here... she was making batarangs. There are no whole ones, but from the shape of the scrap, I would suspect they were 'S' shaped."

He walked behind her, reading the credit card information over her shoulder. He frowned angrily at something that he saw. "She bought something from gun runners – there's no other reason for her to withdraw that much cash in that part of town. And she's been making homemade demolitions. Thermite, smoke bombs, flash bangs."

Barbara leaned back in her wheelchair. "She's outfitted herself."

Batman stalked angrily towards the window. "Not just herself," he growled.

"What?"

"That's enough equipment for two people."

"Maybe she's just being prepared?" Barbara suggested.

"No. Not some of those items. And I suspect I know why she made her weapons 'S' shaped."

"Spoiler," Barbara realized.

Batman simply grunted and jumped out the window, his swing line in hand.

Chapter Text

Those Dim Countries

Cassandra crouched on top of the building, as still as a statue as she glared down at the streets below. She missed the gargoyles that had been common around Gotham. Her new gray cloak would have blended in very well with the sculptures, and they had always added a certain ambiance to stalking along rooftops.

Cassandra heard Stephanie approaching long before she came close. While she had learned quite a bit about stealth under Batman's recent tutelage, she had a long way to go before she would be able to sneak up on Cass. To her credit, she didn't even try.

Crouching beside her friend, Stephanie grinned under her mask as she took in the sight below. "Drug dealers?"

Cassandra nodded.

Stephanie bit her lip thoughtfully. "Shouldn't we be, I dunno, beating them up by now?"

"Soon," Cassandra said quietly. "Waiting... for boss."

"Oh," Stephanie said, plopping down on the ground to settle in. They sat in silence for several minutes before she glanced over at her friend. The gray-cloaked girl hadn't moved an inch since she had arrived, and most likely for quite some time before that. "You like the apartment?"

Cassandra just shrugged. She had never been much for words anyway, and she liked the excuse her costume gave her to not talk.

"Yeah," Stephanie agreed. "'S not bad. I saw a help wanted sign when I was looking around on the way here. A diner looking for waitresses."

Cassandra frowned thoughtfully. "Not need read?"

Stephanie shrugged. "I dunno. You might have to, but we can see. At least I can try and get a job there. And we'll need it soon – living alone is way more expensive than I thought."

Two teenage girls without jobs and with no references had found it difficult to get an apartment that they could live with. They had finally settled for a tiny, unfurnished two-bedroom apartment in the attic of an old building in downtown Hub City. The landlord had demanded three months' rent in advance along with a large security deposit, and they had also had to buy all of the furnishings that they would need to live there. The end result was that they had very little money to pay for food and other necessities, which meant that they would both need to find jobs very soon or end up starving.

Cassandra was relieved when she finally saw the drug dealers perking up down below. Glancing down the street, she saw a large car approaching. She pointed it out to Stephanie who nodded eagerly, pulling out her grapple. Cass pulled hers and a spoilerang as she stood, raising the throwing weapon as she waited for the perfect moment.

Just as the car was beginning to slow down Cassandra threw, sinking the razor-sharp side of the spoilerang into the front tire of the car. The heavy vehicle swung erratically for a moment, bumping into the curb as the driver overcompensated before he brought the vehicle to a screeching halt. While all of the criminals waited, stunned, she swooped down, using her line to slow her fall slightly so that she slammed down with considerable force feet first onto the hood of the car.

Cassandra paused for a moment, letting all of them get a good look at her, before she backflipped through the air, landing on the shoulders of two of the drug dealers who had been standing side by side, driving them into the concrete. She drew another spoilerang as she stood, moving to the right sharply as she swung her cape to the left, the billowing cloth drawing the sudden gunfire from the only criminal to have already pulled his gun. It was knocked out of his hands before he realized that he had hit nothing but cloth by a perfectly thrown spoilerang.

While Cassandra drew the attention of the crowd of armed criminals, Stephanie swung around behind them on her line, ploughing into one of the men standing in the back with both feet, knocking him into the side of a building like an eggplant-colored battering ram. She then swept the feet out from under the closest criminal before kicking him sharply in the temple while he was down. Drawing her own spoilerang, she tossed it so that the blunt side smacked another thug in the forehead, stunning him for long enough for her to close and finish him with a roundhouse punch to his jaw.

Cassandra had continued her rampage, taking on thugs three and four at a time, moving so swiftly that they didn't have a chance to fire at her. She was nearly finished clearing the gathered drug dealers when she saw the car begin to drive away, fleeing the scene despite the flat tire. Glancing around, she saw from the body language of the remaining thugs that they were scared and poorly skilled, and she decided that she could trust Stephanie to take care of them. Without any further hesitation, she drew her grapple gun and fired it, sinking the end into the back of the car.

Cassandra carefully balanced herself on her toes so that she minimized her friction, allowing her to slide behind the car like she was waterskiing. Between the speed of the vehicle, and the rate at which the line retracted, Cass closed quickly with the fleeing car. At the last moment she hopped up, landing on the trunk, digging into the roof just above the rear window with a spoilerang as she did.

The last time that she had tried climbing onto a car in that manner, the criminals inside had begun firing at her, actually hitting her in the chest with a bullet before she could enter the vehicle. Not willing to risk the protective value of the armor that she and Stephanie had made, she decided on a different approach. Pulling a flash bang, she simply kicked out the rear window, tossed the device into the cabin of the car, and jumped off before any of the frightened criminals could try shooting her.

A little more than a second after she let go, a blast of light and sound filled the car, blinding and deafening its occupants as well as blowing out all of the windows. The stunned driver lost control of the vehicle, sending it skidding over the curb and through the front glass of a clothing store. The car finally came to a halt, half buried in clothing racks.

Entering the store, Cassandra could hear the alarms going off as the criminals began to try and climb out of the car. The first to make it out was still blind and half deaf, and she easily put him down, tossing him, unconscious, into a mangled pile of dresses. The next had apparently noticed her actions, simply sticking the barrel of his submachine gun out of his window and opening fire.

Cassandra saw his intentions before he even raised his gun, however, flipping and jumping out of the line of fire. Pulling one of her spoilerangs, she threw it at the only emergency light in the building, rendering the store completely dark except for the partially buried car headlights and the flash of gunfire. Even that went away as the gun clicked empty.

The criminals in the car hesitated, and she could hear them beginning to talk to each other, their voices raised because of the ringing in their ears. "You get it?"

"Had to," another voice said.

As she crept up on them, she heard the man with the submachine gun finish reloading before slowly opening his door. She waited until he had fully stood before rising from where she had been crouching, kicking the door hard. It slammed into him, knocking the gun from his hands and the air from his lungs. Before he could recover she grabbed him by the shoulders, pulling him screaming from the car before she knocked him unconscious.

There was only one criminal left, and she could hear him cursing quietly in an endless litany of terror. Finally, after a long moment, he got himself under control as he remembered that he had a gun of his own. Drawing his pistol, he chambered a round before shouting into the dark. "I don't care who you are. You're dead! You hear me? Dead!"

The criminal saw movement outside his window and began firing. When his gun emptied he slowly stood, warily approaching his target. When he got close enough, he saw that it was a store manikin with a gray dress thrown over it. "Oh shi-"

He didn't get a chance to finish his statement, Cassandra having waited for her moment to take him out. She then quickly secured all three thugs before opening up the trunk, revealing the large cache of drugs inside. She could already hear sirens in the distance, drawn by the store alarm and the gunfire, so she slipped outside, heading back towards Stephanie.

She found her friend standing over one of the thugs, her arms crossed dramatically. He was glaring up at her, his fear obvious, but Cassandra could see that he was waiting for something. It didn't take her long to see what.

One of the first people that she had knocked out during the fight had gotten back up, and he had a pistol aimed at Stephanie's back. Cassandra could tell that Stephanie had no idea that she was in danger.

"Next time you try to bring crap like these drugs into our city, you won't get off so lightly!" Stephanie lectured, enjoying her apparent control of the situation.

Cassandra drew and threw a spoilerang in a single fluid motion, the handmade weapon flying true through the air, knocking the gun from the criminal's hand. He yelped in pain, causing Stephanie to turn in surprise. She saw the falling gun just as Cassandra tackled him, knocking him down hard, her fist slamming into his jaw with a loud crunch of bone.

The drug dealer that Stephanie had been lecturing suddenly drew a knife, standing quickly and grabbing her, putting the blade to her neck. "Don't move!" he rasped.

Cassandra slowly stood from where she had knocked out the gunman, letting her gray cloak hang loose around her as she did. She could see the fear in the man's posture, but while she could read that her friend was wary, she could tell that Stephanie had a plan. She subtly shifted her posture, the motion going unnoticed by the criminal but easily conveying to Cassandra that she wanted a distraction.

Cass slowly raised her hands, holding them out above her head in the classic sign of surrender. "That's right!" the dealer said. "Keep those hands up. Or you gonna be gettin' your friend back in pieces."

Cassandra suddenly turned her head, looking off to the side sharply, using every bit of her knowledge of body motions to show apparent surprise. The dealer bought it for just an instant, unconsciously glancing away for less than a second. It was all the distraction that Stephanie needed.

She slammed her head back, breaking the man's nose even as she grabbed and twisted the arm holding the knife. Turning in one smooth motion, she hip threw him to the ground, disarming him as he hit the concrete and knocking him out with a kick to the head.

She looked up at Cassandra sheepishly. "Um, oops?"

Before Cassandra could say anything, the flashing lights of the police cars whose sirens she had heard appeared in the distance, and the two girls fired their grapples, heading to the rooftops. The buildings in the area were too low for them to safely leave the area while the police were present, so they made their way quickly away from the crime scene. They were back at their apartment by the time the police had the criminals in custody.

The two girls slipped through their window, closing it and their purple curtains behind them. The apartment still had little in the way of decoration, but they had purchased a large (if slightly beaten up) couch, a couple of chairs, a table, and a small television on a stand. They each headed to their own tiny bedroom, which only had dressers and beds, before showering and changing into civilian clothing. When Stephanie left her room she found Cass already digging around in the refrigerator for a post-patrol snack.

"Watcha cookin'?" Steph asked.

Cass ignored her pointedly, continuing to dig through their food.

There was a long, awkward silence as Stephanie shuffled her feet slightly. Finally, she sighed. "I'm sorry 'bout before. I should have paid more attention."

Cassandra finally stopped searching, turning to frown at her friend. "Could die."

"I know!" Stephanie said. "I shouldn't have done that, but... I hate drug dealers. And after the way things went down in Gotham, I was angry..."

"Reckless," Cassandra said harshly. "Why... he fired."

Suddenly Stephanie became angry herself. "Look, I already apologized. Just get off my back, okay! Jeez! It's not like I'm the only one Batman fired."

Cassandra stiffened, and Stephanie immediately regretted her outburst. As Cass stormed from the room Stephanie shouted after her, "Sorry! I shouldn't have... great. She's gone. I'm an idiot!"

The next morning Stephanie got up first, pulling out eggs and bacon to make the best breakfast that she could. She wasn't an expert chef, but growing up with a father in and out of prison and a mother who was an addict, she had learned to take care of herself at an early age. By the time the food was ready, the smell had drawn Cassandra out of her own room.

When the two settled down to eat, Stephanie wrestled with what she wanted to say. She was sorry about her last outburst, and she knew that her friend was only angry with her because she was worried. She still wasn't sure how to bring things up.

The problem was taken from her hands when Cassandra quietly spoke. "Sorry too. But only... friend. Not want lose."

Stephanie smiled at her. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that stuff. It just reminded me so much of him that I lost my temper."

"Only want safe," Cassandra said. "This not game."

"I know," Stephanie said. "Believe me. I've been in the cave. I've seen the memorial."

Cassandra nodded. "Then practice."

Stephanie's eyes lit up. "You'll teach me? 'Cause last time I was learning some, but I know you didn't really want to show me anything. Are you actually gonna teach me now?"

"Yes," Cassandra said, before smiling evilly. "Will teach... even after don't want to."

Stephanie suddenly gulped in fear as Cassandra moved some chairs to clear a small practice area. "What do we do first?"

"Meditate," Cassandra said, sitting on the floor.

For the next three hours Cassandra ran Stephanie into the ground. Her lessons included everything from better ways to stretch, to careful practicing of proper punches and kicks, to meditation and full contact sparring. Whenever Stephanie's endurance would begin to flag she would shift the activities to something that was tiring in a different way so that she could recover, but which still improved her abilities.

"No more," Stephanie finally panted, collapsing to the ground. "Can't... move..."

Cassandra began to go through her own practice routine, ignoring her friend, who began to watch her as she recovered her breath. Even though for her it was basic, everyday training, the display that she put on was one of the most impressive things Stephanie had ever seen. She lay entranced until her friend finished.

"Wow," Stephanie said. "When can I do that?"

"Five years," Cassandra said flatly. "If work... harder."

"Five... years," Stephanie squeaked.

"Yes," Cassandra said. "Tomorrow make you work... harder."

Stephanie gulped again. She decided that she really didn't like that look in her friend's eye. "You know, if you're gonna run me into the ground, then I should help you with your reading."

Cassandra perked up. "Really?"

What had started in her mind as a way to get some revenge for being overworked transformed into real interest as Stephanie saw how happy her friend was at the suggestion. "Sure! We've got some paper and stuff. Come on, show me what you know."

As it turned out, she knew almost nothing. Cassandra sat with her tongue peeking out of the corner of her mouth, her face a mask of concentration, as she attempted to write out the alphabet. She ended up getting four letters, not in order, and they were only barely legible.

Stephanie was shocked, although she smiled encouragingly when she saw how down Cass was. "Try to learn. Not... working."

"Don't worry, Cass!" Stephanie said brightly. "I'm not gonna be fighting like a crazy ninja anytime soon. You won't be reading like a crazy... um... librarian anytime soon. Stuff just takes time."

"Really?"

"Of course!" Stephanie said. "And I'll help. See, we're gonna be a great team!"

"You sure?" Cassandra asked hesitantly. "Not too... stupid?"

Stephanie glared at her angrily, before reaching over and pinching her side. Cassandra let her, blinking in surprise at the minor pain. Being able to be shot without flinching made the pinch not worth mentioning, although it took her by surprise.

"None of that!" Stephanie said firmly. "No one gets to call you stupid, not even you. And if I see Oracle again, she's gonna get the mother of all pinches. If anyone's stupid, she is."

"Oracle smart," Cassandra said, looking away.

"Too smart," Stephanie said. "She thinks everyone else should be able to do stuff easy like she can. Remember when you first tried training me? I barely learned anything at first. Her trying to help you is like that, only she never noticed how much trouble you were really having."

"Should have tried... harder," Cass confessed.

Stephanie just shrugged. "You can't change the past. But this time I'll help you."

"Thanks," Cass said, smiling at her shyly.

Stephanie pulled out a large, blank sheet of paper from the art pad that they had used to design Cass's new uniform and used a marker to carefully write out the entire alphabet. She then tore the page loose and handed it to Cassandra. "Okay," she said. "Let's start with your ABCs."

Despite trying hard, it was slow going, and over an hour passed before Cassandra had made any real headway at writing the letters. She frowned, discouraged at her sloppy attempts, which were barely legible. Cass was normally able to accomplish any physical task with ease, but she was unused to using a pencil for anything but an improvised weapon. As she took a break to massage her cramping hand, she entertained a brief fantasy of using the things her father had taught her to use a pencil for on whoever had invented writing.

Stephanie noticed her distraction, and finally called the work to a stop. "You're doing pretty good," she said encouragingly. "When you get the letters down, we'll need to get some stuff to practice reading with. When we patrol tonight we should try to find a library."

Cassandra was less than fond of that idea, although she didn't object; she was too glad to be finished writing to complain anyway, so she simply nodded while fiddling with her paper.

"Don't worry," Stephanie encouraged. "You'll get it in no time! I mean, if you can't read, then that means I beat you at something, and what kind of world would that be?"

"Crazy world," Cass agreed smiling slightly.

"Right!" Stephanie said with a bright grin. "Now come on, it's time to get us some jobs. That diner should still be hiring."

Chapter Text

Not One of all the Purple Host

The diner was typical for the downtown area of a city the size of Hub City. It was neither excessively clean and neat nor so filthy as to imply payoffs to the health inspectors. The crowd at breakfast and lunch were mostly people who worked blue collar jobs, with families from the neighborhood frequenting it in the evening at dinner.

The owner was a large man in his late fifties with two chins and greasy hair, who also worked the counter. Stephanie led the way to him, a bright smile on her face as she approached. "Hello! I saw the help wanted sign. My friend and I could use some jobs."

He looked them over critically. "Got any experience?"

"Well, no... but my friend is really athletic. She won't drop anything, no matter how much she has to carry! And I'm a total people person."

Cassandra stopped listening as her friend began to extol their virtues, as she could already tell from the owner's body language that he had decided to give them the jobs. As she looked around the diner, the gaze of most of the men in the room began to make her feel uncomfortable. However, she saw that more attention was focused on Stephanie while she pleaded her case, making Cassandra feel... protective, and strangely angry.

Before she had a chance to figure out the cause of her unusual feelings, she noticed that Stephanie had finished her pitch, and she returned her attention to the owner. "Alright, alright," he said. "I'll give you two a shot. Trial basis only, 'til I see how you handle it."

"Thank you!" Stephanie chirped brightly. Cassandra managed to muster up a small smile of her own.

"My name's Rick," the man said. "I think I've got a coupla spare uniforms in the back that would fit you two. Why don't you go on back and change, and we can see how you work out?"

"Thanks!" Stephanie said as she dragged Cassandra through the door, past the kitchen and into the back room. Cassandra noticed the cook, who was only a few years older than they were, giving them a look similar to the rest of the crowd, although his leer was obvious enough even normal people would have been able to read it. She shifted her walk so that she was between him and Stephanie, and she made sure the door was locked while her friend searched for the uniforms.

"Ah ha!" Stephanie said. "Oh, how cute!"

Cassandra watched neutrally as Stephane held the uniform up in front of her. It was mostly white, with short sleeves, a skirt that stopped several inches above the knee, and a purple checked pattern around the collar and on an apron that extended from the waist to the hem. Stephanie beamed at her, waiting eagerly for a reply.

"It's, um... white?" Cassandra offered hesitantly.

"Well, yeah," Stephanie agreed, giving it a critical look. "I guess for people who only want to wear black... not that there's anything wrong with that! But the purple is pretty close to eggplant."

"That's... good?" Cass offered.

"I know, right!" Stephanie said perkily. "Eggplant is the best color ever, but I can totally see myself wearing this to work everyday."

Stephanie then turned around and dug out a second uniform that would fit Cassandra, tossing it to her before starting to change into her own. Cass frowned before, after making sure that the door was really locked, she began to change as well. She was nearly finished when she heard her friend gasp.

"Those are, um, a lot of scars," Stephanie said quietly.

Normally Cassandra wasn't bothered by her scars, having gained the first ones when she was very little. For some reason her friend saying that made her feel self-conscious, however, and she hesitated a moment before turning around to read her reaction. She nearly sighed in relief when she didn't see any pity or disgust in Stephanie's body language.

"Yes," Cassandra finally agreed, looking at her friend as well. Stephanie had a few scars of her own from her time crime-fighting, but for the most part her fair skin was unblemished. Cass found herself feeling strangely warm, and quickly looked away to finish changing before she could blush.

Soon they were both dressed, Cassandra feeling far more awkward than Stephanie was, not being used to wearing anything but pants. Stephanie, on the other hand, was obviously very excited. "Hey, that looks good on you!" she said brightly as she examined Cass. "We need to get you wearing skirts more often."

"No," Cass said sharply, ignoring her friend's pout as she unlocked the door. If the men in the crowd had been interested in them before, they were even more so now that they were wearing the uniforms. Cassandra frowned in distaste, resolving to ignore the looks as the two girls approached Rick.

"Okay," he said, taking them in, before handing them pads of paper and pens. "You just take the orders and give them to me. I'll ring 'em up and tell the cook what to make. I'll call ya over when the food comes up. You get that half of the room, blondie, and your friend can get the other."

Stephanie grinned at Cass. "Okay, this doesn't seem so bad. Wish me luck!"

"Luck," Cassandra said to her friend quietly, before she was left alone facing half of a room of customers.

She froze for a long moment as she took in the scene before her. She had never had a job of any kind before, and she suddenly realized that she not only had a job, but a job that involved talking to people. The only thing that kept her from bolting in that moment was Stephanie's excitement, and her unwillingness to look foolish in front of her friend.

She hung back for a moment to observe Stephanie's work, her calloused fingers clenching painfully at the notebook that she had been given. It was yet another reason to panic: her job included a notebook to record customers' orders. She just hoped that Rick wouldn't mind her doing everything in her head.

Taking a deep breath, she began to walk to her half of the room, doing her best to copy her friend as she did. She plastered a rictus of a smile onto her face and stood nervously in front of her first customer. It was an older man wearing a blue factory uniform who had just arrived. He gave her a tired smile when she approached.

"What can I... get?" Cassandra asked.

"I'll have an egg salad sandwich, and a side of chili," he said.

Cass nodded, rolling the words around in her head as she walked to the counter. "Egg salad... sandwich. Side of chili."

Rick grunted, and she turned and headed to her next table. She had taken two more orders back to Rick when the first came up. Carrying it to the table, she set it down in front of him, holding her breath as he looked at it. "Thanks, darlin'," he said, digging into his meal.

Her confidence bolstered, Cassandra spent the next hour serving customers. It was between the lunch and dinner rushes, and she was able to keep up even without writing anything down. Eventually, she was even able to take a short break with Stephanie, who chatted cheerfully at her while they waited for something to do.

Just when Cass thought that she had things in hand, however, the dinner rush began. While the people eating earlier had been mostly individuals grabbing a quick bite before or after a work shift, the people who came for dinner often came in large groups, either friends who all got off shift together, or families from the neighborhood. The room became loud with conversation, as every seat filled up.

Cassandra weaved through the crowd, feeling more and more overwhelmed as she tried to remember where dozens of orders were supposed to go. She had always had a very sharp memory, something that she had needed since she couldn't write anything down, but it was being sorely taxed by her job. She saw the concern for her in Stephanie's posture as the shift continued, as her friend was filling up her pad to keep track of orders. Cassandra vowed once again to try hard on her own reading lessons.

The customers certainly weren't making things easy on her, either. She wasn't sure who was louder and more obnoxious: the workers hanging out with friends after a long day of labor, or the young children recently let out of school. She had been leaning towards the children, after the first one decided that throwing a milkshake at the waitress would be fun (which was followed by several rolls when she casually dodged the improvised missile).

Her position changed when a group of younger men came in and took up a table. Despite the early hour, she could smell alcohol on their breaths, which was the only odor stronger than their unwashed bodies. They all leered at her openly when she approached to take their orders, making her feel extremely self-conscious in her purple and white waitress uniform.

The loudest of the group openly stared at her legs while he spoke. "Hey china-doll," he said. "What are you doin' after your shift?"

"Go home," she said evenly, ignoring his interest. It was the only way through her shift with him keeping all of his bones intact.

"I could come with ya, babe," he said, sucking in his protruding gut.

She simply ignored him, taking the rest of the orders before turning to give them to Rick. Just as she started to walk away, her keen situational awareness, honed by her father via such childhood games as 'shoot Cassandra in the back if she doesn't notice him pulling a gun', tipped her off to something about to happen. She spun away just in time to avoid a grope, causing all of the men at the table to laugh.

For just a moment she had a fantasy about showing them everything else that her father had taught her, but after taking a breath she simply ignored it, continuing with her work. Unfortunately the men didn't get the hint, loudly calling her back to their table to demand more drinks, or fresh utensils, or a dozen other things. She could read from their body language that it was all false pretenses to simply harass her, but she still felt it getting under her skin.

Constantly distracted by the rowdy table, she found herself getting more and more behind with her work, and soon she began to lose track of what the orders were. She did her best, but as time passed more food was getting forgotten or delivered to the wrong people, and as she became more frantic the problems only got worse. The greater the pressure that she was feeling, the more things seemed to slip through her memory, leading to even more mistakes.

When she delivered the bill to the rowdy table, the leader tried to harass her one more time. "Come on, china-doll," he leered. "Come with us. We're gonna all have us a good time. You know you want to."

She tried to ignore him, but her temper had been simmering for a long time, and she knew that she was failing at her job. With her hands full of dishes that she had been picking up from the table, he tried to grope her again. Only her nearly inhuman balance allowed her to dodge without dropping anything.

She slowly turned around, her face completely blank, and faced the man who had been most responsible for her harassment. Leaning close to him, she spoke very quietly. "Try again... will break you."

He leered. "Sounds like fun, baby. Your place or mine?"

His expression slowly dropped at something that he saw in her eyes, and when she saw his hesitation, she spoke again. "No. Leave. Don't come back. Or I will break... five bones. For first offense."

He looked at her again, before swallowing slightly. He then forced out a laugh and turned to his friends. "Let's get outta here. Look for somewhere with some real hotties."

Cassandra carried the dirty dishes away, and then returned to the table. While she couldn't actually read what the bills said, she was familiar enough with money to recognize how much she was being given. She could tell that she hadn't received any tip to speak of despite how frustrating the people at the table had been.

It was the start of a trend. With her head out of the game because of her frustration, she continued making mistakes, until finally Rick pulled her aside. "Look, kid, waitressing's more than just carryin' food to tables. You gotta carry the right food, and you gotta make sure your customers wanna come back. It might help if you wrote some of these orders down, until you get used to what we have here."

Cassandra froze, her mind desperately seeking an excuse. "Um... I..."

She could see it in his eyes the second that Rick figured out her problem. "Oh," he grunted. "If you could keep up with all the orders, it'd be fine. But you can't. And you're not exactly charming the customers into coming back. I'm sorry, kid. But I don't think you're cut out to be a waitress."

"But... I try... I..." Cass said, trying to find some reason for him to keep her hired.

"I know," he said gently. "But this job just isn't for you. Nothin' wrong with that. You're a hard worker; you'll find another job."

Cassandra nodded mechanically as Rick took away her blank pad, and she walked stiffly to the back, avoiding eye contact with Stephanie the entire way. She took her time changing, surprised to find that putting on her civilian clothes after being forced out of another uniform more painful than she had expected. Eventually, she hung up the dress with the other spares, and snuck out the back, avoiding anyone's notice.

She walked despondently back to the apartment before changing into her new Silent costume. Stretching, she then climbed out the window, determined to put yet another failure behind her. Hopping quickly from roof to roof, she headed to the rougher part of town, using her stealth to avoid notice despite it not quite being dark yet.

When the sun fully set she began to explore the area, getting a feel for the layout of the streets and the kind of people who lived in her new home. In Gotham she had gotten to the point where she could feel the rhythms of the city, knowing without even thinking about it where she would need to go to find trouble. It would take her some time to get adjusted so completely to Hub City.

After about an hour she found a small group of men, and she could tell from their body language that they were up to no good. Shadowing them along the rooftops, she was soon rewarded as they spotted their first mark. They closed with a man obviously on his way home from work, and she knew that they intended to mug him.

"Hey, man," the leader said. "Got any money?"

"No," the victim said, his voice tense.

There were four muggers, and Cassandra used her line to drop down behind the first without a sound. Without wasting any time she punched him just behind his ear, a nerve strike that rendered him instantly unconscious. She caught him before he hit the ground, tying him up and moving onto her next target without any of the muggers noticing.

"I think you do," the leader continued. "I think you got plenty of money."

The victim stared at Cassandra, his eyes wide as she moved up behind the second criminal, knocking him out and tying him up just as easily. The next thug happened to glance back as she finished tying her target up, but before he could even scream she was on him. She subdued him just as easily.

"Too scared to talk?" the leader asked. "Whattaya say, boys? Let's see what he's carryin'... boys?"

The leader slowly turned around, only to find Cassandra standing right behind him, with all three of his people defeated behind her. He yelped in fear, the sound of terror cut off instantly as Cassandra rendered him unconscious as well. She then tied him up with the others and, with a final glance at the bemused near-mugging victim, fired her line and returned to the shadows of the rooftops.

"Okay, that was cool," Stephanie said. She was dressed as Spoiler, and was hiding just out of sight, although Cassandra had known that she was there from the moment that she had arrived. "You have got to show me how to do that nerve strike thing."

Cassandra just shook her head.

"Oh come on!" Stephanie cajoled. "Why not? I mean, you've done it to me, like, three times or something! I think I deserve to know."

"Not... ready," Cassandra said quietly. "Need learn more basics."

"Fine," Stephanie huffed. "If you won't teach me the cool stuff, then how 'bout... tag!"

Cassandra saw her coming, of course, but she let her friend tag her. Stephanie then ran off, giggling as she hopped from roof to roof. Cassandra slowly smiled before taking off after her friend. She really needed a good game of rooftop tag.

She let Stephanie have some fun leading her on a chase before finally deciding to change things around, catching up to her and tagging her. She then ran off laughing, this time with Stephanie chasing her. For a long time Stephanie and Cassandra laughed and played, their troubles behind them.

Chapter Text

Journey to the Day

Cassandra looked up at the building with trepidation. It had been a long two weeks since Stephanie had begun working at the diner, and in that time Cass had spent her days searching for a job of her own. She had so far had no luck.

There weren't many jobs available in Hub City. There were even less for an illiterate woman who hadn't quite turned twenty, whose entire job experience consisted of one day waitressing and an assassination committed when she was eight. If she could write a resume, she was pretty sure that she would have to leave both of those things off, which would make it very short.

When Stephanie had gotten them a job, she had chatted away with her prospective employer until, in no time at all, he had been charmed into hiring her. Cassandra hadn't been present when Batman had made her Robin, but she had a new theory about how that had happened. Unfortunately, she didn't share her friend's gift.

She had trouble speaking normally, but talking to a person who she wanted to give her money, trying to convince them that she would be a great asset despite her total lack of useful skills, made her tongue seem to lock up in her head. She could see in the posture of the people hiring her their disinterest, and it made her even more nervous. She always knew before the first minute even ended that she hadn't been hired.

Cassandra could normally fight for hours. She could run a marathon and still battle for her life at the end. She had in fact done just that at the age of six. But a single interview seemed more exhausting than any physical task that she had ever done. Two weeks of them had worn her down completely.

Even worse, though, was the way that Stephanie came home from her job each day. She was tired and sometimes annoyed at the customers, but Cass could see how satisfied she was after her work. She could also see that Stephanie believed each day that Cass would find a job, and it hurt to disappoint her by failing again and again.

Cassandra took one last deep breath to bolster her resolve before entering the building. She walked up to a bored looking secretary, who eyed her like a bug as she approached. "Can I help you?"

"Looking for job," Cassandra said.

The woman looked her over critically. "We don't need any more receptionists," she said finally.

Cassandra shook her head. "Warehouse job."

"That's hard work," the woman said. "You really don't want to do that."

"Yes," she said. "I do."

An older man chuckled as he stepped out of his office, making the secretary jump in surprise, although Cassandra had known he was there the whole time. "You think you've got what it takes?"

"Yes," Cassandra repeated.

"I've been needing somebody for the afternoon shift. You'd be working two to nine, six days a week. Think you're up for that? It's not a job for slackers."

"Yes," Cassandra repeated. "Stronger than... I look."

He shrugged. "You are or you aren't. No skin off my nose either way. You do the work and you've got the job, Miss..."

"Cassandra," she said. "Cassandra Cain."

"Well, Miss Cain, I'm Larry Blaisedell," the man said. "And you're hired."

Stephanie came in from her shift that evening expecting to find Cassandra sitting on the couch as she usually was, her shoulders slumped and weary. For someone who was such an expert on body language, Cass rarely paid any attention to her own, giving away her entire state of mind if she wasn't trying to fool someone. While Stephanie would never be the expert Cass was, she could tell with a glance every day that her friend was very upset at her failure to find a job.

Stephanie knew that it would be difficult for her, and she wasn't really surprised that the search was taking so long. While she knew her friend was more dedicated and hardworking than was probably healthy, her lack of verbal communication skills combined with her illiteracy would make finding a job very difficult. She knew that Cassandra needed her support, however, so each day before coming in she made sure to clear out all of her negative thoughts, concentrating on how much faith she had in her best friend so that she wouldn't be able to read anything but confidence in her.

That day, however, her friend was missing. Stephanie wandered around the apartment to make sure that she was gone, although she wasn't actually concerned. If anyone would be safe out in the city alone, it would be Cassandra.

After changing from her work clothes, she sat in front of the TV and had just begun to channel surf when she heard the key in the lock. Looking up, she saw her friend come in the door, her clothes scuffed and sweaty. Despite that she was nearly radiating joy.

"Got job!" Cassandra cried gleefully.

"Alright!" Stephanie said, jumping up. "What'd you get?"

"Warehouse job," Cassandra said proudly. "Load and unload crates all day. Move heavy stuff. Did better than others on shift. Boss impressed, but not say."

"Way to go, Cass!" Stephanie said. "You won't be too tired to patrol or anything, though, right?"

Cassandra gave her a look like she had grown a second head. "Too tired... to patrol?"

"Right," Stephanie said, rolling her eyes. "I forgot who I was talking to for a sec. You wanna work on your reading before we go out?"

Cassandra hesitated slightly, glancing at the pile of children's books that they had picked up from the library like they were pit of vipers. "Shower."

Stephanie chuckled. "Fine, fine. You stink anyway."

"All need stop stinking... is shower," Cassandra said. "Better than you."

"Hey!" Stephanie shouted at her friend's back as she left the room. "Why'd I root for her to get a job again?"

That evening the two girls patrolled, slipping from rooftop to rooftop and shadow to shadow, always on the lookout for crimes to prevent. Eventually they paused for a long time, Cassandra studying the people coming and going from a shady looking bar. Stephanie tried to figure out what was so interesting to her friend, but as far as she could tell it was just like a dozen other dives that they had passed that night without comment.

"So, I thought now that you got that job and all you'd be more upbeat," Stephanie said after several minutes. "But I think you're actually more intense than normal. That cannot be healthy."

"Crime doesn't take breaks," Cass said.

"Jeez, that is so Batman," Stephanie said rolling her eyes. "You need to lighten up a little. We should be celebrating, not moping!"

Cassandra hesitated for a moment. "Batman very good crime fighter. Just bad with other crime fighters."

Stephanie snorted. "I know, right? I mean, look at us. All that time he spent training us... well, especially me, 'cause you were already awesome, and he just throws us out like yesterday's garbage. Talk about wasteful. No wonder he has to work 24/7."

Cassandra continued staring at the building. Just when Stephanie thought she wasn't going to say anything, she slowly spoke. "Saw them before. Now seen three criminals go in. Look suspicious."

"You think it's a meet?" Stephanie asked excitedly.

"Maybe," Cassandra said. "Or just place they go."

Stephanie grinned. "Either way, we gotta check it out, right?"

"Yes," Cassandra agreed. "Undercover."

"Coolness," Stephanie said. "Race you back to the apartment!"

It wasn't even close to a challenge, although Cass held back long enough to make it seem interesting before she took a quick shortcut and arrived first. Ignoring her best friend's pout, she quickly changed into jeans and a plain black t-shirt, along with a brown leather jacket. Most of the clothing that she had gotten in Gotham had been too nice to blend in at a dive like they were going to, but leather would be tough enough to make up for it.

Stephanie, on the other hand, had gone for trashy, dressing herself in a halter top that showed off her breasts and jeans that looked painted on. She had also put on more makeup than Cassandra had ever seen her friend wear before, including dark eyeshadow and bright red lipstick. She grinned mischievously at Cass as she entered, doing a quick twirl. "What do you think?"

Cassandra couldn't help but stare. She had seen plenty of people dressed similarly while on patrol, girls going to parties without a care in the world. For some reason, seeing her friend dressed that way was incredibly distracting, however. Pulling herself together, she forced herself to stop staring and answer. "Might think you're at bar to work."

Stephanie pouted. "It's not that bad."

"Fine for rave," Cassandra said. "Or crazy party. Sends wrong message at cheap bar."

Stephanie considered that for a moment, before sighing. "Fine. Less makeup."

"Less makeup," Cass agreed as she stared after her friend. Confused at her own reactions, Cassandra decided to meditate to bring herself back under control. If things went wrong she would have to protect both herself and Stephanie from a bar full of criminals, and she couldn't afford to be distracted.

A few minutes later Stephanie returned. She was wearing the same clothing, but had put on subtler makeup, and had added a denim jacket. "How's that?"

"Good," Cassandra said. "Not get arrested walking to bar now."

They walked briskly through the early evening, both girls keeping a wary eye out as they did. They knew more than most what dangers lurked on the streets of Hub City at night, and despite their skill they knew to be careful. After a few minutes of silence Stephanie broke it to begin rambling, Cassandra simply absorbing the chatter as she often did.

While the bar had looked dingy on the outside, the inside proved to be even worse. Most of the clientele looked as though they had never heard of a shower, and all looked rough and dangerous. Cassandra spotted two separate biker gangs, one of which she had tangled with in Gotham. The two girls made their way to a corner table, avoiding making eye contact with the people staring at them.

"This place is gross," Stephanie muttered as she eyed the table in front of her. It looked like it might have been washed sometime in the past decade... but not very well. Cassandra just nodded, carefully examining everyone in the room for possible intel.

"You want a drink?" Stephanie asked after a minute.

Cassandra frowned. "No. Look."

Stephanie followed Cass' gaze, watching the bartender as he stood cleaning a glass with a rag. He was a fat, sweaty man, and as unwashed as most of his patrons. After a minute he used his dish rag to wipe the grimy sweat from his forehead, before going right back to cleaning the glass.

Stephanie choked slightly. "This place has to be violating every health code ever made. Ever. Can't we bust them for it and get out of here?"

"No," Cassandra said. "Good place for intel. Need to come here more."

"Do we have to?" Stephanie whined.

Cassandra thought for a moment. "Looks like most work done in back room. Plant bug, then listen from outside?"

"Now you're talking my language!" Stephanie said brightly. "I'm good with planting bugs. I managed to put one where my dad never found it, way back when I first got started. I found out all his plans. It was great."

"Then you plant bug," Cassandra agreed. "But need to get to back."

"I've got an idea," Stephanie said, grinning as she pulled off her jacket. From her body language Cassandra could see that her friend was about to do something very reckless, but she was already up and moving before Cass could think of something to say to stop her.

Stephanie strolled across the floor of the bar, drawing more than a few gazes, before stopping in front of the bartender. "I'd like a beer."

He looked straight at her chest as he poured her drink, not even glancing up at her face once during the entire process. If he had he would have seen the barely disguised disgust as he gave her the glass that he had been 'cleaning'. Stephanie smiled and turned, for once intentionally clumsy as she bumped into the large biker next to her at the bar, spilling her beer all over him.

"What the hell was that for!" he growled, standing to his full height of well more than six feet.

"I'm so sorry!" Stephanie squeaked. "I'm just so clumsy. Here, let me buy you a drink..."

"It'll take more than that to make it up to me girly," he leered.

"Like, ew," Stephanie said, backing hard enough into the man behind her to knock him off of his stool. He stood up angrily as well, and Stephanie began to withdraw in a new direction. "Sorry! So sorry. Um, look, I don't want any trouble..."

"You gots trouble," the thug from the barstool said, drawing a switchblade.

"Oh please, don't kill me," she said pathetically.

"Oh, I won't kill you," he grinned.

"All I did was knock you off your stool," Stephanie stammered. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."

"Hey, I saw her first," the biker growled.

"Back off," the thug said.

"Jeez, you must not think much of bikers," Stephanie said loudly.

"What!" they both said, glaring first at her, then at each other.

"I mean, just 'cause you've got a knife and all, you think you can do anything you like, and he just has to take it. I thought bikers did what they wanted."

"We do," the biker growled. "Put the knife down, punk, or you'll be eating it."

"You gonna take that from him?" Stephanie asked.

"Shut up, girl!" the man she had knocked over shouted. "And you, back off! My boys and I aren't afraid of you!"

"Wow, he really doesn't think much of bikers," Stephanie mused loudly.

A small crowd was gathering, mostly consisting of bikers and the street gang the thug that she had bumped into was from. She slipped back quietly, avoiding their notice as the two sides eyed each other warily. Grinning mischievously, she made sure that no one besides Cass was watching, before she grabbed an unattended beer and threw it at one of the bikers, smashing it over his head.

Chaos erupted, with both sides throwing punches simultaneously. Stephanie grinned, satisfied, as she slipped away towards the back room. She was almost there when two of the bikers suddenly stepped into her path.

"You aren't going anywhere girly," one of them said as he pulled out a pistol. "You're gonna wait 'til we finish off those punks, then we're gonna..."

Stephanie never found out what he thought that they were going to do, as from the side Cassandra appeared with a flying kick to the man's hand, knocking his gun away. By the time she touched the ground, she was already spinning, sweeping his feet out from under him. Stephanie slipped around the sudden fight, confident that her friend had everything in hand as she headed to the back to do her mission.

The criminals that they had noticed had been lured out into the main room by the fight, and they ignored her as she used what Batman and Robin had taught her about blending into crowds to slip by them. The back room was large, with several pool tables. It was also somewhat nicer than the rest of the bar, with a long shelf of self service alcohol.

Stephanie took in the entire room with a glance, already considering possibilities about places to hide bugs. The criminals of Gotham had gotten very good at finding such things, forcing those who would employ them to be very skilled at hiding them. Even before Batman's training she had been a natural at the art.

In seconds she had considered and discarded two dozen possibilities. The hardest factor was the nature of her equipment. She had started out her career with commercial bugs, but she had grown used to using the latest cutting edge advancements that Batman put into his. Being reduced not only to the cheap stuff, but with no budget to waste by planting several, she had to select a single, perfect spot to hide it.

The only real answer was the ceiling, as it was out of the way and would provide good coverage of the room. Climbing up onto a pool table, she carefully hid it among the ceiling tiles before hopping down and cleaning her footprints off of the table. She then gave the room one final glance before slipping outside.

The fight had become even larger and more out of control during her absence, although at least no one had fired any guns. It took her only seconds to find Cass, who was obviously holding back to keep her skill from being too noticeable. Despite that Stephanie couldn't help but admire her friend's perfect movements. She had once thought that she could someday learn to fight like Cass did, but the more that she learned, the more awe she felt, rather than understanding.

Shaking off her thoughts, she waved slightly, and saw Cass nod. Slipping around the crowd, she made her way outside, and was joined by her friend in moments. "Bug planted," she said smugly.

Cassandra just glared at her for a second, before walking briskly back to their apartment.

Stephanie frowned in confusion, before rushing to keep up. "Hey, what's wrong? We did it."

"You..." Cass started, trailing off after a moment. Stephanie could see the frustration in her friend's eyes as she tried to find words. "Could have been shot."

"Well, yeah," Stephanie agreed. "It did get hairy there for a sec, but then you jumped in. Thanks, by the way."

Cassandra shook her head. "Not just that. Took on entire bar. Too dangerous."

"Oh, come on!" Stephanie objected. "We're vigilantes. Everything we do is dangerous."

Cassandra stopped and glared at her. "Yes. That's why... avoid danger. Always in danger. Can't prevent. So prevent danger we can. What you did... didn't need done. Pointless danger. Reckless."

Stephanie reared back like she had been slapped. "What, you still think Batman's right?"

"Yes," Cassandra said quietly. She struggled for what she wanted to say for a second, but before she could find words Stephanie angrily cut her off.

"In case you forgot, he fired you too, you know! So was he right about that too?"

"You could die," Cassandra said finally. "Not a game."

"I know!" Stephanie bit out. "Okay, I know it's not a game. You gonna fire me too? Run back home to daddy bats?"

"No," Cassandra said. "Not want you to die."

"What, you think I can't handle it on my own? I knew you'd be there to protect me tonight, but that doesn't mean I can't do this without you. I was Spoiler way before you came to Gotham."

"No!" Cassandra said, but it was too late. Stephanie had already stormed off in anger. Cassandra sighed glumly before talking to the empty street. "Not mean that. Not want you hurt. I... need you."

Chapter Text

The Sky is Low

Cassandra slipped from shadow to shadow, carefully observing her target. She used every skill she had ever learned to make sure her stalking was absolutely perfect, without even the slightest hint to give away her presence. Even Batman wouldn't have known she was there.

Stephanie Brown was no Batman, which meant that all of Cass' efforts were extreme overkill. She didn't care. She had to follow her friend, and she couldn't risk being noticed.

Ever since their argument the week before, things had been extremely strained between the two girls. Cassandra hadn't meant her statement the way that Stephanie had taken it, but every time she tried to explain herself, she hadn't been able to find the right words, and things had only gotten worse. Cassandra could tell that the things Stephanie had said to her had only been because she felt hurt, but that didn't make them any less painful, and she had gotten angry as well.

They were no longer talking at all, and Cassandra really missed her friend. Stephanie could chat with people at her work, making at least casual friends there to fill her time. Cass had gained a reputation as being weird and nearly mute at her job, and she wouldn't know how to approach the older male workforce even if they didn't mostly avoid her.

Even worse, however, was the way that Stephanie had taken to going out alone at night as Spoiler, hunting for criminals without letting Cass work with her. Stephanie had always been reckless, and Cassandra was very worried about her. In the end, instead of confronting her and risking making the situation even worse, she elected to follow her friend everywhere on patrol, so that if Steph ended up in over her head she could swoop down and save her. She had even practiced pretending to have stumbled upon her by accident just in case Stephanie was suspicious of the rescue.

To her great relief, however, Cassandra hadn't needed to carry out any such plans. While Stephanie was still the least skilled person ever trained by Batman, she had made great progress while serving as Robin, and time training with Cass every day had done wonders for her combat abilities. While she still had a long way to go, she was more than a match for the muggers and other low class criminals that she was beating up each night.

Their training was still continuing as well. While literacy practice had become an extremely tense affair, as it was difficult to make much progress with reading when neither party wanted to speak, the angry tension in the air did wonders for driving Stephanie to fight harder during sparring. Cassandra had been impressed that her friend no longer lost control when she was angry, simply channeling it into her fighting skills.

Eventually Stephanie pushed the top of her glove down, exposing her watch. Cassandra could read the sudden loneliness, sadness, and general pain that seeing the time gave her friend, as she realized that it was the time that they had established to meet and listen to the bug that they had planted at the crime infested dive. Even if she hadn't wanted to make up with her friend for herself, seeing how much their estrangement was hurting Stephanie would have made Cass keep trying.

Once she was sure that Stephanie had her current thugs in hand and was about to head towards the bar, Cassandra slipped away and began to run, heading with full speed towards the meeting site. She arrived with enough time to carefully check the area for any observers or other dangers before standing and waiting for her friend to arrive, the very picture of casualness.

Less than a minute later Stephanie appeared, landing fairly lightly on the roof not far away from Cass. They stared at each other awkwardly for a minute while Cassandra watched her friend try to think of something to say that would fix things between them. As upsetting as the situation was, Cassandra took a certain amount of solace in the fact that she wasn't the only one who couldn't find the words to make things better.

Finally, Stephanie looked down to concentrate on pulling out her receiver. "So! Think we'll learn anything good tonight?"

"Maybe," Cass said sadly as she approached her friend. She really wished that life didn't always have to be so hard.

The two of them stood awkwardly together, looking at anything except each other as they listened to the criminals speaking below. The information was similar to what they had gained on previous evenings, although they both noticed that the criminals sounded more strained than before. Their efforts were obviously beginning to make a dent in the local organized crime.

Eventually the room grew quiet as someone entered. The two crime fighters looked at each other for the first time since they had started listening in, their troubles forgotten as someone that they hadn't heard before entered the room. Whoever it was obviously commanded a great deal of fear and respect from the criminals below.

"My boss is growing very displeased with the recent... setbacks," the man said.

"Please," one of the other criminals said. "We tried, but it's like they ain't even human. The one in gray took down three of my best men like they was nothin'."

"Mr. Mandragora does not accept excuses," the man answered coldly. "Deal with this situation, or he will find someone... more capable."

"Look, you still gettin' the goods in," another voice said. "Long as nothin' stops that, we can make up the losses."

"Yeah, things still aren't as bad as when that no-faced freak was around," a different man chimed in.

"That was before Mr. Mandragora took an interest in this town," the first man said. "He does not tolerate such interference for long. Deal with them, gentleman. Soon... for your sakes."

The rest of the conversation was unimportant, and the two girls looked at each other. "I've heard of Mandragora," Stephanie said excitedly.

Cassandra tilted her head questioningly.

"It was part of the stuff Batman made me memorize when he was training me as Robin," Stephanie explained. "Mandragora is one of the biggest crime families in the country. They have a bunch of people in New York, Gotham... other places too. Looks like Hub City's on the list."

"They all feared... his name," Cass said. "We bring him down..."

"And we break organized crime in Hub City!" Stephanie finished for her.

Cassandra walked over to the edge of the roof, watching the people coming and going. Stephanie bounced excitedly next to her. After a minute, Cass pointed at a man as he left the bar. "Him."

They studied him closely for a minute. He was a tall man in his early thirties wearing a nice black suit. They could see from the way that his clothing lay that he was wearing a shoulder holster. He went to a nondescript black car and climbed in, driving quickly away from the downtown area.

"Do we follow him?" Stephanie asked.

"No," Cassandra said. "Car... too fast. Don't know enough shortcuts yet."

"Still, we should be able to follow up that lead," Stephanie said brightly as she pounded her fist into an open palm.

"You good cop... I bad cop?" Cass offered.

"Sure," Stephanie said as they pulled out lines. They quickly moved across the roofs to an area that they had noticed usually had drug dealers. The two observed the people on the street for a minute before Cassandra led them to a rooftop overlooking a dark alley.

Cass gestured for Stephanie to wait, before setting her line and crouching like a gargoyle on the edge of the building overlooking the street. When the dealer that she was waiting for started to walk by, she suddenly dove, swinging out wide from the buildings so that she came streaking at him from over the street like a comet, trailing her gray cloak behind her. When she struck she grabbed him by his belt, swinging them both into the dark alley even as she withdrew the line. The two landed on the rooftop a moment later, the dealer in a pile at Stephanie's feet, while Cassandra crouched like a hawk on the raised edge of the roof.

The dealer had been so shocked that he hadn't been able to let out more than a brief yelp, and it took him a long moment to pull himself together enough to even roll over. When he saw Stephanie looming over him in her Spoiler costume he let out another choked scream of fear before scuttling backwards like a crab. He stopped when he bumped into Cassandra's leg, whimpering in terror when he saw her gray form crouched menacingly above him.

"Hello!" Stephanie said brightly. "We've got some questions. You've got some answers. I think you see how this works."

"I don't know nothin'," the man said angrily.

Cassandra's hand darted forward, grabbing him by the ankle and slinging him over the edge of the roof. For the first time he was able to let out a full-throated scream as he was left dangling for a second before Cassandra shifted her body to heave him back onto the flat roof. He lay there, trembling in fear, as Stephanie moved closer.

"See, that's what happens when you lie," Stephanie said. "Silent over there... she doesn't like liars. And she always knows."

"Please... don't hurt me..." the dealer whimpered.

"If you don't want her to hurt you, you need to tell us what we want to know."

"Just- just keep that thing away from me!"

"See!" Stephanie said cheerfully. "Now you're getting it. So! First question: What do you know about Mandragora?"

"Ah... no... not that," the man stammered. "Not that. Anything but that!"

"But that's what she wants to know," Stephanie said. "I don't want her to hurt you... but I can't stop her if you don't talk."

The man turned his head slightly, jumping in fear again as he realized that sometime when he had been looking at Stephanie, Cassandra had moved closer so that she was crouched a hairsbreadth away from him. He whimpered slightly, then began to talk. "Mandragora. Big crime family. Guy named Joseph Mandragora... he's in charge in these parts."

"How much does he run?"

"Everything!" the dealer said. "He came in right after that no-faced man left town a couple years back. He brings everything illegal into town somehow. Flooded the streets with discount goods until nobody could compete if they didn't buy from him. Now everybody follows his lead."

"Guns? Drugs?" Stephanie asked.

"Everything," the man said emphatically. "There's not a drug or weapon on the streets that he didn't put there. And if someone wants something moved in or out, he'll do it for a fee."

"How?" Stephanie asked. "Where does he bring the shipments?"

"Nobody knows," he said, his eyes suddenly widening in fear as he turned to look at Cassandra who now loomed over him menacingly. "I'm not lyin'! Nobody knows! It's why nobody else was able to muscle him out! However he does it, he can bring anything in or out without anyone bein' the wiser!"

"Still, he's gotta have enemies," Stephanie reasoned. "Even if they can't figure out how he does it, someone's gotta be trying to undermine him."

"They tried," the dealer said. "Last time a gang didn't want to pay him, tried to do their own thing? Mandragora's people tore 'em apart. They found 'em in pieces. Littlepieces."

"Where is Mandragora?"

"He's got a mansion right outside the city," the dealer said. "Fulla guards. Not even the feds would wanna raid that place."

Stephanie looked at Cassandra, who nodded. They both pulled out their lines and fired them, swinging away quickly. Behind them the dealer shouted, "Hey! Don't leave me up here!"

Stephanie laughed as they swung over the streets, and Cassandra soon joined in. For just a moment, it felt like everything was alright again. Like they hadn't been fighting at all.

The next morning the easy camaraderie that they had shared the previous day had slipped, although it wasn't quite as icy as it had been during the previous week. They had both remembered how good their friendship was, but they also didn't know how to actively return to that state. Stephanie handled the tension by being extra polite, while Cassandra was simply frustrated that she didn't know what to do.

It was nearly a week later when Cassandra showed up to work and noticed something slightly odd. A man that she hadn't seen before was present, and he was talking to the foreman. She wouldn't have thought anything of it except the foreman, to her eyes, seemed unusually uncomfortable. No one else seemed to notice.

A few minutes later the foreman walked over and called out several names, including Cassandra's. She noticed that the group included mostly the hardest workers, but also had an unusually high percentage of those for whom English was a second language. When the selected people had gathered he began to speak. "Alright, new warehouse load to do. Follow me."

Cassandra and the rest followed the foreman and the man who had been speaking to him in the beginning. As she walked, Cassandra observed the man, noticing that he walked like someone with a fair degree of combat training. He also seemed extremely confident, strolling along like he felt he was a wolf among sheep.

When they arrived at the warehouse, Cassandra didn't notice anything unusual. It was close to the harbor, and their job would be to load the warehouse with goods from a recently arrived ship. It was something that she had done nearly every day since she had first been hired, but for some reason something about the job was making her uneasy. As she began her work she made sure to appear nonchalant even as she took in everything around her.

The crates were heavy, but not unusually so, and didn't rattle. While she didn't take the time to carefully sound out the letters as she would need to do to read any of the labeling, she didn't see anything different from other loads that she had transported. Even the ship seemed normal, at least until she took her time to carefully observe the crew.

The people from the ship were nervous, more so than they should have been for a routine delivery. Even the agent of the port authority who had inspected the cargo was tense as he spoke with the man who had acquired the services of the foreman. The only people that didn't seem to feel that something unusual was occurring were the people doing the unloading.

While nothing jumped out at her that something was truly wrong even after protracted observation, Cassandra knew to listen to her instincts. It was something that Batman had been trying to show her when he began teaching her to be a detective, although he had barely begun her lessons before he fired her. She found herself desperately homesick for a moment, wishing that she could call up Oracle or go find Batman or Robin and let them know that she had found something.

As she considered that, she realized that she could still call upon Robin. While Stephanie may have also been fired by Batman, she was far better at the detective work than Cass was, and would probably be able to figure things out. As she considered that, she decided that it might be a good way to get them working together again, as their group efforts the week before seemed to have helped things.

That evening, when the two of them had suited up, Cassandra approached Stephanie. "Found something... not right."

"What is it?" Stephanie asked.

"Don't know," Cass said. "At work. Just didn't seem... right. Check it out?"

"Together?" Stephanie asked.

"Yes," Cassandra agreed. "Together."

They quickly headed to the port area, where the two of them spent several minutes carefully examining the warehouse from the outside. Cassandra hadn't seen anything more than the basic security that all of the warehouses had while loading that day, and after a time they concluded that nothing unusual was happening that night, either. No additional security, and no more guards that the standard night watchmen that patrolled the area.

"How 'bout we check the manifest before we go in," Stephanie said.

"Manifest?"

"Yeah, it'll list what the ship was supposed to be carrying," Stephanie explained. "If it's wrong, then we know something isn't right, even if we don't know what."

"Okay," Cassandra agreed before leading her friend to the port authority building. Its security was laughable, and in a matter of minutes, they had located the records office. While the building had computer records, they also had file cabinets containing paper copies. Stephanie quickly picked the locks on the cabinets and began to flip through the records.

"According to this, the ship should have been carrying a shipment of sugar from Brazil," Stephanie said. "It's signed off like it's supposed to be. If the shipment is illegal, then they've bribed a lot of people..."

"Mandragora," Cassandra said.

Stephanie nodded thoughtfully. "If they managed to pay off enough of the port authority office to get shipments of drugs and guns and stuff in without any hassle, it'd explain how they flooded the streets so easily."

After putting all of the documentation away, the two girls quickly headed to the warehouse. The security for it was just as easily bypassed, and the two girls took in the room. It was full of crates. "Wow. You loaded all this stuff yourself?"

"Whole crew," Cassandra said dismissively. "And forklifts."

Cassandra grabbed a crowbar, and the two girls selected an out of the way crate. She swiftly pried it open, revealing a number of bags packed with white powder. She pulled one out and Stephanie held up a tiny flashlight to the label.

"Well... it claims to be sugar," Stephanie said.

Cassandra used the sharp edge of a spoilerang to open a corner of the bag, pouring a small amount onto her palm. "Is sugar," she said finally.

They spent ten minutes breaking into a number of additional crates and found them to all contain exactly what they were supposed to. After resealing one last crate, Stephanie walked over to Cass, who had climbed up onto a catwalk, staring out across the warehouse. She hesitated for a second before putting her hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Hey, not even all of Batman's leads pan out," she said consolingly. "You should have seen some of my first tries at being a detective!"

"Feel stupid," Cassandra said quietly.

Stephanie reached over and pinched her friend, who glared at her for a moment. "Hey, I said I'd show anyone who said you were stupid! Even you!"

Cassandra was quiet for a moment, before speaking slowly, trying to make things come out right. "Know you able to protect self. Didn't mean you couldn't. I mean... you important. To me. Can't lose you. All I mean."

Cassandra could see the happiness her statement gave Stephanie. "I overreacted. It's just... not too long ago you were knocking me out to keep me out of fights..."

"Not my fault... you sucked," Cass said. "Not suck... so bad now."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Stephanie asked, amused.

"Yes," Cassandra said nodding.

"Fine, fine," Stephanie said. "Let's get out of here. I bet I can show you how much better I've gotten!"

"Okay," Cassandra said. As she started to walk away, she paused, noticing something. She slowly turned around, taking in the room again.

"What is it?" Stephanie asked.

"Crates... missing," she said slowly.

"What?"

"There were more... before," Cassandra explained. "Crates are missing."

"Someone took them already," Stephanie said excitedly. "They moved the illegal stuff out the same day! No wonder we weren't finding it!"

Chapter Text

Distant Strains of Triumph

The next two works were far more pleasant for the two young vigilantes. They had made up, which made spending time together far less awkward. They were also making good money for the first time, as Stephanie received impressive tips for a job at a diner, and Cassandra's job paid fairly well. While they weren't exactly rich, they were able to afford a few luxuries.

One such luxury was getting cable television hooked up, which the two girls spent a fair amount of time watching. Stephanie had found shows for helping children learn to read, and had taken to singing the songs from them whenever she had a chance. Cassandra had thought that was strange at first, but eventually she had gotten used to it, although she still couldn't bring herself to join in. She had never sung anything before, and the very thought of doing so filled her with a confusing sense of dread.

The two girls hadn't made any headway against Mandragora, however. While they had a good theory about how he smuggled in illegal goods, they hadn't managed to find any evidence of it, although they had made plans for their next opportunity. They had kept up the pressure on the street gangs, however, and they were finding fewer and more wary dealers and thugs out every night.

It was early on a Thursday afternoon when they finally had an opportunity to put their plans into motion. The same man that had been responsible for the possibly illegal shipment two weeks before arrived, and once again Cassandra was selected to help unload the cargo. She followed the other workers to the warehouse like normal, but while she worked she carefully kept an eye out for an opportunity to slip away.

She had been working for nearly an hour when she finally found it, as the person working near her went to use the restroom. She waited until no one was looking her way before slipping out of the back of the warehouse and down to a hospitality station that had a working phone. Stephanie had helped her memorize which buttons to press to call her at work, and soon the phone was ringing.

"Rick's," a man's voice said when the phone finally picked up.

"Need to... speak to Steph," Cassandra said.

A few moments later she heard her friend's voice answer. "Cass?"

"Is happening," she said. "Warehouse 22."

"Okay," Stephanie said. "I"m on it."

Cassandra quickly went back to work, managing to pick up her efforts without anyone having noticed her slipping away. It was nearly half an hour later when she realized that she was being watched, and with a casual glance she was able to see the edges of an eggplant colored cloak on the roof of a nearby warehouse. She smiled approvingly at how well her friend had hidden – none of the criminals they had seen in Hub City had anywhere near the skill to notice Stephanie's hiding place.

Eventually they finished unloading, and Cassandra completed her workday as though nothing unusual was happening. When she finally clocked out, she hurried home and changed into her Silent costume. She then returned to the warehouse, only to find Stephanie already gone.

Two hours later a very bored Cassandra noticed Stephanie finally returning. Standing up from where she had been meditating, she turned to her friend expectantly. Stephanie stopped trying to sneak up on her and walked over, her posture excited.

"You were right!" Stephanie said. "A truck came and got some of the crates about thirty minutes after you left. If we hadn't known what to look for, we'd never have noticed!"

"Where did... they go?" Cassandra asked.

"A grocery store downtown," Stephanie said. "I watched 'em for a while, and then I saw that guy from the bar... you know, the one who was threatening them and everything?"

Cassandra nodded. "Let's go."

The two vigilantes ran quickly over the roofs and swung across streets until they arrived at the grocery store. Cassandra noticed with a glance that everyone present was in fact a criminal. They were also all very well armed.

"We should... get police," Cassandra said slowly. "For when we beat them."

"I dunno, this isn't Gotham," Stephanie said thoughtfully. "They'll probably come when someone calls about the gunfire. And I'm not gonna leave you here to take them on by yourself."

Cassandra was glad that her outfit did a good job of hiding her expression at being caught. She really didn't want Stephanie angry at her again. "Lot of guns. We need... to be careful."

"Fine," Stephanie huffed. "Why don't I circle around, hit them from behind while you blitz them from the front. You can do that bullet dodging thing, and I'll take them out from the edges."

Cass considered the plan for a bit before shaking her head. "Too many guns. Armor... not made by Batman. Not trust bullets."

"Hey!" Stephanie objected. "We worked hard... fine. No catching bullets. What do you want to do then?"

"Like your part in plan," Cass said finally. "But can't just swing in and fight. I sneak, hit from sides... at start. Cut numbers. Use smoke grenades when need to."

Stephanie nodded as she went through her utility belt. "What about flash bangs?"

"No," Cass decided. "Better for quick surprise. Plan is not rush. Patience."

"Patience?" Stephanie asked skeptically.

"Yes," Cass said firmly. "Don't rush in. If see, sneak away, try again. Can dodge some bullets. You can't."

Stephanie nodded. "I may not be cautious, but I'm not stupid, you know. I'm not trying to get myself killed."

"Still worry," Cass grumbled, drawing a smile from Stephanie.

"When should I do my thing?" Stephanie asked.

"When throw smoke," Cassandra decided. "Use as cover, get some down before clears, then hide again. Stay street level. Hit stragglers after."

With a final nod of acceptance, Stephanie slipped away with adequate skill, circling wide to make sure she wasn't spotted before finally sneaking onto the roof of the grocery store without anyone but Cassandra noticing her. Once she was finally in position, Cass circled around as well, sticking to shadows and dark corners before finally stopping near some of the guards. They were some distance away and dressed like ordinary citizens, but she could tell from their body language that they were actually lookouts.

The first two fell before they could make a sound, dropped with pinpoint nerve strikes and pulled into an alley where she swiftly disarmed and bound them. She then circled around the block, jogging silently all the way, so that she hit the two guards at the other end of the street just as quietly. After that she slowly worked her way closer to the actual grocery store itself, her presence still unnoticed.

Cassandra managed to pick off three more criminals without being seen. While the guards had some skill for Hub City criminals, they were also complacent, years of easy shipments making them unwary as they waited. In Gotham the criminals had learned to expect vigilante complications, no matter how prosaic the job. Cass vowed to teach the criminals of Hub City a similar fear.

She decided to change her plan of attack after seeing the reactions of the guards. Unfortunately, the only communicators that she and Stephanie had were larger and noisier than they would have liked, so she decided to she trust her friend to stay out of trouble for a couple of minutes. It only took her a few moments to case the grocery store and find a side entrance that was unguarded.

Slipping inside, she found her way to the back room, where she saw piles and piles of illegal goods. Guns of every make and model, including military grade assault weapons, were piled next to drugs and counterfeit DVDs. Unfortunately, the room had two guards standing next to its doors, who actually remained alert as they waited.

Considering her options, Cassandra decided to clean up the rest of the people inside before she tackled the people in the back or the people still on the streets. There were only two other criminals hanging around the store and she was able to get the drop on both of them, binding them and leaving them out of the way without anyone noticing. Unfortunately, she was running out of time.

A man from out front came running in, heading to the back. She crept closer to overhear what he was saying. "Sir! There's something wrong. The perimeter guards are missing!"

"They wander off?" a man asked. Cassandra recognized him as the man that had threatened the gangs at the bar.

"No, sir," the messenger said. "They wouldn't have left. Something's happening."

The man who had run in led the person from the back room through the store and outside. As she was considering what to do, Cassandra suddenly saw something that gave her an idea. She grabbed a bag of marbles from a shelf and stuck it in her utility belt before pulling one out and moving closer to the back room.

The two guards were still on watch, and she could read the growing tension in their bodies. What had started as commendable wariness had crossed over into nervousness, and Cass knew how to take advantage of that. Steadying her breathing, she carefully tossed the marble so that it banged loudly against a table inside the back room.

The two guards both jumped and then turned as one, glancing inside to see what had made the unexpected sound. As soon as they started to move Cassandra shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, jumping into the air after a brief sprint and simultaneously kicking each guard in the head with a different foot. They plowed face first into the doorframe at the same time, knocking them out as Cass backflipped onto her feet before sweeping into the back room.

Two more people were within, and they both went for their guns. She swept sideways as she ran, ghosting across their sights too quickly to be hit. She took them both down easily, but unfortunately not before they got several shots off. Even from the heart of the building she could hear the criminals outside shouting and beginning to react.

Cassandra moved quickly, but she wasn't fast enough to get to an exit before gunmen started flooding the grocery store. Shifting tactics, she ran down the aisles on silent feet, coming out into the open for just a second to throw a spoilerang at one thug, disarming him before jumping in the air and ramming her knee into the head of another. She tumbled over her target as he hit the ground, unconscious, landing behind cover once again as automatic gunfire split the air all around her.

She sped down the aisles at a low crawl, bullets slamming into the shelves above her, spraying her with bits of food as she moved. Reaching into her belt, she pulled out one of her smoke grenades and tossed it towards the front of the store. The smoke filled the air quickly, blocking all visibility and causing the surprised criminals to begin coughing, which Cass used to home in on them and drop them one after another.

When most of the criminals were down the smoke began to clear, and she slipped back into cover again. Only two gunmen were left standing in the shop, and she could read the panic in their bodies as they retreated hastily out of the store. She could see their relief as they reached the street, until a moment later Stephanie landed on them, driving their heads into the concrete and unconsciousness.

Cassandra moved quickly to the door, where she saw only three criminals still standing. One of them was the man who apparently was in charge. He looked very angry as he slowly removed his jacket, letting the expensive tailored clothing fall to the asphalt.

"Hey Silent," Stephanie said. "That wasn't quite the plan."

Cassandra just shrugged as she sized up the remaining criminals.

"You have no idea what you've done," the man as he rolled up his sleeves.

"Pissed off some two bit thugs?" Stephanie offered. "Spoiled your day? Is this where the maniacal laughter comes in?"

"I am Frederic Datura, and I represent the Mandragora family," he said. "You are going to regret this before you die."

"Blah, blah, blah. Get some original dialogue, already," Stephanie said.

Frederic loosened and removed his tie, although Cassandra noticed that he was doing something else at his neck as he did so. When he dropped the tie he hunched over for a second, growling in his throat as his muscles began to expand and throb. Finally he looked up, a sadistic grin on his face. "I wonder, will you still have such a smart mouth after I tear out your tongue?"

Cassandra jumped forward, slamming a steel toed combat boot hard into Frederic's face. Instead of falling to the ground he simply rocked back on his heels, grabbing her leg before she could withdraw. He grinned malevolently, an expression which was knocked off of his face when she used her other foot to stomp on his nose, breaking it with a loud crunch.

Frederic howled in pain, but was fast enough to grab her foot with his free hand before she could withdraw it. "You're gonna pay for that," he growled, his voice garbled by his broken nose.

Cassandra could read his intentions just before he acted. He was going to swing her around and slam her repeatedly into the ground with his inhuman strength. Unfortunately, he was also faster than he should have been, and he had already begun swinging her before she could make a move.

Even as he swung her body Cass leaned forward, clapping his ears with both hands. He howled and accidentally released her as he instinctively raised his hands to his bleeding ears. Cassandra flew through the air, but gained control with a tumble, landing in a three point stance facing Frederic.

Cassandra paused for a second to take in the rest of the situation, but was relieved to see that Stephanie had things well in hand, having already taken out one of the other criminals, with the other on the defensive. Turning her attention back to her opponent, she waited until he glared at her to dart forward. She had a feel for his speed, stutter stepping just outside of his reach to cause him to mistime his attack, slipping under his arms to sidekick him in his knee, dislocating it.

Unfortunately Frederic was too angry to feel pain properly, and he caught her in the face with a punch that was far too strong for a normal human. Even rolling with the blow as only a true master of the martial arts could, her vision still became blurry and her ears began to ring. She still managed to flip back out of his reach before he could follow up.

She slowly circled him, considering her options. He was faster than he should have been, and far stronger. He also no longer felt pain the way that he should, and he was even managing to walk, if awkwardly, on his dislocated knee.

Cass finally came up with a strategy, darting in once again, this time with a fake towards Frederic's other knee, only to redirect his counterpunch with an advanced judo move, sending him crashing into the ground behind her. As he started to stand again she punched him in the throat with stiffened fingers, leaving him choking for air. She followed it up with a seven hit combination, cracking bones, smashing nerve clusters, and tearing tendons as she went. Despite the damage she was inflicting, he would not stay down.

He rose unsteadily to his feet, using a parking meter for balance. Once he was upright he ripped the meter from the ground and swung it in a wide arc. The attack was fast enough that despite her ability to read his intentions she was still clipped by the edge of it, sending her tumbling back. He then started to walk towards her, a vicious grin on his face.

Suddenly Stephanie leapt onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck in a chokehold. "Silent! Are you okay!"

"Neck!" Cassandra said. "Back of neck!"

Stephanie didn't question her, grabbing the back of Frederic's neck with one hand while she used the other to hang on. Frederic dropped the parking meter, reaching back to stop her, but he was too late. She had already found the device on the back of his neck that Cassandra had been referring to. She grabbed it and pulled, ripping it off.

Frederic suddenly collapsed to the ground, his swollen muscles shrinking back to normal as he lay stunned. He started to pull himself up after a moment, reaching for his gun as he did, but Cassandra was already standing over him. With one well placed kick she knocked him unconscious.

"What was that?" Stephanie asked, looking at the small device.

"Venom," Cassandra said.

"How'd you know?"

"Did something at back of neck before fight," she explained. "Then got too strong. Venom."

Cassandra took a moment to survey the field. All of the criminals were down, and most of them had been disarmed and bound as well. Before she could move to tie up the rest she heard the sounds of approaching sirens, and the two vigilantes quickly took to the rooftops to avoid the police.

"Take that!" Stephanie crowed as they watched the police start to process the scene from a safe distance. "Team Spoiler: 1, Mandragora: nothin'!"

"Team... Spoiler?" Cassandra asked.

"Ah, come on, what else would you call us?" Stephanie asked. "I mean, we use spoilerangs and everything!"

"Silenterangs," Cassandra grumbled.

"Fine," Stephanie said, rolling her eyes. "If you want to call use Team Silent, feel free. It's just not a very good description, 'cause I'm not usually really silent, you know?"

"Hadn't... noticed."

"Was that sarcasm?" Stephanie asked, looking at her friend suspiciously.

"Me?" Cass asked innocently. Before Stephanie could say anything, Cassandra suddenly darted forward and tapped her friend. "Tag!"

"Hey, get back here!" Stephanie shouted as she took off after her friend, laughing all the while.

The next day, the two girls happily sat eating brunch in front of their television as it showed the midday news. They watched as the camera panned over piles of illegal goods that had been seized by the police, as well as dozens of criminals. It was the biggest bust in Hub City in years, and was making national news because of the scope of the operation.

"While the police are still investigating how far the conspiracy reached," the reporter, a bright eyed woman with perfect makeup, said, "a significant number of business and civic leaders have already been arrested because of evidence that has been uncovered. The implications of this operation are far reaching. Earlier, Commissioner Avery had this to say."

The Commissioner of Hub City was a stern looking African-American woman in her early fifties. "With this bust, for the first time in years we have the opportunity to really clean up Hub City. It won't be easy. The extent of the arrest of public officials in the port authority indicates the potential for further corruption in our government. But this gives us a real opportunity, and one that we intend to take full advantage of."

From offscreen a reporter called out a question. "What about reports of vigilantes being involved?"

"No comment," the Commissioner said.

"Aw," Stephanie complained. "They don't want to talk about us!"

"Make them look bad," Cassandra said.

The two split up and finished getting ready, each going to their own work. While Cassandra was still sore from the fight, Stephanie had taken the time to help her use makeup to cover the bruise on her face, and she was in too good of a mood to worry about pain. Things were finally coming together, and she couldn't be happier.

When she arrived at work she noticed a large, upset crowd. Many of her fellow workers were heading home, obviously very unhappy. Before she could figure out what was wrong her supervisor called her name.

As she walked up to him she could feel her steps slowing. She could tell that something was very wrong. "Cassandra," he said gruffly. "Sorry, but we're gonna have to lay you off."

"Why!?" she demanded, a sick feeling pooling in the pit of her stomach.

"A bunch of people from the company were arrested for smuggling," he said. "We're going to be cutting our workforce because of it. You're newest, so you're laid off."

Cassandra heard little after that, her head spinning as she headed back to the apartment. Just that morning everything was going wonderfully. Suddenly, she had nothing. She was fired. She had failed. Again.

Chapter Text

Degreeless Noon

The next month passed slowly for Cassandra. Their triumph at putting a major hole in the Mandragora operation had been tainted by her firing. She hadn't really loved her job, but she had been good at it, and it had felt nice to be successful at life. Failing at keeping a job, forcing Stephanie's waitressing job to support them both, sorely stung her pride.

Stephanie took it all very well. She continued her own work, and she brought in enough tips to pay for things, although the budget became very tight. She didn't say anything and just smiled when they downgraded to the cheapest, most basic cable, or when they started shopping at the discount food store, but Cassandra felt terrible whenever she saw her friend's disappointment at the various things that they could no longer do since they were reduced to living off of a single income.

Cassandra had spent the first week after being laid off frantically searching for another job, but nowhere she went was hiring. She had experience and a positive recommendation, which should have made her search easier, but unfortunately so many people had been laid off at once that the unskilled labor market was full of people seeking new jobs. Jobs which, being based around manual labor, were usually filled by the large men seeking the job, despite how hard-working her former employer said she was.

Eventually she gave up on finding work immediately, and began spending more and more time hunting down leads on the Mandragora family. Batman had only begun training her as a detective when she had left the city, but she had at least picked up the basics which, when combined with her ability to read people, allowed her to make progress. Stephanie was a major help as well, as she had been trained in investigation from the beginning as Robin.

One evening eventually found Cass crouched on the roof of a building overlooking a Thai restaurant. While it looked unassuming, she knew that two major players in the Mandragora crime syndicate would be meeting there very soon. She didn't move a muscle as she waited for her prey to be in position.

She had originally planned on hitting them in the restaurant itself, but as she waited she saw the fearful body language of the workers there. One waitress was nearly shaking as she waited for major criminals to come and put her life in danger. Seeing the innocent waitresses doing their jobs reminded Cass of Stephanie, who was busy at work at that very moment.

Cassandra frowned as she thought about her absent friend. Normally Steph couldn't be kept away from a major raid like the one she had spent the past several days planning, but over the last week Steph had been spending less and less time on patrol. Cass decided to see if she could figure out what was going on after she finished capturing her targets.

With those thoughts in mind, she decided to revise her plan slightly. She had just finished planning her new attack when she saw a nondescript black sedan approach. She was already preparing her grapple before the vehicle even parked.

The first person out was a large, muscular bodyguard, who carefully surveyed the scene before letting his employer out of the car. As soon as Cass was certain that the man was her target, Julian the Snake, she fired her line and began to swing. She smiled as her feet left the ground, relieved to be once more completely immersed in her element.

The bodyguard saw her moments before she reached him. He managed to pull his handgun from a holster with commendable speed, but it wasn't enough. Her feet took him in the solar plexus, knocking him flying into Julian, where they both collapsed to the ground in a daze. She had just rendered them unconscious and was finishing binding them when she saw the approach of the other vehicle.

The other criminal, Marcus Grimm, was no fool, and his car had already begun to turn around by the time she saw it. Drawing two spoilerangs, she let them fly, piercing both tires on the right side of the car and sending it careening into a truck parked on the side of the street.

Marcus' bodyguard was also well trained, and he managed to fire several shots before Cassandra reached him. He hit nothing but air, however, as Cass ducked and weaved around his line of fire, knocking his gun from his hand with a precise finger strike before kicking the side of his knee to send him to the ground. Before she could put him out of the fight, however, Marcus opened up with a submachine gun.

The weapon had a tremendous rate of fire, and his preferred method was to simply wave it around, hoping to catch his target with sheer firepower rather than skill. That unfortunately meant that Cass' body reading was far less effective, and she was forced to dive and roll behind a parked car to get out of his line of fire. When he ran out of bullets and had to change magazines she took a look behind her, nearly losing her head as the bodyguard, who had retrieved his handgun, took a shot at her.

Cass considered her options quickly before pulling a flash bang from her utility belt. Priming the tiny grenade, she waited until the automatic weapon began to fire again, using its racket to aim her throw. The grenade bounced off of a billboard and landed right at Marcus' feet where it exploded with a deafening crack and a bright flash of light.

Before either man could recover she was on them, disarming them both with a single wide crescent kick before putting down the bodyguard with a brutal palm thrust to his chin. Marcus lasted even less time, and in under a minute both men were bound and laying on the trunk of their car. By the time Cassandra reached the roofs again, she could already hear the police cars in the distance.

Once she was sure that the situation was in hand, Cass ran along the rooftops towards the diner where Stephanie worked downtown. She was sure that something had been bothering her friend over the last week, and she felt bad that she hadn't paid more attention to what it was. It was easier to concentrate on taking down Mandragora's thugs than to worry about her personal life.

When she reached the diner she crouched on the shadowed rooftop across the street, watching her friend through the large windows as she worked. Cassandra frowned at how rundown Stephanie looked as she hurried from table to table delivering orders. She considered what she was seeing for several moments before she saw her friend approach her boss, Rick, and begin talking to him.

While she couldn't hear anything from across the street, she was able to read their body language well enough to quickly figure out what the conversation was about. For some reason Stephanie was pleading for the chance to work more overtime. As Cassandra watched that a cold feeling crept into the pit of her stomach.

A few hours later Cassandra was sitting on the couch with the TV off when Stephanie finally came in the door. She had bags under her eyes and was moving more slowly than normal, although she was working hard trying to keep from appearing tired. It was a lost cause trying to fool Cass.

"What is wrong?" Cassandra asked as soon as her friend had shut the door.

Stephanie jumped slightly. "Cass? What are you doing back so early? Thought you'd be out beating up the bad guys."

"What is wrong," Cass repeated, her expression stern.

"That cook at work, Jake, is still being a jerk," Stephanie said, rolling her eyes. "You'd think he'd get the hint I'm not interested by now. He still keeps asking me out though."

Cass felt a moment of outrage on her friend's behalf, along with a strange sense of relief that she didn't really understand when Stephanie finished her statement. She decided that finding out what was really bothering her friend was more important, however, and set the odd feeling aside. "What is wrong?"

Stephanie hesitated, before finally slumping onto the couch beside her friend. "My paycheck isn't stretching far enough."

"But... pay for less," Cass objected. "No more... good TV."

Stephanie gave a tired nod. "Yeah, and it's helping. We're not losing our savings as fast. But my job just isn't enough to support the two of us. Not without a way cheaper apartment, anyway. I've been getting as much overtime as possible, but it's just not enough."

Cassandra felt about two inches tall. She couldn't believe that she hadn't realized how much they had been struggling. "Sorry."

"Hey!" Stephanie said. "Don't say that. You were making good money at the warehouse, and it's not your fault you were laid off. Well, okay, we were the ones who busted up the crime ring, but you know what I mean. Stuff just happens sometimes."

"Will look harder for job," Cass declared firmly.

Stephanie smiled at her. "That would help. We can get by for a little while yet, mostly 'cause of all the money you got from Batman's card before we left, but it won't last forever. And I really don't want to be broke if one of us gets hurt or something."

They sat in silence for a while, until Cassandra spoke again. "Should have said."

"Probably," Stephanie agreed. "You were doing such a good job busting up the Mandragoras though, and I know you were trying for a new job."

"Easier if I could read," Cass grumbled. Taking a deep breath, she walked over to her shelf and pulled out her practice books. Stephanie soon joined her, and the rest of the evening was spent working on Cassandra's literacy.

"You have something?" Batman asked flatly.

Oracle jumped, then turned in her wheelchair to glare at him. "Knock next time." He didn't respond, and finally she sighed, pulling up reports.

Batman spent several minutes studying them before nodding. "It's them."

"What are you going to do?" Oracle asked.

"Nothing," he said.

"What do you mean, nothing!?" she sputtered. "We have to talk to them."

"They left," Batman said flatly as he started towards the window. "They aren't with us anymore."

"They're still fighting crime, doing everything we taught them," Oracle said. "The only reason that they left is that we drove them away. We can't just leave them out there all alone."

"If they want something, they can come to us," Batman replied.

"If you don't care, why did you keep checking up on my search?" Oracle objected. "I know you were doing it."

"I had to make sure that they weren't going to use their abilities for criminal ends," he answered.

"That's crap," Oracle said. "Cassandra would never do that, and you know it. And Stephanie's come a long way since she started out... and she wouldn't have done that, either. They're both committed to the cause."

When she didn't get an answer she glanced back, frowning when she saw that he had already left. She shook her head and placed a phone call.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Dick," Oracle said.

"Babs!" he answered. "What's up?"

"I found our missing girls," she said.

"That's great!" Dick said. "What are they up to?"

"Fighting crime in Hub City."

Dick was silent for a long moment, before finally answering. "Good. Someone needs to keep an eye on that place now that the Question left."

"They shouldn't be doing this alone," Barbara said.

"Hey, I'm alone here in the 'Haven," Dick said. "And they've got each other."

"Yeah, but you talk to me," Barbara said. "All of us are just a call away for you. They don't have anyone."

He chuckled slightly. "Sure they do. Now that you've found them, you're gonna be watching out for them, same as the rest of your people. They just don't know it."

She smiled slightly. "You know me too well, Former Boy Wonder."

Cassandra spent the next week searching hard for a job. She went from business to business, determined to find work, unwilling to stop until she had some form of paycheck. It wasn't until the end of the week that she finally found someone that would hire her.

The employee before her had left suddenly, and she found herself being asked to start immediately. She couldn't help but grin as she pulled on her new uniform, which consisted of a dark gray dress that went to her knees with a white collar and apron. Before long she was fully dressed and ready to work.

Her boss gave her a cursory nod before pointing to an older woman wearing the same uniform. "For the first week you'll be shadowing her. She'll show you everything you need to know."

"Hello," Cass said, giving the older woman a tentative smile.

The woman smiled back slightly, and then began to speak in rapid Spanish. Cassandra blinked in confusion, biting her lip as the woman stopped and tried again in English. "Do work. Follow."

By the end of her first shift, Cassandra decided that she preferred working in a warehouse to being a maid in a hotel. The building was old and part of a cheap hotel chain, with carpets that needed replacing and walls that looked dingy no matter how hard she scrubbed them. It was a terrible indictment that the dockside warehouses were in better shape than the hotel was.

The rooms themselves were worse, however. The guests apparently felt that, since it wasn't their home, nothing they did in the rooms mattered. As a young girl she had eaten out of more than a few garbage cans while living on the streets, but in the time since meeting Barbara, her life had changed enough that she found herself deeply disgusted the first time she had to clean out a clogged toilet.

Despite her general dislike of the job, she was relieved to have found some work. She managed to beat Stephanie home by a few minutes that evening, and she was glad that she had found a job when she saw how tired her friend was that evening.

"Hey, Cass," Stephanie said with what was supposed to be a smile.

"Got job!" Cass said.

Stephanie's eyes lit up, and Cassandra felt a warm glow in her chest. She would happily do a job she hated even worse than her current one if it meant seeing Stephanie so happy. She felt herself grinning goofily back at her friend.

"That's great! What'd you get?"

Cass' face fell slightly, although she made sure to seem happy for her friend. "Clean hotel."

"So... a maid?" Stephanie asked.

"Yes."

Stephanie thought about that for a moment, before shrugging. "Guess that means we don't have to worry about being on the streets anytime soon."

"Hit streets," Cass said, punching her palm with her other fist.

Stephanie paused, and Cass could see her wavering for a moment as she considered that, before smiling slightly. "Alright. Time for Spoiler and Silent to take down Mandragora together! Or, you know, some of his guys."

The two of them were soon running over the rooftops and swinging over the streets. The nervous tension that had filled Stephanie for weeks had finally abated, and as she laughed as she ran Cass suddenly realized how much she had missed her friend's usual good mood. Before long her laughter became infectious, and the two girls spent more time playing tag than hunting criminals.

That changed when they heard a loud alarm some distance behind them. They quickly turned around and ran, heading as fast as they could back to where the alarm was sounding. The two were soon crouched on the edge of a roof, looking down at a bank where men in masks were running swiftly in and out.

"Bank robbery, at this hour?" Stephanie said. "Unless they can crack the vault, they won't get much."

"Something wrong," Cass said as she studied their body language. "Not move like robbers. Move like... hit men."

Stephanie glanced over at her, then shrugged. "Even hit men need money. And if they aren't normal they might have a way into the vault."

"Don't like," Cassandra said. "Something not right."

"We'll worry about it later, after we catch these guys," Stephanie said as she fired her grapple.

Cassandra hesitated for a moment, before swinging after her friend. She knew that something was wrong with the situation, and her instincts told her that this was going to go very badly. Stephanie left her little choice but to follow, though, and so she swung out, fully alert for any danger.

The first criminals began to raise guns as they hit them, but the men didn't stand a chance. Cass was fighting harder than usual, wanting to take down the criminals quickly before whatever was going to go wrong did. Stephanie had weeks of frustrations to work out, and Cass noted approvingly the slow but tangible improvements in her technique from training her every day.

Just as Cass finished dropping another criminal she suddenly dove to the side. She wasn't sure why, just that instinct, honed past a razor's edge by her father, warned her to dive, and so she did. A huge hole suddenly appeared in the pavement behind her, revealing her fate if she hadn't reacted.

She didn't hesitate, simply throwing down a smoke grenade even as she dove for her friend, knocking Stephanie to the ground as another sniper round tore through pavement where she had been. "What's going on!?" Stephanie shouted.

"Sniper," Cass said quietly. "Anti material... rifle. Fifty caliber. Dead if hit."

"Oh," Stephanie said as they moved quickly into the bank. "What are we gonna do?"

"You go in bank, beat thugs," Cass answered. "I get sniper. Be careful. May be more trap."

Stephanie nodded in agreement and the two swiftly parted before the smoke cleared. Cassandra quickly ran into an alley, firing her grapple and easing onto the roof in the shadow of a large air conditioning system. Looking around carefully, she saw no one, and so began to creep from roof to roof, staying low and out of sight as she searched for the sniper.

Her instincts flared again and she dove, the bullet that had almost hit her tearing a hole bigger than her head through the water tank on the roof behind her. As a flood of water poured out Cassandra jumped up and began running, her trained eyes finally locating the sniper. He was two blocks away, and she recognized his weapon as a bolt action fifty caliber sniper rifle.

He saw her coming even as he worked his bolt with commendable poise. Having seen him, however, she knew that he was no longer a threat, and as she closed she kept her balance to allow her to twist aside slightly to avoid his next shot as she came in. He tried to drop the rifle and pull a handgun as she reached him, but he was unconscious before the weapon hit the ground.

After securing him and dismantling his guns, Cass swiftly headed towards the bank. She couldn't hear anything coming from inside, and so she silently crept through the door, moving it slowly and deliberately to keep its motion from catching the eye of anyone inside. Once in the bank she hid behind a counter and took in the situation.

Most of the thugs had been dealt with, but one was still standing, and he was holding a gun to the head of a scared looking, overweight man. Stephanie stood in front of him, holding a spoilerang in one hand as she tried to talk the man down.

"Look, if you kill him, you're only making this harder on yourself," Stephanie said. "You haven't even made off with anything, yet. You don't have to do this."

The criminal snorted, although Cass could read the fear he did a good job of hiding. "All you've gotta do is let me go. Anything else and they'll be scrubbing the manager's brains out of his own bank."

Cassandra tuned them out after that, moving without a sound around the edges of the room until she was behind the criminal. Slowly standing so that she didn't surprise Stephanie she moved up behind the gunman. Cass could read the relief in Stephanie's body language as she kept the man talking, buying time as Cassandra got into position.

The man never even knew she was there before he was unconscious, and the terrified bank manager nearly collapsed from relief as his attacker was tied up. "Thank you!" he said. "You saved my life!"

"All part of the service," Stephanie said cheerfully.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Spoiler, and my friend's Silent," Stephanie said. "We're just your friendly neighborhood superheroes!"

Chapter Text

A Session Wiser and Fainter

Anthony Burgess was once a very powerful athlete, but time had caught up with him, and he was slowly going to fat. As always when in the presence of his leader he found himself sweating heavily as he resisted the urge to loosen his collar. No matter how uncomfortable he was, he needed to look presentable, especially with the news that he was delivering.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Mandragora," he said. "I'm not sure how, but the sniper failed. The entire team was arrested."

Joseph Mandragora was an old man, his long nose and sunken cheeks giving him the appearance of some species of wrinkled vulture. He slowly raised an oxygen mask to his face, breathing deeply before speaking. "I was assured that they were the best we could hire."

"They were, Mr. Mandragora," Anthony said. "I vetted them personally. Whoever these costumed freaks are, they're serious players."

Everyone in the room, made men who had risen far in the Mandragora crime family by walking over the corpses of anyone who got in their way, waited nervously as their seemingly frail leader took another long draw from his oxygen tank. "What does City Hall say about them?"

"Officially?" Anthony said. "They don't exist. Unofficially? They're gonna take everything these freaks offer. The busts are attracting national attention. Everyone from the beat cops to the Commissioner wants to look good right now, and even the Mayor is happy about how things are working out."

"Unacceptable," Joseph rasped. "If they are skilled enough to take down our best men, then with enough support they could destroy our entire organization."

"Perhaps..." Anthony said, trailing off. "What if we turned the government against them?"

"Yes," Joseph said after a long moment. "Do so. And Anthony... don't fail me again."

"Don't worry sir," Anthony said confidently. "I'll bring along some... insurance. My cousin owes me a favor."

It had been several weeks since Cassandra had gotten her new job, and while she didn't really like working as a maid, it did pay the bills. The two women were able to replace their dwindling savings, and had even begun buying a few luxuries again. Cass couldn't help but smile as she swung across another street as she closed in on her friend. Life was good.

"Tag!" she shouted gleefully as she finally decided to catch Stephanie. She had been getting better, but she was a long way from being a challenge to Cassandra at rooftop tag.

"Okay, okay," Stephanie said laughing. "You win."

"Always," Cass agreed smugly.

Before Stephanie could reply (and Cassandra could tell that her friend thought whatever she was going to say was a good quip from her body language), the two vigilantes heard gunshots not too far away. As one they took off at a run, only stopping when they saw the likely source of the sound, a nice townhouse with the door broken. They glanced at each other and swung down, landing lightly in front of the building.

Cassandra swept inside, her every sense on alert as she took in the front room at a glance. Things were fairly neat, nothing overturned or broken. She paused, cocking her head, but heard nothing in the rest of the house.

"Hey, Silent," Stephanie said. "Look at the door."

Cassandra moved over, looking at it as well. It had obviously been broken by a single, powerful kick, although from the look of the frame, it wouldn't have taken as much force as it should have. Despite the nice appearance of the apartment, it didn't appear to be up to code.

"Cheap frame," she said.

"Yeah, that too, I guess," Stephanie agreed, looking at it for a second. "But look at the locks."

Cassandra bent down and looked at them, before looking up at her friend in confusion. "Not locked. Why kick door?"

"I dunno," Stephanie said. "But this is shaping up weird."

Cassandra considered that before nodding. "Be careful."

She didn't need to be fluent in body language to know how Stephanie felt about that statement, so she turned and headed deeper into the apartment, even more on alert as she went. Before long she found the source of the gunshots.

Lying on the kitchen floor was a dead man. He was rail thin and appeared to have been in his sixties. He was dressed in a now bloodstained robe, with a cup of coffee in front of him. Another cup sat on the counter across the room, and she could see that both were still steaming.

"He must have known his killer," Stephanie said as she walked over to the coffee cup. "He let them in, made coffee, then got shot. Then whoever did it tried to cover it up by kicking in the door."

Cassandra crouched beside the dead man, looking at him carefully. "Forty five caliber. Six shots. All kill shots."

"Wow," Stephanie said. "Whoever he is, they really wanted this guy dead."

Before Cassandra could reply, she heard a faint sound, and began moving before she was consciously aware of it. She tackled Stephanie, then grunted in pain as something slammed into her back. She kept control of her dive, however, sending them both tumbling across the floor and behind the island in the middle of the kitchen.

As they stopped moving the sound of gunfire caught up to them as someone emptied round after round into the room. Stephanie started to move, but Cass flinched slightly, and she stopped, carefully examining her friend. "Oh, god... Silent... You got shot."

"Is fine," she said.

"Silent, you're shot," Stephanie objected reasonably, although there was just a taste of contained hysteria in her tone.

"Kevlar stopped," Cass said. "Costume worked. Made good."

Stephanie lifted Cass' cloak, looking at her back, before gently probed the injured area. "You're right. I think you broke a rib, though."

"Cracked," Cass agreed, her voice revealing none of the pain her friend's gentle examination inspired.

The gunfire paused for a moment, before they heard a quiet voice from the hall. "You think we killed 'em?"

"Better safe than sorry," another man said, before emptying another magazine into the room.

"Who are they?" Stephanie whispered.

"Don't know. Trap?"

Cass pulled a flashbang from her belt, carefully priming it, and the two girls waited until they heard footsteps enter the kitchen. She then tossed it backwards over the island. One of the men had just enough time to shout, "Grenade!" before it went off.

Cassandra spun to her feet, ignoring the pain from her injury as she pulled out and threw a spoilerang. Beside her Stephanie did the same, and the two thrown weapons each struck the gun hand of one of the men that stood blinded at the entrance to the kitchen. They then began to move, even as they took in the features of their attackers.

They were policemen, but they didn't hesitate for a second, simply taking them down and moving to the front door. Outside were two police cars, and standing next to one of them were a pair of policemen, who immediately opened fire, forcing the vigilantes to duck back into the house.

"Wow, not even Gotham cops are this friendly," Stephanie said sarcastically.

"They shot before seeing," Cass said. "Dirty cops."

"Working for Mandragora?"

"Yes," Cass said firmly. "Can see in bodies. Here to kill, not arrest."

"What do we do?" Stephanie asked.

"Only two cars out front," Cass said. "Head to back, hit roofs."

They moved quickly, and were relieved to see no sign of police waiting at the back of the building for them. Using grapples they quickly reached the roof, and then moved back to the front of the building to watch the situation. They could see the officers talking on their radios, and Stephanie quickly pulled out a police scanner for them to listen to.

"-they're armed and dangerous," the man below said. "They shot Judge Haversham, and we have officers down."

"I roger that," the dispatcher said. "You have a chopper en route. ETA thirty seconds."

Stephanie and Cassandra exchanged a horrified glance, even as they began to hear the sound of the police helicopter. Without another word they began to run.

They made it a block and a half before the helicopter arrived, and after hovering over the building for a minute it turned and began flying towards them. "They must have infrared!" Stephanie shouted as they jumped from rooftop to rooftop.

"Hit streets," Cass agreed. "Get cover."

They used their lines to quickly swing down to street level, and then began cutting through alleys. They followed a circuitous route, keeping as many buildings between them and the helicopter as possible as they headed towards the heart of the downtown area. Before long the helicopter, forced to fly higher and more carefully because of the tall buildings, lost them in the more occupied streets.

Once they were sure they were safe they hit the rooftops again, this time using their stealth to avoid being noticed as they worked their way back to their apartment. Once inside they peeled their masks off and looked at each other.

"What the heck was that all about?" Stephanie asked.

"Setup," Cass said. "Sloppy."

"Yeah, well, sloppy'll work if enough police buy it."

"Not all that stupid," Cass said with certainty as the two women headed to their beds. "Back to normal soon."

Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that Cassandra had not been completely correct. While the news channels didn't report anything interesting, other than the unsolved murder of Judge Haversham, the police scanners were an entirely different matter. While they never outright stated who they were looking for on the air, the reports that came in with regularity made it very apparent that the police were searching for them.

That night they moved much more stealthily through the city, keeping their eyes open for crimes in progress as well as any police presence. After a while Stephanie had an idea, and Cass simply waited until her friend was ready to explain it. It took almost thirty minutes, but finally Stephanie spoke.

"I think we should see if they're really after us," she said.

"How?" Cass asked.

"You swing in front of them, and I'll listen to the police scanner," she said. "That way we can see what they report. If they aren't looking for us, no biggee. If they are, at least we'll know."

Cass frowned thoughtfully as she considered it before finally nodding. "Okay."

It didn't take them long to find a police car that was about to stop at a red light, and when it did Cassandra fired her grapple and swung across the street right in front of it. The car immediately turned on its sirens, but Cass was gone as quickly as she had appeared. She circled carefully around the area, and soon met up with Stephanie.

"I can't believe they want to arrest us!" Stephanie complained as soon as Cass dropped next to her. "This sucks!"

"Vigilantes," Cass said knowingly. "Not legal."

"Still, we're helping them. The least they could do is not try to arrest us."

"Just need be better," Cassandra said with a shrug. "Avoid police. Do jobs."

"I don't like it," Stephanie said. "What if something happens? I think we should fix it."

"How?"

Stephanie frowned. "Well, we didn't do it. I bet Batman would solve the case, let Gordon know the truth."

"How?"

"Well..." Stephanie trailed off. "The whole thing with the police was wrong from the start. I mean, they really shouldn't have shot at us. Whatever happened to 'you're under arrest'?"

"Crooked cops," Cass agreed. "Find bribes?"

"It's a start," Stephanie said. "Let's get the records of who called for our arrest. We can investigate them, and when we get the evidence, we can give it to the Commissioner."

The two had avoided the police headquarters during their patrols, as the building tended to be in an area with a low crime rate, and even before they had become wanted they had preferred to avoid the police. The building was eight stories tall, with people moving in and out of it all day every day. The two observed the situation for nearly an hour before coming up with a plan of attack.

The surrounding buildings were quite tall as well, and despite how well lit the area was even at night, it was simple for them to swing across the street and land lightly on the roof of the police headquarters without being observed. The two vigilantes then lowered lines along a dark section of the building's side and slipped down until they reached a darkened window on the sixth floor. It had an alarm, but in seconds Cassandra had it disabled and unlocked, and the two women slipped inside without anyone noticing them.

"I miss Oracle," Stephanie whispered. "She'd know the layout before we even got inside."

"Just need work harder," Cass said stoically. The two women slipped out of the small office that they had been in and moved carefully through the hallways, Cassandra helping her friend avoid all of the cameras, and both easily slipping into empty offices or behind large furniture whenever someone approached. After five nerve wracking minutes they found a map of the building near the elevators.

Stephanie read it quickly, before pointing at part of the map. "Hall of records," she said in quiet voice. "First basement."

Cassandra nodded and walked to the elevator, prying the doors open and glancing inside. It was a standard layout, and she saw no cameras or alarms. Taking a long step, she reached the service ladder and began to climb down, with Stephanie following soon after.

They descended almost ten stories with the elevator sweeping so close to them that it caused their cloaks to wave wildly with every pass. Eventually they reached their destination, and once again Cass pried the doors open, this time just a crack so that she could peer out into the hallway. Once she was sure that the way was clear, she opened it wider and the two slipped out.

The basement levels had fewer people in them, and they made good time as they headed to the large records room. Once inside, Cassandra ghosted behind the camera and carefully loosened a wire. If someone was watching it from security it would appear to have simply lost signal, and would probably be lower priority to fix than if she otherwise blocked the view.

Stephanie headed quickly into the stacks of records, and soon found the personnel section. While Cassandra had improved quite a bit from her steady practice, she still didn't read well enough to be of any help, and so she contented herself with serving as a lookout.

It took almost an hour, and they had had to hide nearly a dozen times, a task easily accomplished in a room full of cramped shelves to slip behind, but eventually Stephanie found what they had been looking for. "Are these them?" she asked, showing the pictures of the policemen to Cass.

Cassandra studied them for a few moments, before nodding. "Those four."

Stephanie looked at them carefully, flipping through the records, before frowning. "This is weird."

"What?" Cassandra asked.

"They've all been investigated by Internal Affairs," Stephanie said. "A lot. Too much. It doesn't say anything, but they have to already think these guys are dirty."

"Then... what now?" Cass asked.

Stephanie bit her lip thoughtfully. "Well... we could do this the quick way."

"Quick?"

"Yeah. Instead of trying to prove something the police seem to already suspect, let's just go face the Commissioner. Find out from her why they turned on us so fast."

"Might not listen," Cass cautioned.

"Maybe not," Stephanie agreed. "But I think we should try."

Cassandra was quiet for a long moment, before finally nodding. "Okay."

"Alright," Stephanie said with a grin. "Let's get this done!"

"Wait," Cass said. "Need be careful. If things go wrong... run. I make escape time."

"Are you sure?" Stephanie asked. "You're hurt."

"Is fine," Cass said stubbornly. "Won't get caught."

The two girls then headed back the way that they had come, stopping just long enough in front of another building map to find the Commissioner's office on the fourth floor before climbing the service ladder in the elevator shaft again. They paused at the fifth floor while Cassandra peeked out, and had to wait almost ten minutes for the way to clear. When the last loitering cop left the two vigilantes moved swiftly through the hallways until they found the office just above the Commissioner's, which was, fortunately, empty.

Opening the outside window, Cassandra slowly lowered herself onto the narrow ledge below. Crouching against the glass, she frowned as she saw the Commissioner sitting behind her desk working on paperwork. With just a glance Cass could tell that the woman was very agitated.

The window to Commissioner Avery's office proved no more difficult to open than the others had, and in a few seconds she had silently raised the glass. She then slipped inside, before helping Stephanie slip in just as silently. Once they were both in the office, Cass crouched on the windowsill, holding her grapple in one hand, ready to make a quick escape at a moment's notice.

Stephanie waited silently for almost five minutes, just out of sight. Just when Cassandra could tell that her friend was contemplating doing something rash, the Commissioner glanced up, jumping in shock at her unexpected guests. The surprise melted away into anxiety and healthy dose of relief, although none of it showed on her face.

"Hey, Commish," Stephanie said brightly. "Just thought we'd drop by, have a quick chat, ask you nicely not to shoot us, that sorta thing."

Commissioner Avery pursed her lips as she studied them for a moment, before speaking in a firm voice. "You're late."

Chapter Text

Report of Land

"Um, not to point out the obvious or anything, but how can we possibly be late?" Stephanie asked.

Commissioner Avery huffed. "I expected you to be here sooner after your associate contacted me."

"Who?" Stephanie asked, glancing back at Cass, who shook her head.

"He called himself Oracle," Avery said. "E-mailed us every bit of the paper trail we'd need to prove four of my officers were paid to frame you for Judge Haversham's murder."

Cassandra was shocked for a moment, before smiling slightly. She had been expecting Barbara to find them, especially with all the national attention their efforts were attracting, even if they never released their presence on the news. As angry as Cass was at her, she was glad that her former mentor was looking out for them.

"Oh," Stephanie said.

"Are you not working for this Oracle?" Avery asked, looking at them with penetrating eyes.

"No," Stephanie said. "We did, back in Gotham, but we hadn't been in contact."

"Well, he's still looking out for you," Avery said. "I suspected you were from Gotham. You meet the description I've heard about a vigilante from there, although I don't recognize your friend."

"Yup!" Stephanie said. "I'm Spoiler. She's Silent."

"I can see that," Avery said dryly. "I take it from your presence here that you planned to confront me about the police being after you."

"Yeah," Stephanie said. "Sure, we're vigilantes and all, but come on! What city doesn't have a few? And it's not like we're trying to take your credit or anything. We just want to help!"

"I'm aware of that," Avery said calmly. "I have no intentions of arresting you. I've been trying to do something about Mandragora's network since I was hired, but you've done more good in a few months than I've accomplished in years."

"Then what's with the attempts?" Stephanie asked. "Is this gonna be one of those 'pretend we hate each other because you wear a mask' things?"

"No," Avery said with an amused snort. "This is about my daughter, who is being held by one of Mandragora's men. He wants you arrested, or dead. Not too picky."

"Oh," Stephanie said nervously. "I like the pretend idea better."

"Well, we're going to be doing some pretending," Avery admitted. "If I try to rescue my daughter, they'll kill her. Of course, if they kill her, they know I'll bring them down or die trying. Frankly, kidnapping her reeks of desperation."

"The whole thing's been sloppy," Stephanie pointed out. "They made about fifty mistakes at the crime scene."

"You busted Mandragora's best man, and none of his replacements have been up to snuff," Avery said. "It helps that Mandragora's a paranoid old bastard, and he promotes based on loyalty more than merit. Most of his people couldn't find their ass with both hands."

"Of course, sloppy also means more collateral," Stephanie said carefully.

"Like the kidnapping," Avery agreed. "Which is why I've been waiting for you to approach me."

"You want us to find your daughter?" Stephanie asked.

"Yes," Avery said. "And you can't let Mandragora know. If whoever is behind this finds out, then they could kill her."

Stephanie saw the picture sitting on the desk and walked over to look at it. The Commissioner's daughter was a sweet looking girl of around eight, with dark skin and a cheerful grin. Stephanie couldn't help but wonder if she would smile like that again by the time they found her. Clenching her fist with determination, she vowed to save her no matter what. "Is that her?"

"Yes," Avery said, her face softening for a moment, revealing just how tired and stressed the woman was. "Her name's Carly."

"Don't worry, we'll get her back. We'll even lead your cops on a few chases in front of some thugs if you want, make sure Mandragora knows you're playing ball."

Avery smirked for a second, before she became serious again. "That shouldn't be necessary. Just get out there and find her... please."

"Hey, don't sweat it!" Stephanie said confidently. "I've been doing this for years. We'll find her. I promise."

Before Avery could say anything else there was a knock at the door, and the Commissioner turned toward it. "Just a second, let me get that..." she said before trailing off as she noticed that both girls had disappeared in the few seconds that her head had been turned. "How the hell did they do that?"

Billy ran, his lungs burning, a painful stitch in his side seeking to pull him to a stop. Despite that he kept running, as hard and as fast as he could. He hadto get away. He had to.

Something slammed into his side with the force of a car crash, sending him flying into a pile of stinking garbage. Rotten meat from the nearby Chinese restaurant covered Billy as a trash bag burst open, but he didn't even have time to notice the terrible smell before he felt himself spun around and pressed into the dirt by a boot to his head.

"Oh, god," he whimpered as the foot pressed harder.

"I don't even think he could save you from her," Stephanie's cheerful voice said as she strolled casually down the alley to where Cassandra held the criminal to the ground. "If you're smart you'll start talking."

"I don't know nothin'!" he rasped, only to whimper as Cassandra ground his head into the concrete with her foot.

"Ouch," Stephanie said. "That looks like it hurt. Are you sure you want to get her mad? 'Cause that's just dumb."

"What do you want to know?" he finally asked, his voice shaking.

"Someone set us up," Stephanie said. "Got the police after us. He works for Mandragora. We need a name."

"I don't know!"

"You know something," Stephanie said dismissively after a quick glance at Cassandra.

"I heard some rumors," the man said. "Just some guys talkin' 'bout one of Mandragora's lieutenants running a big job. But I don't know anything else! I swear, not even a name!"

Stephanie glanced at Cassandra, who nodded reluctantly. "You know, this sorta thing wouldn't happen if you weren't a scumbag drug dealer," Stephanie said conversationally. "Maybe you should think about cleaning up your life."

The two vigilantes used their grapples to reach the rooftops and soon began running, sticking to the shadows to avoid notice. Eventually they settled in on top of an eight story building, crouching low and looking down at the busy streets below. "He was our best lead in hours, and nothing," Stephanie grumbled.

Cassandra popped her neck and stretched, looking up at the sun in the sky above. She had never spent any significant time in costume during the day before, and it was a novel experience to be questioning crooks in broad daylight. They had left immediately from the police headquarters, and hadn't paused in their search. Unfortunately, they had learned little, even after so many hours of looking.

"For someone sloppy... no one knows... anything," Cass said.

"Well, I guess he was bound to be good at something to make it that high in the ranks," Stephanie said.

Cassandra pushed back her sleeve to reveal her watch, frowning at it thoughtfully as she carefully read it. "Work time."

Stephanie jumped before checking her own. "We can't. That little girl... she's all alone with criminals. Who knows what they're doing to her. Some criminals are just bad guys. Some, though..."

Cassandra felt her heart go out to her friend as she became lost in memories of her own past with her father's criminal organization. "Still, have to work. Save less people... living on streets."

Stephanie sighed, rubbing her face through her mask. "I know. It's just..."

"Will find her," Cass said, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Promise."

Work was almost impossible to concentrate on for Cassandra that day, thoughts of the victim still spinning in her mind. She had also been up for twenty-four solid hours, most of that time spent hunting for leads that went nowhere. She was exhausted and frustrated, and wanted to rush out and track down the criminals right that second. Instead, she had to spend eight hours cleaning filthy hotel rooms.

When her shift finally ended she all but ran back to the apartment. She was just finishing changing when Stephanie dragged herself inside. She had deep bags under her eyes, and her hair was a mess, but despite her exhaustion, Cass could see her friend's determination. Cassandra spent several minutes microwaving food while Stephanie changed, and the two of them ate quickly without speaking.

For three more hours they hit the streets, searching for leads and intimidating every criminal they came across into telling everything they knew. Most of those criminals had already heard about their rampage, and Cass could read the pure terror in their postures when they saw them. Despite that, they learned nothing.

"There's got to be a better way!" Stephanie exploded after they finished securing another group of gang members. "We should go to where the criminals are!"

Cass cocked her head curiously until Stephanie elaborated.

"We should go back to that bar," she said. "It was full of criminals. I bet one of them knows something."

"Too many," Cassandra said. "Get killed, no one find."

"I know!" Stephanie shouted, her hands shaking from tension and exhaustion. "I know! But if we don't... if we don't... damn it, Cass!"

Cassandra hesitated for a moment. She knew that if Batman was there he would send them both home and demand they get some sleep. On the other hand, Batman would push his body even further before resting. With a child on the line, how could they not push themselves to the limit as well?

Finally, Cass sighed. "Okay. Dangerous. But maybe only way."

Stephanie straightened up before rubbing her face tiredly through her mask. With an act of will the blonde vigilante brought her hands under control before taking a deep, cleansing breath. "Okay. Let's do this."

The bar was as run-down and sleazy as it had ever been. They paused for a few minutes to listen to their bugs, which they had already had to replace twice as the cheap off-the-shelf devices had broken down. Unfortunately, while they were working, they didn't hear anything of use. After a bit Stephanie put her receiver away with disgust and stalked towards the front door of the bar. Without a moment's pause she kicked the door as hard as she could, the textbook perfect kick knocking the cheap wooden door from its hinges, sending it falling into the room.

Cassandra had no choice but to follow her friend into the silent bar. They hadn't taken the time to survey the room, and her heart fell as she saw how many people were present. No doubt due to their rampage through the underworld, many criminals had decided to hide in the bar together, seeking safety in numbers. The end result was a room packed with more than a hundred angry, rough-looking people.

Only Cass could see Stephanie's sudden apprehension, but she pushed past it, strolling into the room like she owned the place. "Listen up! I'm looking for one of Mandragora's lieutenants. The asshole decided to frame me and Silent for a murder, and we're pissed about it. Now, you can either give him up, or we can vent some of our anger on all your faces."

One of the large, heavyset bikers set down his beer and stepped forward. "There's a price on your heads. A big one. Enough to be worth splittin' a hundred ways."

"Alright," Stephanie said, cracking her knuckles. "I've got nothing against breaking some faces. If you know something, try to make sure you can still talk when we're done with you."

The first attack came from the side while Stephanie was seemingly distracted looking at the loudmouthed biker. The attacker was a lean gang member wearing loose jeans and a red jersey. He simply picked up a stool, walked up to Stephanie's flank as quietly as he could, and swung.

The attack hit nothing but air, as Stephanie had noticed his approach despite concentrating on the rest of the room. Ducking, she then spun low, sweeping the man's feet and sending him crashing to the ground. As she nonchalantly stood back up, the rest of the bar took the sudden motion as a sign to begin.

Cassandra crashed into the next group to make their move. She used a sweeping attack, which, to the casual observer, looked like a single wide kick as she took three bikers out of the fight. Before they even hit the ground she was already moving, her fists lashing out furiously, each blow at full power and aimed at nerve clusters that would incapacitate. Normally Cass took more care to take down her opponents with less pain and risk of serious injury, but seeing the sheer numbers arrayed against them she decided to forget such niceties and go for instant yet lasting takedowns.

The melee swirled around the room, Cassandra and Stephanie both skilled enough to use the numbers against the crowd. They ducked, whirled, and danced through their clumsier opponents, redirecting attacks into other enemies and causing their would-be attackers to cluster up ineffectually. Furthermore, despite their presence as a uniting foe, some of the criminals took advantage of the confusion of the fight to settle scores between each other.

Ten minutes after Stephanie had kicked in the door most of the room was unconscious, with the criminals still standing being the wariest, having avoided attracting Cassandra's notice during the fight, as those who did went down quickly and stayed down. Stephanie had made a good accounting for herself as well, her knuckles sore from beating more than two dozen thugs unconscious.

Both vigilantes were sporting an assortment of injuries despite their domination of the fight. Stephanie had a slight limp from a painful hit to her knee, and her side was a mass of bruises. Cassandra had fared somewhat better, although a lucky hit to her chin had left her jaw throbbing and filled her mouth with the taste of blood.

Seeing that those still standing were less interested in attacking, Stephanie stalked towards one of the remaining criminals, having noticed that he had two people standing next to him like bodyguards. The two guards moved to intercept, but despite their imposing sizes Stephanie was able to flip one to the ground, dislocating his arm as she did, before stomping on the other's foot and sending him into unconsciousness with an elbow to his temple. Barely slowed, she continued to stalk the now frightened man that they had been protecting.

"Hey, I didn't do nothin'," the man said. "I'm just an innocent bystander!"

"Innocent?" Stephanie snorted. "Please. I doubt anyone within a block of this dump is innocent. Now, you're gonna tell me who set us up, or I'm gonna show you what Batman taught me."

"B-Batman?" the man said.

"That's right," Stephanie said, darting forward to grab the man by his collar and shove him back against a table. "I worked for the Batman for years. He taught me all kinds of fun things to do to two-bit hoods like you. I'm getting a bit rusty being here in Hub City, so I could use the practice."

"Oh god..." the man said, his eyes rolling around in panic.

"Wrong answer!" Stephanie shouted, shoving him hard enough to slide over the table, crashing to the floor behind in a shower of beer and glass. He staggered to his feet, but by the time he did Stephanie was on him again, this time pinning him to the wall. "Talk!"

Cassandra had been watching her friend work admiringly. She had improved quite a bit while Batman had briefly made her his Robin, and she had learned even more working with Cass in Hub City. Despite her exhaustion, Cassandra couldn't help but smile happily as she watched Stephanie crack the thug.

Her distraction ended abruptly as she charged with every bit of speed she had, her body reacting without thought. She was nearly upon her target before she realized what had set off her instincts so strongly, her heart in her throat as she finally saw the danger. One of the gang members still standing had pulled out a handgun and was a heartbeat away from shooting Stephanie in the back of the head.

Everything slowed down, Cassandra's every step seemingly taking forever as she watched the play of muscles in the criminal's hand as he began to pull the trigger. She was a step away as she watched his finger pass the point a hair trigger would have fired, and her fingers had just made contact with the metal of the barrel when it finally shot. Continuing her motion, Cassandra knocked the gun from the man's hand and delivered a precise palm strike to his chest.

Everything returned to normal speed as the sound of the gunshot hung in the air. Cassandra's eyes locked for just a moment with the gunman as his eyes bulged in terror as his heart didn't beat. Part of her was horrified for what she had done, delivering a blow that would kill. Part of her felt a vicious satisfaction from some deeply buried part of herself as the person that had tried to kill Stephanie slowly died.

Cassandra turned her head, terrified of what she would see, before heaving a sigh of relief as she met Stephanie's concerned gaze. An inch to Stephanie's right Cassandra could see a bullet hole in the wall of the bar. She had saved her friend with the slight touch of her fingers which had redirected the barrel just before the gun had fired.

Cassandra looked back into the terrified gaze of the man, his face turning blue as blood no longer flowed through his veins. Just before he succumbed to unconsciousness her hard darted forward, striking him in the chest once again. He collapsed to the ground with a gasp as his heart restarted.

"Funny thing; I might have learned from Batman," Stephanie said to the room. "But normally? I play good cop. Now are you gonna tell me what you know, or are you gonna find out how often Silent can restart hearts?"

"Anthony Burgess," the man Stephanie held to the wall said. "I heard Anthony Burgess is doin' some big job, tryin' to mess up you two. Don't know any details. He knows how to keep his mouth shut, and so do his boys."

"Where is he?" Stephanie demanded.

"I dunno... I swear! I really don't! He's layin' low somewhere, and he hasn't told anyone where!"

Cassandra swept her gaze over the bar before giving Stephanie a nod. The two vigilantes then stalked from the room, leaving the handful of criminals still vertical to care for their comrades. Once they were outdoors they fired grapples and took to the roofs.

A block away, Stephanie collapsed against a raised area of the roof, breathing deeply. "Okay, that was dumb."

"Reckless," Cassandra spat angrily. "Too many. Didn't even check. Could have died."

"Hey!" Stephanie said, just as mad. "We beat 'em. And we got the info. I'll admit, that wasn't my brightest idea, but it worked."

"Next time?" Cass asked. "What if slower. Big gun. Hole in head."

Stephanie swallowed. "Alright, that was a bit close. But it all worked out."

Cassandra stood up, furious. "Always works out... until it doesn't. Then too late."

Stephanie looked away, not saying anything, but Cass could see that her words weren't getting through. No matter how close the call, Stephanie still didn't see what was wrong with rushing in. "Reckless."

"Shut up!" Stephanie shouted, jumping to her feet. Her entire body shook from a combination of exhaustion and nerves, but her voice was steady. "I'm not stupid. I've been doing this for years, okay! I know the score. And in case you forgot, a little girl is being held by Anthony Burgess. Right now. That's a hell of a lot more important than maybes and could have beens!"

"Always is!" Cass shouted back. "Always lives on line. Always victims in danger. Never a game! Never simple! Always reasons... for this time special. This time kidnap victim, okay to rush in. This time hostages, okay to rush in. This time, this time, this time! One time, be this time too many. Then dead! Then I all alone!"

Cassandra choked back a sob at the thought of losing Stephanie as she watched a hundred thoughts chase themselves through her friend's body language. Pulling off her mask, she read the surprise in Stephanie's body as her friend saw her anguished expression. "Can't lose you. Mean too much. Take too many chances!"

Stephanie swallowed hard, unable to meet her friend's eyes any longer. They stood in silence for over a minute before Stephanie finally spoke again. "We're wasting time. Let's save that girl... and I promise. I'll be more careful, okay? And if I die, you have permission to kill me again."

Cassandra laughed wetly for a second as she put her mask back on. She knew that her friend still didn't get it, deep down. But there was nothing else she could say.

And a little girl's life was on the line.

Chapter Text

Still Softly Searching

Cassandra leaned against the wall of the hotel room, her hands shaking as she ran them through her greasy hair. She had never felt so tired, but despite that she still had work to do. She had been up and moving for more than fifty hours, but crime didn't take vacations. Unfortunately, she also couldn't take a vacation from work.

With only a few weeks under her belt, Cassandra wasn't even allowed to call in sick. Instead, despite a frustrating night spent failing to find clues to the location of Anthony Burgess, she was back at work, changing beds and cleaning bathrooms that always appeared dirty even when her vision wasn't blurred. It all felt so pointless, but without Bruce Wayne's money, she had to work for a living.

Cass recovered as she began to pitch forward, having fallen nearly asleep on her feet. Rubbing her eyes, she winced as she yawned, her bruised jaw protesting the motion. The only things still keeping her awake were willpower and the pain from her recent injuries.

Slowly she began to move again, cleaning the rest of the room before loading up her cart of cleaning supplies. Leaning heavily on it as she moved, Cass slowly pushed the tray across the hall, opening the opposite door and moving inside. Looking around, she groaned. The previous guests had left the room a total mess, which meant that she had a long job ahead of her.

Cassandra slowly worked, her every motion weighed down, until finally she completed another room. She contemplated taking another standing near nap before shrugging off the urge. Slowly she pushed her cart down the hall to the next room. Unlocking the next door, she froze as she heard something.

The strange sound came again from inside the room, one that sent her pulse pounding and cleared away the fog that she had been stumbling through. Unlocking the door quickly, she threw it open, darting inside, ready for anything. Her eyes widened at what she saw.

An older man was chained down to the bed. It took her several seconds to place him before she finally recognized him as a senator that she had seen on the news. As an overweight man in his sixties, seeing him naked was not one of the highlights of Cassandra's day.

Standing over him was a woman that at first glance could have been a super villain. She was in a black leather catsuit, with a stout riding crop in her hand. She was also half the man's age, and stood over him in a menacing fashion.

"Stop!" Cassandra shouted instinctively. The two people in the room froze, although it took her a second to fully process everything she was seeing. She slowly began to turn red as she realized that, despite the strange scenario, both participants were willing.

"Get out!" the senator shouted, his entire body flushing bright red with embarrassment. "Didn't you read the sign? Get out and stay out!"

"Sorry," Cassandra said, stumbling backwards, nearly tripping over her own tired feet as she tried to look anywhere but at the scene in front of her. "Leaving."

"I'll have your job for this!" the senator shouted, his voice angry, although a quick glance as Cass closed the door revealed body language that was mostly humiliated.

Stumbling back against her cart, Cassandra paused to examine the sign hanging from the door. She frowned, reading it carefully, sounding out each letter as she went. "D-do. N-n-no-t. Do not. D-d-." She paused frowning. Even carefully sounding out the third word she didn't know what it meant, although she had a guess.

It was almost an hour later, just as Cassandra was finishing up another room, when she found herself leaning against another wall, barely able to stay standing as she drifted into a slight doze. She nearly jumped out of her skin as the door to the room slammed open to reveal her boss. Even without her body reading abilities she would have been able to tell that he was furious.

"You!" he spat. "Getting a rich guest angry wasn't bad enough? Or coming to work beaten up? Now I find you falling asleep on the job!"

"Sorry!" Cassandra said. "Still working. Done this floor."

"Including Senator Marshall's room!" the man shouted. "He filed a formal complaint! You're gone."

"Please," Cassandra said. "Need job. Won't happen again."

"No," her boss snarled. "If it was any one of the things I'd have overlooked it. But this? No. You're gone. Leave your uniform in the changing room. Just go."

Cassandra opened and closed her mouth a few times, before slumping. The man's body language screamed that his mind was made up, and even if it wasn't, she knew that she wasn't going to be able to convince him with her words to change it. She walked slowly and dejectedly through the hotel, changing quickly before starting the long walk home.

Her steps began to weave on the sidewalk, and when she noticed a small bakery she decided to go inside and sit down for a few minutes. Finding an empty corner booth, she slumped over, her eyes burning. She was so tired... and she had failed. Again.

Finally it was all too much, and her body began to heave with silent sobs. No matter what she did, no matter how much she tried, she always seemed to fail at life. Part of her wanted to go running back to Gotham to beg for forgiveness. The rest of her hated herself for wanting to.

"Are you alright, sugar?" a woman asked.

Cassandra glanced up, and through her tears she could make out a plump older woman wearing an apron with a smudge of flour on her face. The woman had kind eyes, but despite that Cass could feel nothing but shame at her own weakness. If her father had caught her crying he would have shot her, as he had done several times in her youth before she had learned to suppress her tears.

She wiped her face with shaking hands, but was unable to stop herself from crying. She opened her mouth to tell the woman that she was alright, but instead a tiny, choked sob emerged. She clamped her teeth shut and simply began crying harder, although without making a sound.

The woman sat next to Cass, and carefully wrapped a warm arm around her shoulder. She had rarely experienced such close contact, and she found herself leaning into the touch as the tears continued to flow. She felt so weak, but at the same time, it was a relief for just a moment not to be strong.

When she was finally cried out, Cassandra leaned back, her face bright red as she wiped her face. "Sorry," she choked out, her voice hoarse.

"None of that, now, sugar," the woman said gently. "I don't know what's wrong, but I can tell you needed that."

"Shouldn't," Cassandra mumbled.

"Sometimes, it takes more strength to cry than to pretend it's all okay," the woman said wisely.

Cass scrunched her brow in thought for a moment before shrugging. For a person whose role models had been David Cain, then Batman and Oracle, the idea seemed contrary to everything she had been raised to believe in. On the other hand, she felt much better than she had before coming in, except for her embarrassment.

"Now, then," the woman said. "Let me get you somethin' sweet to eat, an' you can tell me what's botherin' you. I insist."

Cassandra was soon given a large slice of apple pie, and under the demanding gaze of the woman she found herself slowly eating it. Her hesitation soon gave way to hunger as she devoured the delicious treat. She had never had apple pie before, but she loved it.

"Now, wanna talk about it?" the woman asked. When she saw Cassandra was still wary, she smiled encouragingly. "My name's Anna. This here's my bakery, an' bein' a slow day an' all, I have plenty of time to lend a sympathetic ear."

Cassandra spoke haltingly at first, but gradually the kind woman was able to pry her work-related problems from her. "Now, fired again. Failed again. Can't keep job, can't... live like person."

"So, you worked at a warehouse, and that went well, until you were laid off with that scandal?" Anna asked.

"Yes," Cass answered glumly. "Did good. Strong. Hard work easy."

"An' now, you got fired from your maid job for walkin' in on a customer's room," Anna said.

"Senator doing strange things," Cass said. "Didn't know what sign mean."

"You know, my parents were both illiterate," the woman said. "It used to be much more common back then, but even now you ain't alone. Still, it's hard gettin' a job, huh?"

Cassandra just nodded as she played with her fork, her slice of pie long gone.

"You did maid work... you ever clean dishes?" Anna asked.

"At home," Cass said. "Stephanie forgets. Usually do all dishes."

"Then how 'bout you come in tomorrow at noon. You can clean the kitchen, an' scrub the dishes, an' do any other odd work besides."

Cass' head snapped up sharply, her eyes wide with hope. "Really?"

"Of course!" Anna said smiling. "I've always had a good eye for character, an' I can tell you'll work hard for me. An' I been needin' a new busboy... busgirl, to keep things runnin'."

Cassandra nodded vigorously. "Work extra hard!"

"See," Anna said. "I know I can count on you. Now you go back home and get some rest – you look a bit worn 'round the edges."

"Thank you, thank you!" Cassandra said as she hopped to her feet, not even feeling her exhaustion in her excitement. The burst of energy didn't last long, however, as she was nearly asleep on her feet by the time she reached her apartment. Unlocking the door, she slipped inside and climbed into bed fully dressed, only pausing long enough to set an alarm before falling asleep the second her head hit the pillow.

A few hours later she sat upright as her alarm began to ring. Looking over at it blearily, she frowned, unable to make out the numbers. Slowly she woke up, her body protesting being pulled from its much needed slumber after so little rest. Eventually, however, she remembered why she had set an alarm.

A little girl's life was on the line, and a few hours' sleep was all that she could afford. Crawling out of bed, she took a cold shower before dressing in workout clothes to slowly work through her morning routine. Once she had finished her daily exercises, she finally felt human enough to track Stephanie down.

After a quick check of her friend's room to make sure that she was gone, Cassandra made her way to the diner where Stephanie worked. It was after the usual dinner rush, and she was able to grab a table without waiting.

A few minutes later Stephanie arrived, carrying a large platter of food for her to eat. Cassandra studied her friend critically for a moment, and was relieved to see that she didn't appear nearly as tired as she had the previous night. Stephanie grinned when she noticed her friend's scrutiny.

"I called in a half day, got four hours uninterrupted," Stephanie said quietly. "You look like you got a little rest yourself."

Cassandra smiled nervously for a second. "Found new job. Like better. Then took nap."

Stephanie raised an eyebrow. "You spent weeks looking for work, and you just find a new job today? How'd you pull that off?"

"Was fired," Cassandra admitted sheepishly. "Then found new job on way home. Good luck."

"I'll say," Stephanie agreed. "I'm off in a few, so eat up."

Cassandra didn't have to be told twice, digging into the hamburger her friend had brought her. She was nearly finished eating when she noticed something. The cook was standing very close to Stephanie and talking to her about something, and she could tell from her friend's body language that she was not happy.

She slowed her chewing as she studied the interaction, then felt herself growing dangerously angry as she finally figured out what she was seeing. The cook was flirting with Stephanie, which was making her very uncomfortable. Even though it would have meant abandoning her food, if Stephanie hadn't left him shortly after Cass figured out what was going on, she would have gone over and made him leave her alone. She tried to suppress her anger, but she obviously hadn't done it fast enough as she caught Stephanie sending her a curious look.

A few minutes later her friend went into the back to change, and Cass quickly finished eating her meal. Standing up, she went to go pay, sending the cook a dangerous look as she did. He tried to act unaffected, but she could see that he was shaken from the intensity of her glare. Before she could decide whether or not she should say something, Stephanie returned.

"What was with the look?" Stephanie asked once they got outside.

"He was... bothering you," Cassandra said.

Stephanie snorted. "Please. He always asks me out. It's annoying, but no biggie. It's the burden of being this hot."

"Could threaten," Cassandra offered.

Stephanie snickered slightly. "That would be funny, but I might lose my job. And he so isn't worth it."

They returned to their apartment and split up to quickly change into costume. A few minutes later they both stood in the main room, checking their utility belts and the fit of their clothing. Cassandra could see that Stephanie wanted to say something, but was hesitant to.

"I had an idea," Stephanie finally offered. "About how to find her."

"Yes?" Cassandra asked, slightly wary.

"Well, we know who we want to find, but with how long it took to find that much, it could be forever before we track down his safe house," Stephanie said. "He might be sloppy, but he's pretty good at not getting anyone to talk. So, I was serving this guy his eggs, and it just came to me. We could go to the source!"

"What... have to do with egg?" Cassandra asked.

"Huh?" Stephanie asked. "Nothing. Look, forget the eggs. We should go to Mandragora's mansion. I'm sure he knows how to find this guy."

"Yes," Cassandra agreed. "He also can call... faster than find. Could kill her."

"Well, then we can't get caught," Stephanie said. "I bet we could find something if we snuck in."

"Maybe," Cass said after some thought. "At least look."

The two vigilantes headed to the edge of the downtown area before hopping on top of a bus heading in the correct direction. It took some time, but eventually they arrived at the edge of the Mandragora compound. They studied it for a few minutes, Cassandra noticing dozens of security systems even with a casual inspection.

"I see some cameras," Stephanie said. "And we know he's got guards."

"Motion detectors. Lasers. Ultrasonics. Dogs. Cameras. Guards. Radar. Maybe more."

"Really?" Stephanie asked as she looked again. "Okay, I see the motion sensors, but how do you know about the dogs?"

"See tracks," Cassandra said. "Also, kennel. There."

"Oh, yeah!" Stephanie said. "So, what's the plan?"

"You stay," Cassandra said. "I sneak. Get info."

"No way!" Stephanie objected. "What if it's written down?"

"Too many alarms," Cassandra said firmly. "Improvise. Can't take you. Get caught."

"I'm getting much better!" Stephanie objected. "Really."

"You are," Cassandra agreed. "Not better enough. Need do alone."

Stephanie huffed. "Fine. Just don't knock me out again."

"Trust," Cassandra said, and she smiled when she saw how happy that basic truth made her friend.

Taking a deep breath, Cassandra pushed everything else away as she studied the grounds one more time before she began her approach. The fence was no obstruction as she easily scurried up it, hopping down silently onto the grass. She then moved swiftly to avoid the slowly panning cameras, her steps light as she weaved around the vibration detectors she saw here and there on the ground.

Once she was halfway to the house things began to get more interesting as the motion detectors came into play. Fortunately, she had already spotted a serious weakness before she had begun her approach. Pulling out her grapple gun, she fired a shot into a large tree in the middle of the lawn, reeling her line in quickly so that she clung safely to the upper branches, taking her out of the arc of the motion sensors and above the other ground-based security.

She held on patiently until the overlapping camera grid offered a brief window of opportunity for her to approach before running lightly down the length of a tree limb and jumping out into space, firing her grapple as she went. This time the line dug into the roof of the building, and she landed without a sound on its tiles. Glancing around quickly, she stayed low to avoid another camera emplacement as she headed towards the other side of the roof.

She soon stopped in front of an old brick chimney. Normally she would have to be crazy to attempt such an approach, but it was an old building with a very large, multi-fireplace chimney. Taking a deep breath of clean air, she carefully climbed inside.

It was a tight fit, but she was able to move quickly, her eyes irritated from the hot smoke of a fire burning on the first floor. She reached an open grate on the top floor before it became too hot, however, slipping inside the empty bedroom and taking in everything quickly. From the lack of decoration, Cassandra guessed that she was in an unused guest room.

She walked very carefully to the attached bathroom before stepping into the shower with a towel and carefully wiping the ash from her clothing. While it wasn't perfect, and she still smelled like smoke, she was no longer apt to leave an ash trail throughout the mansion. Unfortunately, there was nothing else she could do to clean up, so she was forced to rely upon her skill to avoid giving herself away as she began to search the mansion.

Chapter Text

Fortune's Expensive Smile

After nearly an hour of patiently searching the mansion, Cassandra was nearly ready to give up. While the information she needed might have been written down somewhere, her literacy lessons weren't nearly far enough along to let her read the cramped handwriting on the only documents she had found. It being the modern world, it was entirely possible that the only information on Anthony Burgess' whereabouts would be on Joseph Mandragora's cellphone.

Cass wasn't ready to admit defeat quite yet, however. Her search of the building wasn't complete, her efforts complicated by its size, the number of gangsters wandering around, the security system, and most of all by the ash that still clung to her, threatening to leave a trail if she moved too quickly. It all added up to a frustrating effort, but one that she hoped would eventually pay off.

She had finally reached the ground floor, where she caught her first glimpse of Joseph Mandragora. He was very old and appeared quite frail as he sat next to a fireplace with a blanket covering his lap and an oxygen tank by his side. Despite his age, she could see every bit of the ruthless malice that allowed him to rise to the top of the underworld in every subtle motion of his body.

She waited in the shadows just outside of the door until he was sufficiently distracted looking through some reports before standing and walking without a sound into the room. She had just reached his desk and had begun looking through it for anything of use when she heard a loud commotion from just outside the room. Without hesitation she slid under the desk, placing her back to the wall and disappearing into the dark space.

A moment later Cassandra's heart lodged in her throat as she watched Stephanie being dragged inside, her hands cuffed behind her back. The only positive sign was that her mask was still firmly in place. It did little to reassure her as she watched the two large criminals manhandle her friend before pushing her to her knees near Mandragora.

"What is this?" Mandragora rasped.

"We found this one lurking around outside," one of the thugs growled. "We got the drop on her and brought her here."

Mandragora studied Stephanie for a moment, his eyes hard and calculating. Cassandra slowly drew a spoilerang as she saw the man's body contemplate a thousand horrible things that he could do to her friend. "Why did you come here?"

"Me?" Stephanie asked innocently. "I was just on my way to a costume party when I saw how cool your mansion was. I was just looking when these goons jumped me."

Mandragora snorted. "You are the vigilante called Spoiler, and if you lie to me again I'll cut off your hand. After the first limb most people wise up."

Stephanie swallowed nervously. "I wasn't planning on coming inside, honest!"

Mandragora studied her, before nodding slightly. "That I will believe. You were the lookout. The other one, Silent... she planned to break in."

Stephanie remained quiet, running various responses through her head, but by the time she thought of a good answer Mandragora had already moved on. Cassandra also noticed the way her friend subtly took advantage of her hands being hidden to work on the handcuff lock with the pick she kept hidden in her gloves.

"No," Mandragora said thoughtfully. "She didn't just plan to break in... she already broke in. She's here, isn't she."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Stephanie said. "I was just watching the place, alone."

"Eric," Mandragora said to one of the bodyguards. "Would you be so kind as to chop off one of her hands? I believe you have your bone saw with you, yes?"

"Of course, Mr. Mandragora," one of the large thugs, Eric, said, pulling a wicked looking surgical steel saw from the inside of his coat.

The second Stephanie saw it, she freaked out and began to struggle. "What the hell!" she yelped as she used the distraction of her efforts to finish unlocking the handcuffs. When Eric reached down to grab her arm she lashed out, catching him in the throat with a rabbit punch. He choked for a second, but before Stephanie could do anything else the other thug kicked her hard, sending her rolling along the ground to slam into the desk Cassandra was hiding under.

Stephanie's impact caused several items to fall off of the desk and onto the floor, including a small black book which fell open in front of Cass. She didn't need to be fully literate to recognize the format of an address book, with names, phone numbers, and addresses written in cramped black pen. Her hand shot out and grabbed it, slipping it into her utility belt without anyone noticing.

The two thugs recovered quickly, rushing at Stephanie who kipped smoothly to her feet, meeting their charge with a roundhouse kick to the lead criminal that knocked him back into his compatriot. Unfortunately the two men were quite skilled for normal criminals, recovering well and attacking her both at once. They used their bulk to crowd her, forcing her back against the desk where she couldn't maneuver.

Just as Cassandra prepared to intervene there was a loud thump as Stephanie grabbed a heavy paperweight and blindsided one of the men with it, knocking him unconscious. Her gambit left her side open, however, and Stephanie's air was knocked from her lungs as the criminal took advantage, slamming a hard punch into her gut. Before he could follow up she punched skillfully, connecting perfectly with his his jaw, dazing him. He didn't last much longer, and in moments Stephanie was the only one still standing, although she was panting heavily.

"Impressive," Mandragora said. "I have seen better, but you are certain a cut above average."

"Good enough," Stephanie said, glaring at him. "Now, you're gonna tell me where I can find the guy who set me and Silent up for that murder."

"And why would I do a thing like that?" Mandragora asked, amused.

"'Cause I'm in here, alone, with you?" Stephanie offered.

"Except for my guards, of course," Mandragora said.

"What guards?" Stephanie asked.

A hidden door suddenly slid open along one wall, revealing four men pointing submachine guns at Steph. She gulped slightly and slowly raised her hands. "Oh. Those guards."

"Now, I believe you owe me an answer," Mandragora said. "If you don't tell me what I want to know, my men will put so many bullets into you, well, it won't matter if we remove your mask or not. You certainly won't be identifiable."

Cassandra ran through her options for a moment before slowly pulling a flash bang from her utility belt. She could tell that the men with the automatic weapons were stone cold killers, and that they were ready to fire at the slightest provocation. If she wasn't careful then Stephanie was going to die.

"Look," Stephanie said. "Why don't I just leave? No harm, no foul."

"And why would I allow that?" Mandragora asked.

"'Cause if you kill me then you're going to have to deal with the Batman," Stephanie said. "Trust me, you really don't want that."

He studied her for a moment. "Unlikely," he finally said. "I have connections in Gotham – extensive ones. When you first began to make waves here I learned all that I could about you, and one thing that is certain is that he considered you little more than a nuisance. He might be angry about your death... but not surprised. And certainly not concerned enough to leave his precious Gotham to avenge some hanger-on."

Cassandra had waited until everyone was distracted by his speech to prime the flash bang and roll it out into the room. Just as he finished his monologue the device exploded, blinding and deafening everyone but her. She took full advantage of her the opening, springing to her feet and charging.

Before the gunmen could react she was among them, punching and kicking, disarming them quickly and knocking them out of the fight. In seconds she finished the last and turned to take in what was happening in the main room. Things there were not going nearly as well, unfortunately.

When the flash bang had gone off, a second secret door had opened, drawing in four more heavily armed guards. Stephanie's mask had lenses that reduced the impact of the flare, enough for her to be able to put up a struggle, but in the end four armed and prepared guards was too much for the half blind and disoriented vigilante. Cassandra turned around just in time to see two of the guards each get a grip on one of her arms while the other two recovered from the scuffle and prepared their guns.

Cassandra grabbed one of the submachine guns from the floor and stepped back into the room, pointing the weapon at the guards, who froze when they saw her. She gestured slightly towards the ground with the gun's barrel, a universal signal to drop their weapons.

"Do you really think that will work?" Mandragora asked contemptuously. "I know how Batman works. No guns, and especially no killing. Your threat is meaningless."

Cassandra considered that for a moment, before turning the gun on him, sighting it professionally between his eyes. She brought up everything that she had ever learned as a child from her father, and consciously settled her body language into a posture that radiated lethal menace. Mandragora might not have been fluent in body language, but he stiffened as he recognized the deadly threat in the way she stood.

"You were the one that pointed out the whole 'no Batman' thing," Stephanie said. "He didn't want us in his town anymore. Do you really think you can trust us to be like him?"

Mandragora eyed Cassandra for a long moment, the tension in the room so heavy that it was difficult to breathe. Finally, he gave a slow nod. "Leave. Take her and go. If I see you again, you are both dead."

Stephanie jerked her arms free of the two thugs, stepping away from them and brushing her arms as though cleaning them of dust. "Thanks for the hospitality," she said brightly. "Although I doubt death threats'll replace 'come again' anytime soon."

Cassandra walked carefully across the room, not letting up the menace in her posture for even a second as she kept the gun sighted between Mandragora's eyes. She slowly backed out the door with Stephanie beside her before taking off running once they were out of sight of the guards. Alarms immediately began to scream as the two vigilantes flew through the halls.

Cassandra dismantled the gun while she ran, tossing it aside in pieces before taking the lead through the mansion, grateful that she had spent long enough searching it to know her way around. She soon reached a small storage room by the kitchen, where she paused and began to search through her utility belt.

"Um, Cass?" Stephanie said. "This is a dead end. Shouldn't we be, I don't know, running for our lives."

"Shouldn't you be... waiting outside?" Cassandra asked pointedly as she pulled out her block of plastic explosive and began to apply part of it to the wall.

"Oops?" Stephanie offered sheepishly. "I waited for over an hour, but then I started to get worried. I mean, what if you got caught?"

"Told you... stay outside," Cassandra lectured. "You get caught. I fine."

"Fine, next time I'll stay outside," Stephanie acquiesced.

"Next time be unconscious," Cassandra muttered as she finished setting the explosive. The two crime fighters ran out of the room and waited for a few seconds until the timer went off and the bomb exploded. They glanced inside, and could see the large hole blown in the side of the building.

"That's one way out," Stephanie said admiringly.

"No," Cass said. "Diversion."

"Why?" Stephanie asked as she followed her friend down the hallway and up a narrow staircase near the kitchen. "And why are we going up?"

Cassandra didn't answer for a moment, cocking her head to listen at the second floor before leading her way up to the third. "Big lawn. Snipers. Need distraction."

"Oh," Stephanie said, gulping slightly. "But why up?"

"Not expect," Cass answered calmly. "Bad way to go."

"So we're doing this 'cause it's too stupid to be predicted?" Stephanie asked doubtfully.

Cassandra stopped listening at the door to the third floor and turned to glare at her friend. At Stephanie's unrepentant look she turned back around and cracked the door open. Once she was certain that the hall was empty she spoke. "Better than being caught."

Stephanie huffed but followed her friend as she moved silently down the hallway. Once Cass reached the far end of the building she cracked a door open, peering inside for a moment before dashing in and subduing a man with an enormous rifle looking out the window. He went down without making a sound.

"Okay, snipers," Stephanie agreed. "But if he's still looking, what was the point of the diversion?"

"Less looking," Cassandra said. "Stay. When we go... go fast."

Cassandra then slipped out of the room and moved quickly but quietly down the hall, visiting the other sniper nests that overlooked the part of the lawn they would leave through that she had noticed during her search of the building. She soon had all three snipers still at their posts bound and unconscious, and ran back to the room she had left her companion in. She breathed a tiny sigh of relief to find Stephanie still waiting for her.

"Go," Cassandra said quietly as she threw the window open. She pulled her grapple out and fired it as she jumped out the window, hooking it into another tree on the lawn and reeling it in as she swung, her feet just skimming the grass as she flew over the grounds. Freeing her line, she hung in the air for a moment before tumbling smoothly over the ground and to her feet, her eyes searching the building for any attackers that she had missed.

Stephanie gamely followed her friend, although less smoothly and far slower. She landed close to the tree that they had both used as an anchor for their grapples, touching down hard and stumbling before running up to Cassandra. When she caught up to her friend, both women began sprinting for the edge of the property.

They were almost there when Cassandra shouted "Dodge!" and began weaving her path back and forth instead of running in a straight line. Stephanie followed her example, gulping as a large patch of turf flew into the air near their path as the report of a fifty caliber sniper rifle split the night. As they neared the fence Cassandra threw all four of her smoke grenades, covering a large section with thick black smoke as they hopped and climbed up and over.

The two vigilantes didn't stop running until they hit the road, where they saw a bus pulling away from a nearby stop. They fired grapples at streetlight and swung up and onto the bus, landing lightly. Cassandra then crouched low and looked back, eyes scanning for any sign of pursuit while Stephanie collapsed, gasping and panting from exertion.

Once she was certain that they weren't being pursued, Cassandra turned around and examined her friend. She was staring off into space, her body huddled tightly as she wrestled with what had just happened. Cass had initially been angry at what her friend had done, but seeing her upset made Cass want to forgive just to take her painful thoughts away.

"I'm sorry," Stephanie said. "I know I shouldn't have crossed the fence, but you were taking so long... I was worried. I mean, what if you got caught? Mandragora was right. Batman wouldn't care."

"Oracle care," Cassandra said firmly. "I care. You... matter."

Stephanie laughed wetly, wiping her eyes through her mask. "I'm sorry, though. I screwed up, and now Carly's gonna pay for it."

Cassandra reached into her pouch, pulling out the small black book which she handed to her friend. Stephanie frowned as she flipped through it. "Is this... Mandragora's address book?"

"Think so," Cassandra said. "From his desk."

"Where did you come from, anyway? You just kinda showed up and saved me."

"Hiding under desk."

Stephanie stared at her deadpan. "You were... under his desk."

"Was searching desk... until someone brought in," Cass said pointedly.

Stephanie smiled sheepishly before looking through the address book again. "Hey, score one for senility. Looks like he wrote everything down – this book has every criminal working with Mandragora listed in it."

"Addresses?" Cass asked.

"Some... here!" she said excitedly. "There's a bunch of safe house addresses listed. How much you wanna bet she's stashed at one of them?"

"How many?" Cassandra asked.

Stephanie flipped through the book for a moment, before visibly deflating. "Twenty-seven."

"Take... too long," Cassandra said. "Might call soon... tell we cause trouble."

"I know," Stephanie said, her voice tense. "Maybe we can narrow it down somehow."

She looked at the book again for a minute before speaking slowly. "Well, if they're stashing a kid, it probably won't be somewhere with too many people. Kids are loud."

"Don't want attention," Cass agreed.

"So I can ignore the ones in apartment buildings and stuff. He's there, since no one can find him, plus the kid, and I bet he has a couple of guards too, so it can't be something small. A couple of these look smallish, so let's cut them for now.

"Then..." Stephanie's voice trailed off. "He's kidnapped someone important. Even if this is his only job, he can't risk talking about it on the phone. Mafia groups are always being watched by the FBI and stuff, so they're paranoid. I bet he meets with a few people in person every day. And if he's laying low, they have to come to him."

She began to talk more and more excitedly as she thought the problem through, and Cassandra began to feel the first fires of hope as well. "So, it has to be somewhere big enough for several criminals and a kid to live for a while, with no one too close so they won't notice if the kid starts screaming or something, and somewhere where people come and go enough for it not to be noticed."

Stephanie looked through the address book for another minute, before sitting up straight. "I've got it! I know where she is!"

Chapter Text

For I Stood Up

Cassandra and Stephanie crouched on a rooftop overlooking an old factory near the docks. To the casual observer the building would appear abandoned like the rest of the area, but the two vigilantes easily picked out signs of habitation. In addition, they noticed several subtle security cameras and devices which were well beyond the standards for a Hub City factory, although nothing that would slow them down.

Cassandra could tell that her friend was feeling both excited and smug, nearly bursting to tell how she had decided on the factory as the most probable location. Cass had had enough time on the trip to stew about the way Stephanie had risked them both by being impatient, and thus had no interest in asking. She knew Stephanie would tell her eventually, anyway.

After a moment, Stephanie couldn't wait any longer. "So! Wanna know how I figured it out?"

Cassandra shrugged nonchalantly. Stephanie huffed and explained anyway.

"So I was looking at the list, and I realized this place was probably set up near the docks because of the smuggling – if they needed to lay low for some reason, or stash something, having a big property to hide out near their interests would make sense."

Cassandra pointedly ignored her. Stephanie pouted slightly, but continued. "So, the nice thing about this place is it's big, so plenty of space to stash the kid and set up shop without feeling cramped. And when I was staking out that warehouse, I noticed most of the area wasn't very busy. So even if the kid screamed her lungs out, no one would notice. Even more so since things cut back after we shut down the smugglers."

"No one see people coming," Cassandra said. "So many people... go to ships."

"I know, right," Stephanie said. "So, how are we gonna get in?"

"Go quiet, sneak in," Cass said. "Try from roof."

"We shouldn't wait too long," Stephanie pointed out. "If Mandragora notices his address book is gone, he's sure to call and tip Burgess off."

Cassandra nodded. "Follow. Don't get caught."

"Jeez, get captured once," Stephanie muttered.

The two vigilantes slipped through the dark, avoiding the cameras and other security systems with practiced ease until they arrived at the factory itself. Circling around the building, they found a small nook that was a blind spot in the security and fired their lines, quickly reaching the roof. It didn't take them long to find an old skylight, and they peered inside.

Sitting around a large wooden crate playing cards were three beefy men who looked like the typical thugs working for Mandragora. They couldn't see anything else of interest, nor could they hear anything. After taking in the scene, Cassandra carefully cracked the skylight open and Stephanie pulled out a bug and section of fishing line.

They slowly lowered the bug into the room, being careful to keep it from casting a shadow below. Once it was in a position to help them eavesdrop, Cassandra eased the skylight closed again, pinching the line into place. They then pulled out receivers and began to listen.

In just a few minutes they saw the card players straighten up, and they heard a voice come from the far side of the room. "Where's the girl?"

The owner of the voice was a large, somewhat overweight man whose posture revealed a casual cruelty that Cassandra found sickening. Even if she couldn't tell from the way his subordinates acted, she would have known he was in charge from the way that he carried himself. She could also see a deadly anger burning in him.

"The girl was tryin' to shout for help again, so we stuck her in the closet, boss," one of the criminals said.

Cassandra could see Stephanie stiffen beside her, dangerous intent filling her friend. She frowned for a second before remembering a story that Stephanie had told her a long time before in Gotham. Stephanie's father had often locked her in the closet when she was younger to punish her. Cass had been taking the case personally from the beginning, but now, faced with the people responsible, her previous anger was transforming into a cold rage.

Burgess chuckled darkly. "How long she been in there?"

One of the men checked his watch. "Oh, five hours now? Six?"

The men laughed cruelly before Burgess reached under his coat and pulled out a knife. "Apparently those vigilantes were pokin' around, trying to figure out who I was. They took some stuff that might give this place away. We're gonna have to move, in case they figure out where we are."

"Where we goin'?" one of the card players whined.

"I've got a place," Burgess said. "Nobody knows about it. Smaller than this, but we should fit. Grab the package – my cousin went to a lotta trouble to get it to me."

"But it's heavy, boss," the whiny criminal said. "What are you gonna be doin?"

"I'm gonna make sure the kid doesn't cause us any trouble during the move," Burgess growled, looking down at his knife. "She's been too much trouble as it is."

"I thought you said you didn't want to mess her up none?" one of the criminals asked.

"That was the plan, 'til I learned how much of a mouth she's got on her," Burgess answered. "She'll get the point when I cut off a finger. I'll send it to her mommy, make sure she knows to put more pressure on those costumed freaks."

When he started to head towards the back, Stephanie dropped her receiver and pulled out her grapple gun. Without even a word to Cass she jumped on the skylight, shattering it and falling into the room nearly thirty feet below. Moments into her freefall she fired a line, slowing her descent slightly, but still landing hard on the wooden crate the mobsters had been using as a table.

The criminals stumbled backwards, shocked at her entrance and the shower of glass that had preceded her. "Stop!" Stephanie said as she pointed at Burgess. "Surrender. Or I'm going to turn you into paste."

The criminals started to pull guns, but Cassandra jumped down, throwing four spoilerangs at once before firing her grapple at the last second to slow her own fall so that she could land safely. She then moved through the thugs like a hot breeze, knocking them down and out in seconds. Only Burgess remained, stumbling backwards while holding something small in his hand.

"I don't know how the hell you found me so fast," he growled. "But you're dead meat."

Stephanie hopped down from the crate beside Cass, crossing her arms over her chest as she did. "Oh yeah? 'Cause from here it looks like all your buddies are down. You really think you can take us both by yourself?"

"No," Burgess said calmly as he pressed a button on the small device in his hand. The vigilantes heard a brief hum behind them before the wooden crate burst open in a shower of splinters. Standing in its wreckage was a huge, eight foot tall robot.

Cassandra didn't hesitate. She spun and kicked hard, her foot striking with enough force to shatter concrete. The thud of her strike echoed through the large factory, but the robot didn't move an inch. When she pulled her sore foot away, she saw that she hadn't left a scratch.

Burgess began to laugh loudly. "You're... kicking it? I got that from my cousin in Intergang. It's designed to fight Superman!"

"Oh, shi..." Stephanie started, before yelping as she was knocked off of her feet by Cassandra, who tackled her out the way as the robot suddenly sprang forward, launching a punch that would have cleanly taken her head from her body. They tumbled away, the warehouse shaking as the robot punched the ground where they had been, leaving a large crater in the concrete.

Cassandra stood, studying the robot carefully. It was human shaped but large and bulky, with an exterior made of plates of metal and a head shaped like a security camera with a single bright red light beneath its camera lens. The camera was locked firmly on Cassandra, who slowly began to circle backwards, putting enough distance between her and the robot to let her react in time, as well as getting its attention away from her friend.

Stephanie stood, pulling out a spoilerang as she eyed the robotic menace. "No," Cassandra told her without taking her eyes from the robot. "You, stop him."

"What?" Stephanie said. "You can't take that thing on your own! You didn't even scratch it."

"Save girl," Cassandra said firmly. "Get controller from him. Turn off."

Stephanie nodded before slowly circling toward Burgess. The robot started to turn towards her, only to return its attention to Cassandra when she bounced a spoilerang off of its head. It then charged at Cass, almost too fast for her to dodge, forcing her to focus all of her attention on staying alive.

Stephanie waited until the robot had moved away from her before moving directly towards Burgess. He sneered at her, pulling off his coat and rolling up his sleeves before assuming a boxing stance. "Let's see what you've got, little girl."

Stephanie ran at him, jumping into the air and launching a powerful jump kick. Despite his size, Burgess was fast, dodging the attack and coming up behind her as she landed, throwing a hard roundhouse punch which she barely managed to dodge. He kept up the pressure for over a minute, driving her back towards the far side of the factory until he had her pinned against a large piece of industrial equipment.

Stephanie balanced on the balls of her feet, ready for anything. After a moment he launched another punch, but instead of dodging as she had been doing, she grabbed his arm and pulled it forward, slamming it into the steel machinery with bone breaking force. Burgess howled before she swept his feet out from under him, sending him to the ground. Before she could finish him, however, he swept her feet in return, grabbing her and rolling on top of her, trying to pin her arms.

Stephanie squirmed, his greater strength and weight giving him an advantage in wrestling, but she had learned several tricks from Cassandra on how to beat someone larger than her. While he was very skilled at boxing, he had also tired himself considerably with his extended offense, and she was soon able to shift her weight so that she rolled on top of him, his arm behind his back as she sat astride him. When he began to struggle she pushed his arm hard, straining his shoulder and making him grunt in pain.

They struggled for a few more seconds, but her leverage was too great for him to overcome and he finally collapsed, panting and sweating. Stephanie wasted no time cuffing his hands before reaching into his pocket and pulling out the remote control. Her heart fell at what she found.

Stephanie turned on her radio, and spoke quietly. "Cass? Um... the remote? He kinda fell on it."

"Kinda?" Cass panted, the off-the-shelf radio system crackling and faint.

"It's broken," Stephanie said. "Can you stop it?"

"Will try," Cassandra said as she dodged another punch from the robot. "You save girl."

It had taken her several minutes and had earned her a number of painful bruises, but Cassandra had finally figured out how to handle the robot. It was immensely strong, and even swinging her spoilerang into the camera lens hadn't been able to damage it. On the other hand, it moved awkwardly, and with very little skill. Knowing what Superman was capable of from Batman's files, she suspected that the robot wouldn't have even slowed him down. Unfortunately, she wasn't Superman.

Considering her options, Cassandra took the last of her plastic explosive from her belt and began to work it. She attached a small timer as she retreated towards the back of the far side of the building. She knew that she would only get one shot with the explosive, so she had to make it count.

When the robot lined itself up for another powerful charge, she timed her move to flip back and through a window before it could reach her. Landing lightly, she covered her head with her cloak as she moved to the side, just in time to avoid the flying rubble as the robot simply crashed through the cement wall of the factory. She was on her feet in a second, slapping the explosive underneath the robot's still raised arm, leaning back parallel to the ground to avoid its quick counterattack, before backflipping to safety.

The robot ignored the explosive charge that she had planted on it, and she turned and ran, trying to put as much distance between herself and the bomb as possible. Unfortunately, the robot was incredibly fast for something so heavy, catching up to her quickly out in the open. Before it could slam into her from behind she pivoted and ran down a narrow alley, nearly slamming into the wall from her own momentum.

The robot, on the other hand, had a much greater mass and was unable to stop in time. It ran well past where she had turned off of the road before it was able to halt its rush. It doubled back around quickly, however, entering the alley just as Cassandra left its other side. She dove around the bend, covering her head as she did.

The explosion shook the ground. Cassandra climbed to her feet and moved cautiously back, peering around the corner and into the alley. It took a long second for the smoke to clear, and when it did she stared in dismay.

The explosive had been planted underneath the arm, and that had contained the blast, maximizing its effectiveness against the robot. The amount of explosive she had used would have taken out a tank. All it had done to the robot was tear one arm off, but otherwise left it completely functional. Its camera focused in on her, and the robot began to move again.

For the next five minutes Cassandra played a deadly game of tag with the robot. It was far faster than any human in a sprint, but almost comically bad at cornering, a condition that had only worsened now with its balance thrown off by the missing arm. Unfortunately, it was also incredibly strong, and she knew that even a single mistake would cost her her life.

When she saw a large, abandoned parking garage near the docks, Cassandra finally came up with a plan. Altering her course, she led the robot to the huge concrete structure, ducking inside and running towards one of the major support columns. Just as the robot closed in on her, she ducked out of the way, letting the machine smash through the steel reinforced concrete with ease.

Cassandra ducked, dodged, and rolled around the garage, leading her opponent to support structure after support structure until the entire six story building began to groan all around her. Choking on the dust drifting down from large cracks slowly spreading across the ceiling, she lined the robot up for one more charge, this time at the last significant pillar.

She had originally planned on running for the exit, but she realized as she began to move that she had miscalculated. In order to ensure that the robot would still be inside the garage when it collapsed, she needed to have it strike the central most pillar last. Unfortunately, that meant that she'd had to be near the center of the garage as well, which didn't give her enough time to reach safety. At the last moment she turned around and ran back to the middle of the building, diving into the elevator shaft just as the roof came down.

Cassandra curled up in a ball, covering the back of her neck with her hands as she held her breath. The sound of the collapse was deafening and seemed to take hours as she waited to be buried in rubble at any moment. A few small pieces did strike her now and then, each time making her flinch as she expected to be crushed, but instead the elevator shaft stayed mostly intact as the building fell straight down, all six thick concrete layers piling up like a stack of pancakes with the robot on the bottom.

When the collapse finally stopped, Cassandra stood, her ears ringing. Looking around shakily, she saw that she had been even more fortunate, as the roof of the elevator shaft had cracked open, revealing the stars above, giving her a way out. With a few well placed kicks she managed to finish breaking the damaged wall, letting her climb out onto the collapsed building.

Everything was still as Cassandra took a long breath of air, relief flowing through her. She finished collecting herself and began to head back towards the factory. Suddenly, she felt a tiny vibration through her feet. Turning around, she stared in awed dismay as cracks slowly began to form in the concrete.

When a metal hand broke the surface, its fingers missing and sparks and smoke drifting up with each awkward motion of the deformed limb, Cassandra shook off her surprise and ran towards the emerging robot. Reaching into her utility belt, she pulled out the only weapon that she had left with any chance of destroying the damaged robot. Working quickly, she primed all four of her homemade thermite devices.

When the robot finished widening the crack, it began to pull itself slowly up from the rubble, its camera-like head flattened and the lens cracked. Smiling coldly, she planted all four devices on top of the robot's head. It focused its camera on her, the lens whirring as it slowly rotated, seeking to focus in on her.

The incendiary devices went off, sending sparks shooting high into the air like a reverse waterfall. The white glow was so bright that she couldn't look at it, and the heat so intense that she had to back away. After a moment the devices finished eating through the top of the robot's armor, burning metal falling inside the chassis as they continued to burn paths straight through the robot. Other systems began to ignite until the entire inside of the robot was a contained inferno, which spread outwards through the cracks that riddled its damaged armor.

With the incendiaries inside of it, Cassandra watched as the robot reached out for her with a flaming arm, sparks shooting outwards as it still attempted to kill her even as it was consumed. Then, with another great burst of white sparks, the red light on its head went out, and the robot collapsed forward. In moments all that remained was a pile of molten slag.

Chapter Text

Own Society

While Cassandra had avoided being hit outright, she was feeling very rough by the time she reached the factory. She had performed a number of physical feats which had pushed her past her limits, and some of her dodges had involved taking painful dives into concrete to avoid killing blows. Riding out the collapse of a building in its elevator shaft had not been good for her either, leaving her with a headache and an annoying ringing in her ears.

Stephanie was standing outside the factory with an arm wrapped gently around the shoulders of a young girl. The girl was filthy, having lived in an abandoned factory without a chance to bathe for days, but she was in good spirits. Stephanie, on the other hand, was extremely tense.

When Cassandra stepped out into the open, Stephanie studied her carefully for a moment before relaxing. Even without her fluency in body language, Cass would have recognized the powerful sense of relief that went through her friend when she saw Cass unharmed. A moment later she heard sirens, so Cassandra pulled out her grapple and pulled herself to a rooftop to watch what would happen.

The police cars arrived in waves, and from one of the first came the police commissioner. Her daughter ran to her, and the two hugged. Cassandra grinned broadly at the sight, all that they had been through for days on end suddenly worth it. She could tell Stephanie agreed when she joined her a minute later. The two girls disappeared over the rooftops before the police even realized that they were gone.

The next morning, a tired but satisfied Cassandra arrived at her new job. She walked in cautiously, although she grinned at the delicious smells that filled the bakery. Compared to her previous job, which stank of cheap cleaners and unwashed rooms, her nose was much happier.

Anna looked up from the counter where she had been laying pastries under the glass, giving her a warm smile. "Good morning, sugar. Ready to work?"

"Yes," Cassandra said happily.

The work wasn't anything particularly exciting, and in many ways resembled her previous job. However, while before she had been one of many faceless maids struggling to arrest the decay of the ancient hotel, she was Anna's only employee. While that meant more supervision, making it impossible to slack off after a long patrol, she found herself enjoying Anna's maternal air, and her honest appreciation of a job well done.

She was first assigned to clean all of the dishes and pans that had been used for baking since the previous evening, with Anna dropping by regularly to go over everything and reject anything less than perfection. Given her own disciplines, Cassandra appreciated her attitude, and it didn't take her long to get everything shining. She beamed when with a glance she could tell that Anna's praise was actually heartfelt.

The work was hard, however, as after cleaning the dishes she was assigned to clean everything else in the kitchen. Various surfaces needed different cleaners, and the floor was clean enough to eat off of by the time Anna was satisfied with it. She also had to interrupt her work from time to time to wash new batches of dishes as Anna cooked fresh goods throughout the day, as well as things used by customers who ate at the tiny tables in the front of the store.

When it was time for her dinner break, Cassandra was given half of a hot, home cooked meal, including a large slice of fresh apple pie. She ate her food while listening to her employer tell tales about her family, none of whom were interested in being bakers, and who had all moved away for college and various jobs. Once the meal was finished she cleaned the dishes, and continued her other work while Anna returned to baking pastries or selling them to customers.

At the end of the day they locked up the front, and Anna put away the remaining baked goods that would keep before wrapping up the rest and going into the back to begin preparing items that would need to be done before leaving the store that night. Cassandra scrubbed the counters and washed the floors, removing all of the grime of a busy day of customers. When she was finished, she had more to clean up in the kitchen, since Anna insisted everything be spotless before she locked up.

When she made it to the apartment, Cass found that for a change Stephanie had beaten her home, but instead of being in costume Stephanie was wearing a skirt and a short top. She grinned at Cass as she came in. "Whatcha got there?"

"Pie," Cassandra said, setting it down on the counter. "Get to keep stuff not sold."

"Cool," Stephanie said. "Let's save that for when we get back."

"Patrol?" Cassandra asked, looking at her friend's outfit curiously. She suddenly felt strangely warm.

"Actually, I had something else in mind," Stephanie said. "We really tore the underworld apart looking for Burgess, so I don't think it would hurt to take a night off. We should celebrate!"

"Celebrate?" Cassandra asked doubtfully.

"Yup!" Stephanie said. "We saved Carly, so I think we need to let off a little steam. We worked way too hard the last few days."

"Crime doesn't rest," Cassandra muttered.

"Ah, come on!" Stephanie said. "One night won't hurt anything. Besides, all work and no play makes Cass a dull girl!"

Cassandra hesitated for a long moment, her dedication to patrolling crumbling in the face of her friend's hopeful expectation. With a sigh like the condemned, Cass finally answered. "Okay."

"Alright!" Stephanie cheered. "Go change! We're going dancing."

"Dancing?" Cassandra asked dubiously, although she went to her room anyway. Like it or not, she was now committed.

Cassandra looked through her closet, trying to figure out what to wear to go dancing. She didn't have much experience with such things, and for some reason she really wanted to look good tonight. Frowning, she pulled out one of her nicest outfits, a blue skirt suit she had found in her closet in the apartment Batman had given her when he had fired her from being Batgirl.

She put it on before frowning at herself in the mirror. She looked... professional. And dull. Her frown deepened as she mentally compared herself to Stephanie and realized that her clothing wouldn't be appropriate for any place that her friend was dressed for. Unfortunately, she didn't see anything else in her closet that seemed right, either.

Inspiration suddenly struck as she grabbed the sleeves and ripped them off before roughly shortening the suit coat, converting it into a sleeveless vest. A sharp knife taken to the skirt made it the same length as Stephanie's, and she tied the button down shirt high enough to expose her midriff. She added knee high pink socks and some torn white sheets to make arm warmers to cover her bruises from fighting the robot before giving herself another look in the mirror.

Her outfit looked punky, but sort of cute. When she ruffled her hair so that it was a little wild before raking it over one eye, she knew that she had the look just right. She wasn't quite sure what the look was, but it wasn't too different from some of the college girls she had seen partying at night around Gotham, and she knew that she looked good.

When she stepped outside, Stephanie had her feet up on the couch, lazily watching some primetime drama while waiting for her to get ready. "Finally," she said, without looking up. "I thought I was gonna have to go in there after... whoa..."

Cassandra smirked when she saw the shock on her friend's face when she finally looked at her. A multitude of thoughts ran through Stephanie's head in the next few seconds while her jaw hung open, so many that Cassandra wasn't certain how to interpret them. "Cat... got your tongue?" she asked.

"You look... good, Cass," Stephanie finally said. "I've never seen you get dressed up to party before. Where'd you get that outfit?"

Cassandra smiled, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious. "Was skirt suit. Changed it."

"You mean that boring thing you found in your closet in Gotham?" Stephanie asked. "I didn't even know you took it. This is way cooler."

The two young women left soon after, walking several blocks to one of the clubs that they had seen while out on patrol. The bouncer took one look at them and skipped them ahead of the line, and in minutes their hands were stamped, marking them as too young to drink, before they were let inside the room. Cassandra paused at the door, suddenly overwhelmed.

"That's... dancing?" she asked. Cassandra hadn't seen much dancing, but what she had didn't resemble the wild, exuberant display the clubgoers were putting on to the pulsing musical beat. Looking around the room, wide-eyed, she could feel the emotions like she had never seen before as everyone gyrated to the music, doing whatever felt right to them.

"It's a kind of dancing," Stephanie said. "Come on... it'll be fun!"

Cassandra didn't have to be asked twice. Watching everyone else's bodies singing their emotions on the dance floor, she felt compelled to join in. For the first time in her life, she was surrounded by people speaking her language, but without true violence.

She had picked up the basic movements being used by everyone in the room by the time they reached the heart of the dance floor, and when Stephanie began to move Cass put together the perfect counterpoint. She grinned, her heart pounding, her body free. She had never felt so happy.

One thing that made it even better was getting to share the experience with Steph. She could tell that her friend didn't understand the things she was communicating, that no one around her really could, but at the same time, they didn't need to read her to feel it. For over an hour she danced, never wanting to even slow down, using her body to intercept and repel anyone that tried to intrude on the bubble of happiness the two partying women were making for themselves. Finally, long before she wanted to stop, Stephanie began to flag, and the two women made their way towards the bar to get something to drink.

Once the two of them had gotten their Soders, they sat down on an empty couch at the edge of the room facing the dance floor. While Stephanie chatted away at her, Cassandra slowly took in the room, really looking around for the first time, having been too consumed by the dance floor to pay attention before. Opposite the door was the long bar, where many patrons sat on stools drinking and talking. Around the edges of the room were couches, arranged to allow small groups to sit and speak while watching the dancers.

Most of the couches were occupied with people sitting and drinking, often in groups of friends who sat and chatted with one another. She could tell that most of the room was interested in romance in some form. Some were looking to find a partner to spend some time, or even a lifetime, while others sought to spend an enjoyable evening with people that they had already found. It was the latter group that drew her attention.

In her life, Cassandra had had little contact with love in any form. Her father raised her alone, only rarely showing her more than approval. Her time on the streets had been even worse, a miserable, lonely existence spent always running, encountering only the worst dregs humanity had to offer. From the moment she had run away she had been without family, and had never even had a friend before she had met Stephanie.

Her time in Gotham had helped her learn so much, teaching her language and giving her a way to use her combat skills to help rather than harm. Sometimes Cassandra had wondered if spending time with Barbara was what having a mother was like. And she had begun to see Batman as a second father. That had all come crashing down, though. Stupid, Barbara had said. Even if she had regretted saying it... Cass could tell that part of her had really meant it. Fired, Batman had said. She had failed him... but had she simply fooled herself, to believe that he had ever cared?

The one person she still had was Stephanie. Her best friend. Her only friend. Even when things were rough between them, when they fought and argued, she still cared. They both did. She looked over at her friend, who was rambling about annoying customers, a small smile playing across her face.

Cassandra looked past Stephanie for a moment, her eyes locking onto a couple sitting on the next couch. A man and woman, a few years older than Cassandra at the most, smiling and looking into each others' eyes. She had rarely seen love, but she knew that was what she was seeing. She could almost taste it, how happy they were.

When she looked at Stephanie, who was waving her hand to explain some complex anecdote about an overcooked burger, something suddenly clicked. Cass stared, stunned, at her friend, as she realized what she was feeling wasn't simply friendship. She felt the same thing that all of the happy couples around the room were feeling.

She didn't simply care about Stephanie. She loved Stephanie. She was in love with Stephanie. All at once she felt as though she had been simultaneously plunged into an ice bath, and yet a warm heat burned in her stomach. She had no idea what to do... what to say... if she should do or say...

"Hello! Earth to Cass!" Stephanie said, waving her hand. "You awake over there?"

"Yes," Cassandra said, blushing. She was glad that the dim lighting of the club kept it from being noticed.

"Come on, let's dance some more!"

Cassandra was more than happy to return to the dance floor, leaving her weighty thoughts behind as she did. Once she began to dance again, she let herself go, feeling the music flow through her as she let her body say all the words that her mouth couldn't. With every step and motion she shouted her revelation to the world.

Stephanie danced with her, happy in a bubble that was just the two of them. While Stephanie couldn't read body language like Cassandra could, she went along with the slightly changed atmosphere, her dance serving as an answer of its own. While Stephanie was unaware of what was happening, her body reacted, her heart pounding from more than exertion as the two girls danced for the rest of the night.

When they finally tired, a confused but hopeful Cassandra led an exhausted Stephanie back to the apartment. The blonde hummed happily to herself, the music from the club still in her head as she walked close to her friend. Unlike every other time that they had walked next to each other, Cassandra found herself aware of Stephanie, her every motion and breath, the tiny hairs on the back of her arm standing up whenever her companion moved close.

When they got inside, Stephanie grabbed plates while Cassandra served the pie that she had brought back from work. "This is so good," Stephanie moaned with her first bite.

Cassandra bit her lip nervously before digging in as well. "Like new job," she said quietly.

"It's great," Stephanie agreed. "Although if you keep bringing stuff like this home, I'm going to turn into a blimp!"

"Not after that much dance," Cassandra disagreed. "And spar. And patrol."

"Well, we have to do two of them," Stephanie agreed. "Maybe we should add the third more often."

"Okay," Cassandra said, smiling shyly as she poked at the crumbs left on her plate.

"So, you enjoyed it?" Stephanie asked smugly.

"Yes," Cassandra agreed, nodding. "Like dancing... with you."

Stephanie suddenly gulped, the silence stretching between them with her words. Cassandra looked into Stephanie's eyes for a long moment, her heart pounding in her ears. A thousand subtle gestures bubbled up from her mind, a hundred ways to say how she felt, all in her native language. She tried to find some way to transform those moves into words, to tell Stephanie, but her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. Her mind froze, all words lost, as she could only read what Stephanie felt.

Which was an avalanche of confused feelings. She could see in the subtle way her face twitched her confusion, the tilt of her head her happiness, the angle of her neck her excitement. She could read in her eyes and posture Stephanie's own interest, her own passion, and as she continued to stare at her... she could see love there. Not just the love of a friend. Not even the love of family. But the love she felt, mirrored in Stephanie's blue eyes.

Cassandra swallowed hard, her mouth suddenly dry and her heart pounding in her chest like it was trying to escape. She couldn't find words, but she had never needed them. She might not know much, but she knew what she wanted to do, and it wouldn't take any language skill to make her point.

Cassandra began to lean forward. Everything slowed down, the distance between herself and Stephanie seemingly miles, and yet growing steadily closer. A swarm of butterflies seemed to take purchase in her stomach, and she licked her too-dry lips. Her heart nearly stopped as she watched Stephanie's eyes flick down to follow the motion, her pupils dilating in response.

Unable to breathe from tense excitement, Cassandra moved in, her own gaze locking for a moment on Stephanie's pink lips. She looked back up into Stephanie's eyes as the blonde began to lean forward as well. They were only a foot apart when it happened.

A car backfired in the street outside, both vigilantes glancing toward the source of the sound as they processed it, glancing back once they were both certain that it wasn't a gunshot. Cassandra prepared to finish the move, to lean in for the kiss... when Stephanie suddenly froze. Cassandra could read the confusion return to her friend ten-fold, and with it came a wave of panic.

Stephanie jumped to her feet, her face flushing and her heart pounding. She was confused by what she was feeling, and suddenly felt overwhelmed by the atmosphere that hung between them. Stephanie looked anywhere but at Cassandra as she backed out of the kitchen towards her bedroom. "Oops, look at the time. Got to work hard tomorrow, right? Can't get fired. And patrol. Yeah. We have to patrol. Can't take every night off. So... yeah. Goodnight!"

"Steph," Cassandra said quietly to the empty room. She swallowed thickly, confusion and fear beginning to fill her as well. Without another word she quickly cleaned up and went to her own room for the night.

Chapter Text

The Wind Does Not Require the Grass

Joseph Mandragora was angry. The costumed vigilantes had first cost him his best man. If he was honest with himself, the Venom-addicted criminal had been his only truly competent underling, his ability to manipulate the man's temper and addiction allowing him to let someone who could be such a threat to him rise so high in his organization.

Then, he had assigned his next best to deal with the situation, but that had ended just as poorly. Not only had another one of his lieutenants been arrested, but the vigilantes had dared to break into his mansion and hold him hostage. It was unforgivable, and he had spent the last week upgrading his personal security to keep it from happening again.

While he had been doing that, he had also been searching for a proper way to resolve the entire situation. He smiled coldly as a knock came at his door. "Enter."

One of his soldiers came in nervously. "Um, Mr. Mandragora, sir? Your, um, guest is here."

"Good," Mandragora said. "Show him in."

The man that came through the door was tall and rail thin, the design of his costume highlighting those features. He moved with an eerie grace, his motions twitching and awkward, and Mandragora could see the fear in his soldier's eyes as the man moved past them. "Dr. Crane," Mandragora said, taking a long pull from his oxygen mask. "I'm glad that you could come."

"Mr. Mandragora," Scarecrow said. "After you went to all of the trouble to break me out of Arkham, the least that I could do was find out why."

Mandragora chuckled cynically. "I'm sure the money didn't hurt, either."

"I'm not one to be led around by something so simple as money," Scarecrow disagreed. "Now, tell me, why did you want me here so badly?"

"A pair of vigilantes with Gotham connections have shown up in Hub City, causing trouble for my organization," Mandragora said. "The best way to deal with a mask is with another mask. And what better one to bring in than someone from the same city?"

"Who has left the Batman behind?" Scarecrow asked. "Is it the little Robin? Or the Batgirl? I'd heard Nightwing was in Bludhaven."

"No, it's some girl called the Spoiler. She's got an accomplice called Silent, but I've found no record of her from before she started operating here."

"Hmm, Spoiler..." Scarecrow said thoughtfully. "I've never met her. I wonder, what has driven her to this life? What is she... afraid of."

"So you'll take the job?" Mandragora asked.

"I'll deal with them," Scarecrow said. "But I'm not interested in your money."

"Then what do you want?" Mandragora asked after taking a long pull from his oxygen tank.

"This building, it has quite a bit of security," Scarecrow said conversationally as he drifted closer. "You've spent more money on it than any bank I've ever seen. You must really value your safety."

"It's important," Mandragora ground out. "At my age, you can never be too careful."

"No, I don't think that's quite it," Scarecrow disagreed. "I've seen your people as well. You have good foot soldiers, doing the real work, but they seem... incompetent at the top. Worried about competition?"

Mandragora simply glared at him, and after a moment Scarecrow continued. "You see, Joe – I can call you Joe, can't I? After all we're about to get to know each other so well. Now, Joe, it seems to me that you are afraid of a great many things. Your hands, for example. Immaculately clean, yet I see hand sanitizer within arms reach. Afraid of your employees, of break-ins, of germs? How many things can one man be afraid of?"

"I'm not afraid of you," Mandragora said coldly, although his pulse sped up more and more the longer Scarecrow talked.

"Ah, that is a mistake," Scarecrow said. "You fear so many things, and yet you do not fear the Master of Fear? I have so many things to teach you about the wonder of fear, Joe. So many things..."

"Stay away," Mandragora rasped, pulling out a gun, only for it to be knocked away by a wide kick from one of Scarecrow's long legs. "I broke you out of Arkham! Why are you doing this?"

"Because you are so deliciously afraid," Scarecrow said. "And yet, you try to hide it. Try to pretend to fear nothing while cowering behind an army. It's time for you to learn about the true nature of fear, Joe. And I'm going to teach you."

"Help! Guards! Help!" Mandragora screamed while Scarecrow removed the line from his oxygen tank and hooked it to a small tank he pulled from the back of his costume.

"They won't be of any help," Scarecrow crooned. "I left a little present in the hallway. They needed to learn about fear, as well. Oh, yes, you all need to learn much about fear."

Scarecrow pulled out a roll of duct tape, and used it to bind Mandragora's hands to his chair andthe oxygen mask to his face, before turning on the flow of his special gas. In moments Mandragora's eyes began to roll about in panic before he began to scream.

Scarecrow chuckled deep in his throat as he walked away. "I'm not a hitman, Joe. But I'm just getting started. It's time Hub City learned the true meaning of fear."

In the week since they had gone dancing, things had been even more uncomfortable in their apartment than they had been when the two young women had been fighting with each other. Cassandra had no idea what to do. Part of her wanted to apologize somehow, to make it all go away, even though it would mean denying what she really felt. She would have to get her friend back, except for one thing.

Stephanie felt the same thing for her. She was less aware of it, and more afraid of it, but they both had the same feelings for each other. Cassandra didn't know much about love, but she knew that feelings wouldn't be enough. She had seen enough families broken apart in Gotham to know that love by itself didn't mean anything. If Stephanie wasn't willing to try, it would mean nothing... and she had no idea how to go about trying, much less how to convince someone else to.

The only bright spot in her day was her new job. While she wasn't very fond of cleaning dishes, she liked it much better than her job as a maid. Still, she was surprised when, on Friday, Anna called her away from mopping the floor to help her in the kitchen.

"You ever bake anything 'fore?" Anna asked.

"No," Cassandra answered.

"Well, good time as any to start," Anna said. "You know how to cook at all?"

"No."

"I spent years learnin' my kids all my secret recipes, and not one of 'em cares to continue the family business," Anna said, shaking her head good-naturedly. "I suppose at this point it wouldn't hurt none to show you a few tricks."

Not being able to read well would have been a problem when working with written recipes, but Anna had them all memorized, and she was very patient in showing Cass the basics of how to bake. While they were interrupted regularly by customers or other necessary work, before long Cassandra had managed to prepared a tray of brownies and put them in the oven.

Anna got out a mixer, butter, and sugar, and began to show Cassandra how to make fresh frosting. While the mixer was running, Anna spoke. "So, you wanna tell me what's been botherin' you, sugar?"

"Bothering?" Cassandra asked, not looking up from the mixing bowl she was slowly adding powdered sugar to.

"I might not have known you for long, but I get the sense somethin's been playin' on your mind," Anna said. "I'm all ears. What's botherin' you?"

Cassandra swallowed hard. "I'm... in love?"

"Ah!" Anna said. "I thought it'd be somethin' like that. Romance seems like such a big business at your age. Still, what's wrong?"

"Never been... in love," Cassandra said quietly.

Anna nodded understandingly. "I see. So, what's your young man like? Watch the sugar, now! That's too much at once!"

Cassandra stopped adding the sugar, then began to add it more carefully. "Sorry."

Anna examined her shrewdly for a minute. "Now, I'm no spring chicken, but I'm not too old fashioned. Is this someone... not a guy?"

Cassandra swallowed, before nodding. "I... yes. She's not."

Anna nodded. "That must be confusin'. Did you know you felt that way 'bout girls before?"

"No."

"Well, it's nothin' to be ashamed of," Anna said. "Don't worry 'bout anyone that'd give you any lip. Still, bein' in love is always scary, even without bein' different besides."

"Didn't even know... at first," Cassandra said quietly. "Didn't expect. Just... best friend. Of course care. Then... I knew. Not just friend."

"Have you ever had a chance to talk 'bout this with anyone before?" Anna asked.

Cassandra shook her head, biting her lip as she watched the frosting come together in the mixing bowl.

"Well, I may be an old woman, but I'm willin' to lend an ear. I don't teach my best brownie recipe to just anyone, you know."

"We... almost kissed," Cass said quietly. "Then, got distracted. She left. Now... avoiding me."

"Does she not feel the same?" Anna asked gently. "You wouldn't be the first person to fall in love with someone that doesn't feel that way back. It's what half o' country music's 'bout."

Cassandra smiled slightly. "I think... she feels same. But scared."

"Well, love always is scary," Anna said. "And if she does feel the same, she might not have realized she feels that way 'bout girls, either. Findin' somethin' like that out 'bout yourself can be a shock, I'd wager. She's not the person she thought she was."

"Not any different," Cassandra said as she turned off the mixer.

"Didn't say she was," Anna agreed mildly as she checked the frosting. "If you woke up and found out you were suddenly left handed, you'd be pretty freaked out, but there's nothin' wrong with bein' a southpaw. Her findin' out she feels differently about somethin' so important as love than she ever thought? 'Course she freaked out."

"She's... dated guys," Cassandra said. "More than one."

"See," Anna said. "So no surprise it's a shock to her, then. You just gotta let her come 'round. You try to force anythin' you'd just scare her away."

"But... what if..." Cassandra started, trailing off when she couldn't figure out what to say.

"Now, now, no what ifs," Anna scolded. "They do you no good. No, what you gotta do, is butter her up a little, but not smother her neither."

"Butter?" Cassandra asked, looking at the sticks still sitting near the blender.

"I mean, you gotta woo her a bit, without backin' her into a corner," Anna explained. "Best way to do that is some brownies. I always say, the best way to anyone's heart is food. An' what girl don't love chocolate?"

That evening Cassandra headed home, carrying the tray of brownies that she had made herself. Most of the cooking that had happened around the apartment had involved the microwave, and the rest was little more complicated. Having made something so tasty with her own two hands gave her an incredible sense of accomplishment. As she walked, she suddenly didn't feel like an outsider. She wasn't a failure, unable to live like everyone else. She had a job. She had a home. She could cook her own food.

Part of Cassandra wanted to break into a dance right in the middle of the street. If, in that moment, a chorus of singers had appeared, and everyone had broken out into song like had happened in the strange movie Stephanie had shown her a few weeks ago, she would have happily joined in. She didn't know how to sing, but she felt her dancing would have been far more convincing than the mostly unfeeling motions of those in the musical had been. One of them had even been thinking about his taxes during the big finale.

When she entered the apartment, Cassandra smiled as she saw Stephanie, who was dressed nicer than she usually was at that time. Cass couldn't help smiling, as she remembered another reason that she was so happy. Even if the brownies didn't work, she now had Anna coaching her on how to win Stephanie over.

Stephanie looked up, her eyes wide and her body filled with apprehension. Cassandra smiled at her reassuringly, before holding out the tray full of frosted brownies. "Brownies," she said firmly.

Stephanie quirked a smile. "I love brownies. But don't you usually bring home, like, half trays and stuff?"

"Made it," Cassandra said proudly. "Anna showed me how. Want to share... with you."

Stephanie hesitated, swallowing hard. "I would, but I'm about to go out. I'm gonna be getting dinner out..."

Cassandra's brow creased with confusion. "But... patrol?"

"I'll be back before too late to change, and then I'll get right back out there," Stephanie said with a weak smile.

"Why?"

"I've, um, I've got a date," Stephanie explained quietly.

Cassandra hadn't felt so stunned since she had last been hit by Lady Shiva. She worked her mouth, trying to form words, but nothing came out. All she could feel was her stomach falling through the floor to the apartment below, dragging her happiness down with it.

Finally, after the silence had hung tense in the air for a long time, Cassandra managed to choke out a syllable. "Oh."

"So, I'll see you on patrol soonish," Stephanie said, unable to meet her eyes.

Cassandra could tell that this confrontation was making her friend miserable. Good, she thought viciously. It was good not to be the only one.

Stephanie walked to the door. "I'll be out there patrolling, um, soon. So... yeah. Bye."

Cassandra walked to the kitchen, and mechanically placed her brownies in the refrigerator. She then went to her room, and changed into her Silent costume, just like she did every night. Sneaking outside, she sat on a nearby roof, staring up at the stars.

She should patrol, she knew. Criminals could be out there, at any moment, causing endless problems. It was her mission. She really should...

Cassandra stood and started running. It took her longer than she had expected, but eventually she found her target. Disappearing into the shadows before she was spotted, she began to tail her target carefully, using every bit of her skill.

Unlike most of the time when she did this trick, she knew just how skilled Stephanie had become.

Part of her knew that stalking Stephanie wasn't something that she should do. She could hear a voice scolding her, one which sounded a lot like Barbara, even though it would be pretty hypocritical of Oracle to lecture her for spying on people she cared about. Despite that, she had to see who was taking Stephanie out on a date.

When she finally saw him, she decided immediately that she didn't like him. His body language was arrogant, like he looked down on everyone else on the street. He didn't even look at Stephanie as respectfully as he should. Cassandra's lip curled in a sneer of firm distaste.

The one thing that soothed Cassandra's temper was that Stephanie seemed to be having second thoughts about the date as well. Studying her carefully, Cass was further assuaged when she didn't see much in the way of real attraction for the boy. Studying him, Cassandra wasn't surprised – he looked fine enough in a studious, college boy kind of way, but he looked like he was trying a little too hard. His 'windswept' hair appeared to involve at least an hour in front of the mirror, and his clothing was a little too artfully rumpled to be natural.

Cassandra followed them to a small restaurant not too far from where Stephanie worked. While her diner wasn't anything fancy, it had a certain sense of reality to it that the overdone cafe the young man led Stephanie to lacked. It looked like the sort of place a tourist would pick out, not a local that knew what was really good in Hub City.

Cassandra waited until they went inside before circling around the block, heading to the back door of the cafe without being spotted. She quickly picked the lock, slipping inside and gliding through the kitchen. The place looked clean, she supposed, but from her low, crouching posture, she could see some dirt under the work counters. Sniffing disdainfully, she shook her head at the unprofessional job the workers did keeping their area clean.

The restaurant itself was fairly crowded, but the dining room was kept very dim, relying mostly on candlelight and numerous dividers to create an intimate atmosphere. It didn't take her long to find a hiding spot in a corner behind what she discovered was a dusty, artificial fern. From that spot she was able to observe Stephanie's table without being seen herself.

She watched, her heart in her throat, as Stephanie sat listening to her date talk. And talk. And talk. Cassandra could tell that the main subject of conversation the man had was himself. She finally began to calm as she noticed just how bored Stephanie was.

By the time dessert arrived, Stephanie had already decided to never date the boy again, and Cassandra could tell just how foolish her friend felt about having gone out with him in the first place. Stephanie was looking out the window, trying not to show just how bored she really was, when she suddenly stiffened. Stephanie then pasted on a tense smile and thanked her date, walking quickly away, leaving the suddenly upset young man behind.

Confused, Cassandra slipped back through the kitchen, moving undetected past the cooks, before making it outside into the alley behind the cafe. Pulling out her grapple, she quickly reached the rooftops, looking up into the sky in the direction that Stephanie had been staring. She froze in shock at what she saw.

Against the clouds in the sky, a spotlight projected a symbol across the heavens. Instead of the bat she had grown used to seeing in Gotham, the sky above Hub City was decorated with an enormous 'S'. Its shape was identical to the one they used for their spoilerangs.

Someone was calling for them.

Chapter Text

For Fear To Be A King

Cassandra crouched in the shadows, watching the top of the police headquarters like a hawk. The police had found a spotlight and set it up, and had made a large template shaped like a spoilerang to use to make the symbol. Standing next to the light was Commissioner Avery, who looked extremely tense.

A few minutes later Stephanie arrived, landing lightly next to Cassandra and joining her in observing the scene. "What's going on?" she whispered.

"Don't know," Cassandra replied. "Something bad."

"Then let's not leave her waiting," Stephanie said, pulling out her grapple and firing it across. Cassandra quickly joined her, and she could see the Commissioner's relief when she saw them landing on the rooftop.

"What's up?" Stephanie asked. "Cool Spoiler Signal, by the way."

"Trouble," Avery said tensely. She glanced over at the light for a moment, flipping it off before explaining it. "We found one of your throwing weapons at the judge's house. I heard about the people in Bludhaven doing the same thing to get Nightwing's attention recently, and since you're from Gotham too..."

"Well, attention gotten," Stephanie said.

Avery nodded. "Good. Because we have problems."

"Lay it on me," Stephanie said.

"Earlier tonight, the mayor's office was broken into by a costumed criminal called the Scarecrow," Avery explained.

Both Stephanie and Cassandra tensed at that revelation. "Oh," Stephanie said quietly. "That's bad. Is the mayor okay?"

"No," Avery said. "Not really. He and his staff are all in the hospital. They've been exposed to some powerful drug, and it's making them hallucinate and panic."

"I know someone that might be able to send a cure," Stephanie said. "You need to keep them calm though – Fear Toxin can kill or drive you mad without treatment."

Avery nodded. "I'd heard as much. I contacted Gotham, and they're sending a shipment of the antidote, but they don't have much on hand. Apparently, he broke out of Arkham last night and had a bit of a rampage before disappearing."

"Why would he come here?" Stephanie asked.

"He left a message," Avery answered, handing a photograph to the vigilantes. "Wrote it on the walls."

Stephanie sucked in her breath when she saw it before handing it to Cass. The picture showed a large office, presumably the Mayor's, and painted on one wall was a single sentence.

"'I'm gonna SPOIL Hub City.' Not exactly subtle," Stephanie said. "But I've never even met him. Why is he after me?"

"It probably has something to do with the emergency call we got from Mandragora's mansion," Avery explained. "Apparently, everyone there got gassed as well. Mandragora had a heart attack. D.O.A. Probably connected to the mysterious criminals who broke Scarecrow out of Arkham and his subsequent disappearance."

Stephanie groaned. "Only a Gotham crook would kill his employer, and then do the job anyway."

A uniformed cop suddenly ran out onto the roof. He hesitated only a second when he saw who his boss was talking to before scurrying over to deliver his message. "There's been a riot at Irving Prison! All of the prisoners are breaking out!"

"Damn it!" Avery growled. "Get everyone down there! We need to stop it. Spoiler..."

When she turned around, she discovered that both vigilantes had disappeared. "Okay. That's really annoying."

As soon as they were away from police headquarters, the two young women dropped down to street level and found one of the few still operational pay phones in downtown Hub City. Cassandra hesitated for a moment, staring at the phone. She wasn't sure she wanted to make the call... but she knew she needed to.

"Want me to do it?" Stephanie asked gently. "You can tell me her number..."

"No," Cassandra said decisively. "I can deal."

Picking up the phone, she quickly dialed a phone number, and at a tone, she then entered a ten digit code and waited. A moment later the phone picked up, and Cassandra could hear Barbara's concerned voice through the line, for once not distorted as Oracle. "Ba- um, Silent? Are you okay?"

"Um... yes," Cassandra said. "Need help."

"Sure," Barbara said. "You can call me anytime. What do you need?"

"Scarecrow. He's here. Poisoned the Mayor... many others. Cause prison break."

"Scarecrow?" Barbara answered, typing away. "I'll send someone over right away with some antidote. You should be careful. Scarecrow is very..."

"Can handle," Cassandra interrupted. "Just need antidote."

"I know you're capable," Barbara said placatingly. "But even Batman needs backup sometimes... usually when he least admits to needing it."

"Have partner," Cassandra said. "Will be fine."

"Okay," Barbara said. "Look, Cass, I want..."

"Prison break," Cassandra said. "Have to deal. Busy... bye."

"Alright," Barbara said with a sigh. "When this is over... can we talk?"

Cassandra hesitated for a long moment. "Okay. Bye."

"Goodbye, Cass," Barbara said just as she hung up.

Cassandra looked over at Stephanie. "She's sending antidote."

Stephanie smiled at her. "Everything okay?"

Cassandra considered for a moment, before nodding. "Will be," she decided, before pulling out her line and firing it, heading back to the rooftops.

The trip to Irving Prison was made in silence, both vigilantes lost in thought. They rode on top of a bus before hopping off and roof running the rest of the way to the prison. From the amount of lights flashing, they could tell even before they got close that the police were already out in force trying to keep the escaping prisoners contained.

The two vigilantes paused on the last rooftop before the the open field around the prison. The situation was already bad, with prisoners fighting like mad in the field, trying to force their way past the police. Cassandra narrowed her eyes as she saw them.

They moved... wrong. They felt no pain. No fear. Nothing but a berserk bloodlust that sent them charging into the overwhelmed police line. A group of prisoners tackled several policemen, and rather than trying to escape, a mob formed, all attempting to beat the downed officers at the same time.

"Drugged," Cassandra said tersely as she fired a line at a streetlight, swinging out over the parking lot and crashing feet first into the mob. Spinning and kicking, she dropped several of the escapees, but the rest simply stood back up, unfazed despite deep bruising and cracked bones from her punishing entrance. She was going to have to be... firm.

Cassandra soon lost herself in the dance. Her partners were nearly mindless, and few moved with anything resembling skill. On the other hand, they didn't need skill to be a serious danger, since they wouldn't back down unless actually disabled. Despite the grace of her movements, Cassandra's attacks were by necessity unusually brutal. Bones were snapped, nerve clusters were struck, and even a few concussions were delivered when she was forced to drop someone too quickly in order to save another imperiled officer.

The skill disparity meant that the only way that any of the prisoners could harm her was with a combination of luck and numbers. Unfortunately, the numbers seemed almost limitless, and luck was too fickle to stay with her in a battle so long. Slowly her own injuries began to add up, bruises and bumps and a badly tweaked knee, but still she fought on.

She found her zone. A place where nothing had any meaning, save the battle. She not only ignored her pain, but like her opponents, Cass stopped even feeling it. Nothing existed, save the dance.

She was pulled from her meditative state by sudden blasts of water. She stumbled slightly, her injured knee screaming at her about the abuse she had just put it through. She swayed on her feet before putting down the foe in front of her and looking around.

During the fighting, swarms of police in full riot gear had arrived, and they had brought water cannons and tear gas with them. The gas seemed to do little good, as despite coughing and watering eyes, the prisoners continued fighting at full force. The water, however, knocked them around, keeping them from even getting to the police line.

Cassandra staggered to a police car and slumped against it, her entire body burning from overwork. She had been fighting without pause for over an hour, and she was shaking from fatigue and injury. She took several long, meditative breaths to bring herself back under control, finally opening her eyes and looking around for Stephanie.

Her friend was missing.

When Stephanie saw Cassandra swing into the crowd she had pulled her line out to join her before pausing and considering the situation. It didn't take her long to realize what Cassandra had meant about them being drugged. The prisoners were on a rampage, and she knew that she would be hard-pressed to stop them.

She was about to try anyway, but as she watched Cassandra moving through the prisoners like a hot wind, rescuing police who rallied in her wake to keep up the fight, she decided that her place wasn't in a melee like that. She could do some good, but she would eventually either be overwhelmed, or be forced to pull back to safety. The first would be very bad for her health, while the second wouldn't be good for the police morale that Cassandra was doing a good job of raising.

Stephanie looked around, trying to figure out something that she could do, when inspiration suddenly struck. The prisoners hadn't even managed to escape, which meant that, if Scarecrow had come himself, he probably hadn't escaped either. In fact, Stephanie suspected that he wouldn't even want to escape yet – he would prefer to watch the results of his drug on the crowd.

Which meant that he was probably still in the prison, and most likely in some place where he could see the battle unfold. Instead of swinging into the crowd, Stephanie landed lightly on a police car before firing again, this time bringing herself to the top of the prison wall. The courtyard was already almost empty with only a few stragglers remaining inside, and they were all rushing for the exits.

The prison building itself was a large concrete and steel eyesore with only one visible entrance, its doors wide open. She swung across, landing just inside the doorway, and was almost sick. On the ground around her were several prison guards, all brutally beaten. She didn't need to be a doctor to tell that they hadn't survived.

Moving into the prison, her heart began to pound. Blood spattered the walls, and dead guards lay scattered about, killed trying to stop the maddened prisoners from escaping. The further she moved into the prison the fewer bodies she found, but the worse condition they were in, until she began to find bodies that not even dental records would be able to identify.

The sounds of the riot faded away as she put more concrete between her and the battle going on outside. When she finally reached a stairway, she considered for a moment before opening it and beginning to go up. Scarecrow had to be either in a security room or actually at the top of the prison to watch the results of his efforts, and since she didn't know where security might be, she decided to try the other option first.

She slowly pushed the doors at the top of the stairs open, but found that the top floor of the prison was dark. Pulling out a tiny but bright flashlight, she shined it around, but didn't see anything immediately. Whatever had killed the lights had done so without damaging them, but when she found the switch, it did nothing.

Creeping down the hallway, Stephanie found her heart rate speeding up. She frowned, considering, before deciding that he hadn't already exposed her to his gas. It was simply good old-fashioned in-over-her-head facing-a-super-villain fear. Which wasn't much better.

While taking on Scarecrow alone wasn't a smart move, she knew that Cass would be busy keeping the police alive and the prisoners contained, and someone needed to go after him. If he escaped the prison, then he would simply strike again elsewhere, putting more people at risk. Besides, Cass had been training her hard for months, and on top of everything Tim and Batman had taught her, she felt confident that she could take someone who thought straw was a part of clothing.

She cracked open each door as she moved down the hallway, peering inside for any sign of him before moving on to the next. The cells were relatively clean, but they were still tiny concrete boxes. She smirked at the thought of her father being stuck in one.

She had just opened yet another door when instead of the empty room she had been expecting, she saw Scarecrow right in front of her, an arm extended. Before she could recover from her surprise he had already released a powerful dose of fear gas straight into her face. She slammed the door, stumbling backwards as she began to sweat, her heart pounding like mad in her chest.

The door flew open, smashing against the hallway wall echoingly before he stepped out of the cell. Scarecrow hadn't looked like much in his mugshots, but in person he towered over her, his presence magnified by the effects of the fear gas. Stephanie stumbled back against the wall as he twitched spasmodically, his every motion eerie and completely inhuman as he closed with her.

"Hello, little girl," Scarecrow said, his voice seeming to rise from the darkest places in her soul. "Are you ready to play?"

It's just the gas, she told herself desperately. He's human.

Stephanie lurched away from the wall she had been leaning against, leading with a roundhouse kick which Scarecrow effortlessly backed away from. "Ah, so much fear. I can see you'll be a lot of fun."

"Shut up!" Stephanie shouted, her attacks sloppier than they had been in years as she tried to hit him. If she could just hit him, but every time she came close he drifted away like a leaf caught in a breeze, never letting her so much as touch him.

Stephanie's desperation grew by the second, and finally she stumbled over something, tripping and falling to the floor. Before she could recover, Scarecrow was on her, kicking her in the side of the head, stunning her before grabbing her arms and binding them with police handcuffs. He then grabbed her ankles and began to slowly drag her away.

Stephanie struggled weakly, dazed by what had happened, before her eyes landed on what made her fall; she had tripped over a roll of toilet paper that had been left in the hallway sometime during the riot. "It's not supposed to be this way," she muttered, still stunned from the kick. She couldn't believe that she had been defeated by toilet paper.

She came fully awake when a bucket of cold water hit her face. Gasping and sputtering, she looked around, cringing back from Scarecrow as he loomed over her. While she had been out of it, he had undone her handcuffs before looping the links around thick pipe in the wall and reattaching them. She pulled desperately, fear lending her strength, but she couldn't make the pipe budge at all.

"Useless," Scarecrow tittered. "You cannot escape. We have so much to do."

"You won't get away with this," Stephanie said, hating the way her voice shook. "Silent will stop you."

"Oh, I'm looking forward to playing with her, too," Scarecrow said. "But she's busy right now... I'll get around to her when I get the chance. I have time to focus my full attention on you, Spoiler. It's time to find out the truth, little girl. Time to expose your true face."

She cowered back from him, but instead of reaching for her mask, he pulled a small syringe from his pocket. "What... what are you doing?"

"I'm going to peel away all of you layers," Scarecrow crooned. "Like an onion, down, down, until the truth is found. Fear does that, you know. It's the greatest equalizer. No matter how brave you are, everyone has fear, even the Bat. I've seen his true face... what he's like at his very soul. And I'll find out who you really are, too."

"You've... never seen him without the mask," Stephanie forced out, trying to resist the fear toxin already in her veins. He's just a man in a mask, she thought desperately.

Scarecrow chuckled. "No, but I don't need to. I don't care what you really look like... I only care about the real you. The you I can only find by cutting open your mind and looking inside. We're going to learn a lot, Spoiler. We're going to learn who you really are."

Stephanie tried to resist, tried to fight, but nothing worked. She was chained to a wall, helpless, having already been exposed to a full dose of Scarecrow's gas. He held her arm still, removed the safety cap from his syringe, and injected it into her.

"What is that," she gasped, as a burning pain slowly spread from the injection site.

"My newest creation," Scarecrow said, his voice reverent. "This is a super concentrated Fear Toxin variant. It doesn't last as long as most, and requires direct injection... but the effects. Oh yes, you will be immersed in a world of pure terror. Everything you are truly afraid of, shining in the stark darkness of the blackest spots in your soul. This is the true epitome of Fear."

Stephanie tried to be strong, tried to resist, but it was too much. Everything blurred and shifted, and suddenly Scarecrow wasn't simply looming over her. He was crouching on her chest, like a demon in a medieval woodcut, his distorted frame pressing his incredible weight down on her, making it impossible for Stephanie to breathe.

"Oh, yes," Scarecrow said, maggots spilling from his mouth and covering Stephanie. They crawled all over her skin, burrowing into her flesh, spreading the blaze that now filled every vein in her body from the injection. "We are going to have such fun."

Stephanie kept trying to fight, but it was impossible. Her last coherent thought before she was swept away on a wave of terror was 'sorry, Cass'. And then she began to scream.

And scream. And scream.

Chapter Text

Sore Must Be the Storm

Cassandra moved into the building, caution all but forgotten as she searched for Stephanie. She knew that her friend was in trouble – sometimes it felt like Stephanie was always in trouble. When Cass found her, she was going to see if this time she could get it into her friend's thick head not to run right into danger alone.

She had no trail to follow, and with no idea where her friend could be, she decided to be quick but methodical. Not wanting to take the time to search each floor, she decided to take the staircase, peeking out into each hallway as she went, looking and listening for anything out of place. She was about to go back to the first floor and give it a more thorough search when she hit the top, only to stop at what she saw. Or rather, didn't see, as the lights were out on the top floor.

Cocking her head to one side, she closed her eyes, focusing on her hearing. She jumped as, in the distance, she heard a feeble, hoarse scream. Before she even knew what was happening she was already running on silent feet down the hallway, heading toward the sound.

Her desperate rush through the dark proved her undoing, however, as she hit an invisible line on the ground. She stumbled slightly, but before she could recover she took a lungful of gas emitted by the trap. Shaking her head, she desperately tried to fight off the effects as her heart tried to pound its way out of her chest.

Cass heard something behind her and she spun, her fist lashing out. Blood splattered into her face, and laying on the floor before her was Stephanie, broken and bleeding. Cassandra collapsed next to her unable to breath as she stared at the dying woman.

Stephanie tried to smile through bloody teeth. "It's okay," she mumbled. "I know you didn't mean to. I'd probably have died anyway."

Cassandra tried to reach for her, but stopped when she saw her hands. They were red with blood. She had killed Stephanie. She wanted to scream, but her body, not used to making such sounds, instead reacted in the way that it was used to when she was emotionally overwhelmed. She jumped to her feet, her fists up to fight, even as he mind reeled.

"You were a failure," Batman said. Cassandra spun around to face him, her face slack with fear. "You killed a man when you were a child. Did you really think you could make up for that by being such a substandard Batgirl? And now you've killed... again."

Cassandra wanted to deny it, but words didn't come... wouldn't come. She couldn't remember how to speak to even try and refute the charges. Not that she really could – she knew that he was right.

"You shouldn't have left," David Cain said. Cassandra spun to face him, towering over her as he always did when giving her a lesson. "You're the child of a killer. You were raised to be a killer. You are a killer. Why run from the truth? It's all you'll ever be."

Cassandra shook her head, trembling and terrified. She didn't want it to be true... but it was. She tried to hold up her hand to ward off her father, but stopped when she saw them. Her hands were still dripping with blood... Stephanie's blood.

"Cass... I just want you to know," Stephanie wheezed from the ground. "You're my best friend, but I couldn't love you. No one could love a monster."

Finally, Cassandra found it. For the first time in her life, she let out a scream of primal, wordless terror. The sound echoed through the halls of the prison as Cass collapsed to her knees next to her dying friend.

Stephanie was in the closet again. Peering through a crack in the door, she gazed out at her mother and father as they had another argument. "Look, I've got a job to get to," Arthur Brown said. "Just take care of her."

"That's why I need the money," Crystal Brown said desperately. "If I'm going to watch her, I need my pills."

"Fine," Arthur snorted. "Take the money. Just make sure she stays away from me."

"Alright," Crystal agreed, holding the money he had thrown at her desperately. "She won't bother you at all."

"They don't want you," a voice crooned in her ear. "Your own parents never wanted you. Who would?"

Slowly the scene before her twisted and distorted until she saw a young man walking away from her though the crack in the door. She knew who he was, even without seeing his face or having thought about him in years. With a trembling hand she reached down and touched her pregnant belly.

"He didn't even stick around long enough to learn that you were pregnant," the voice said. "He never cared about you at all. He used you."

Her stomach deflated like a balloon, and a nurse walked by the crack with a squalling infant in her arms. Stephanie choked back tears for a moment. Even through them she could see the child she had never named being carried away.

"Your baby didn't just reject you... it never even knew you," the voice said. "Not that it would have made a difference. It will grow up hating you for never loving it... but it would have hated you if you had kept it. It would have always hated you."

"No," she whispered, her voice strangely hoarse. "Better..."

"It doesn't matter," the voice said. "You gave the baby up to give it the life it deserves... and it still hates you. That is what you deserve. It's all you've ever gotten, isn't it?"

"No," Stephanie whispered. "Not all..."

"Oh," the voice whispered in her ear. "Who hasn't rejected you?"

Through the tiny crack, she watched Tim, her supposed boyfriend, kissing a girl at his school. She had thought that they had finally started working things out, but he had apparently been cheating on her. It was just one more secret he had kept from her, one more fact about him that she would never have known if Batman hadn't finally told her his identity. No wonder he was angry, she thought bitterly, when only Tim knew who she was he could control their relationship.

Then there was Batman. He loomed over her even inside of her tiny closet, his black form glaring down with nothing but contempt. She didn't need to hear the words again, drowning them out with her own hoarse screams as he fired her. Everything she had done, and he had rejected her utterly.

"Just like everyone else," the voice whispered. "You aren't enough for anyone. Not a hero. Not a lover. Not a mother or a daughter. You're worth nothing to anyone."

"Cass..." Stephanie croaked out.

Suddenly Cassandra was standing in front of the crack, and even through her Silent mask she could see the contempt. "Reckless... get self killed."

Stephanie began to cry, a quiet, pathetic sound, made even worse by the mocking laughter of the voice. Cass was right, she decided. "I am reckless," she whispered.

"Yes," the voice said. "You always charge in, never worrying about the consequences. If people like Batman, the real Robin, and Cass hadn't always been there to save you, you would have died a hundred times over."

"Yes," she said. "I am... I treat this like a... a game. They all take it so seriously. It means... everything to them, and they do everything they can for it. They train all the time, and study hard, and take every precaution, just to make sure they do it right..."

"Yes," the voice answered. "They don't need you. Why do you think they always push you away? They know this is just the passing fancy of a bored adrenaline junkie, having some fun while people suffer because of your mistakes."

"No!" Stephanie cried suddenly, her voice stronger. "I was wrong... this isn't a game. But... I have worked. I've worked hard. And I do care! I started out just trying to stop my dad. But now... now, I do this because I want to help. I can help. I've saved lives... and I want to keep saving lives. I want to make people... hope. I want, when I die, for the world to have been a little better than when I was born into it. I want to have done something good with my life!"

Stephanie stared up at Cassandra, ignoring the voice whispering in her ear. "I can do better... I want to do better. I know you've been trying to show me, to teach me, how to be a better hero. And I know I can be. I'm sorry it took me this long to figure that out. Maybe I'll even forgive Batman someday."

She closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath before looking at Cassandra again. "But I know... you won't reject me. Even if you should. That's why I pushed you away before. Why I went out with that jerk when I knew how you felt about me... how I feel about you. 'Cause I was afraid, if we got together, that you would see whatever it is that's wrong with me that keeps driving people away."

Stephanie's voice grew stronger, and with it the tiny voice whispering in her ear grew fainter and fainter. "But you won't. I'm afraid... I'm not good enough. For anyone. That I'm not someone that can be loved. But all I did was hurt us both... I'm sorry. And when I see the real you... when I see her, I'll let her know I love her. Because we both deserve it."

Slowly the closet wavered and faded away, Cassandra disappearing with it. Shaking her head, the blurry world resolved into a tiny concrete utility room, with her hands cuffed to a pipe behind her. Looking around the dim area, she barely kept herself from flinching at half seen shapes in the dark. As the memories came flooding back, she bit her lip as she realized that she was still suffering from Fear Toxin exposure.

Once she calmed enough to make sure that she was alone, she began to work on the handcuffs. Unfortunately, they were high quality, heavy duty police issue cuffs, and her hands were bound tightly enough and at an awkward enough angle to have made them slightly numb, making it difficult to make any progress. She had just managed to get one of her hidden picks into the lock when she heard a terrible, bloodcurdling scream.

Stephanie jumped, accidentally dropping the pick as she did. "Great," she rasped, her throat burning from too much screaming. "How much can I screw this up?"

As the scream continued, she frowned, the voice slightly familiar although she couldn't quite place it. Suddenly, perhaps aided by the Fear Gas, she realized the terrible truth. She hadn't recognized the scream because she had never heard Cassandra scream before. "Cass," she said, panic starting to rise.

Taking a deep breath, she stopped her futile struggles and closed her eyes. Cass needed her, and she couldn't let herself screw up, not again. As the screams grew more and more tormented, she clenched her teeth and did what she had to do. After a moment to steel herself, Stephanie broke her own thumb.

Everything was fuzzy for a few moments, but a fresh scream of terror pulled Stephanie back to full consciousness, and with an agonized whimper she extracted her left hand from the cuffs, bringing her right in front of herself as well. She stood and rejected the urge to simply rush out and attack, instead taking a moment to stretch and get feeling back in her limbs. Being reckless wouldn't save Cassandra.

Finally, feeling as ready as she was ever going to be with a broken thumb and exposed to Fear Toxin, she slipped out the door and took in the situation. Cassandra was screaming as she knelt on the ground, staring down at her hands and shaking uncontrollably. Scarecrow loomed over her, watching the display with curiosity.

Stephanie moved up behind him quietly, launching a powerful roundhouse kick at his back when she was close enough. Unfortunately, despite having given no sign of it, Scarecrow had apparently noticed her arrival as he twisted away from the attack, pirouetting gracefully to face her. "We weren't done having fun yet, little girl. I'm not through with our game."

"This isn't a game," Stephanie said firmly, ignoring the way that Scarecrow seemed to stretch as high as the ceiling, his claw-like fingers stretching toward her as the Fear Toxin continued playing tricks on her perceptions. "I won't let you hurt her."

"Let?" he chuckled darkly. "The only thing you have any control over his how loudly you scream... and you've already shown no restraint in that regard."

Stephanie slowly moved between Scarecrow and her intermittently screaming friend, refusing to be baited. After a moment he drifted closer, lashing out with his deceptively long legs, catching her on the shoulder despite her attempt to dodge. She closed in, swinging a punch with her healthy fist which he easily avoided, spinning away and kicking out at her at the same time.

Stephanie was soon frustrated by Scarecrow's surprising skill, especially hindered as she was by the drug still flowing through her veins. She managed to land a few light hits, but nothing of substance, and she was swiftly turning into one giant bruise. Even worse, Cassandra's screams were growing more and more desperate, and she began to worry about her friend's mental state.

"Silent!" she called over her shoulder as she fought. "Silent! Wake up, please!"

"Leave her alone," Scarecrow growled, slamming a kick into her that she barely managed to block. "She isn't through with the experiment. Until I see how she handles normal Fear Gas, I can't employ my new formula."

Stephanie glanced back at her friend, her fear rising again as she saw that Cass was completely unresponsive. "Silent!"

Scarecrow growled, kicking at her again, but this time she was ready. She dodged the attack, moving forward and swinging a powerful punch at him. He caught her hand, however, and leaned over her, leering cruelly. Before he could react she landed her first good hit of the fight, slamming her other hand directly into his eye.

A scream broke her lips as she stumbled back, nearly throwing up from the sudden terrible pain punching with her broken thumb had caused. Scarecrow shouted in pain as well, but he recovered faster and was on her in a second. A powerful thrust kick to her stomach knocked the air from her lungs and she collapsed against the far wall, unable to do anything but raise her arms to protect her head as he attacked her viciously.

"Cass!" Stephanie shouted. "Please, wake up! Cass! I need you!"

Cassandra stared down at the dead body of the woman she loved, her best friend, her partner... Stephanie. The blood on her hands would never come off, she was sure. She was afraid to look up, terrified of what she would find. She knew she was a murderer, and if she saw whoever had cuased this to happen, she was terrified about what she would do.

She heard some noises all around her, but they didn't matter. Nothing seemed to matter. Just the fear pounding through her veins, and sickening, crushing guilt of killing the person that mattered most to her.

"Cass!" she heard Stephanie scream. "Please, wake up! Cass! I need you!"

The words pierced through the fog filling Cassandra's head as she stared at the body of her friend. The friend who was now screaming for her help. Wake up? she wondered. Am I asleep?

Slowly Cassandra blinked and shook her head, the body disappearing and taking the blood on her hands with it. Looking up, she saw Stephanie being pummeled by Scarecrow. But was it real? Was it simply her nightmare playing out, all over again?

"Please..." Stephanie grunted as she struggled to block another hit. "Cass..."

It didn't matter. Dream or real, Stephanie needed her, and Cassandra would always help her. Without pausing to consider, she jumped to her feet, tackling Scarecrow mid-kick and pulling him to the ground. Sitting astride his chest she punched his face, the face of the man that had drugged her and hurt Stephanie.

Suddenly all of the fear transformed into rage, and Cassandra could see nothing but red as she began to punch. She swung her fists down again and again, venting all of the fear that had caused her to scream in terror moments ago onto the body of the man responsible for everything. She was pulled from her fugue state only by the hot splash of blood on her face.

Staring down at her hands, she saw that they were red with blood, and that Scarecrow wasn't breathing. She had killed him. She was a murderer...

"No!" Cassandra screamed, scrambling backwards, staring at her bloody hands. She had done it again, she was a killer, just like her father...

"Cass," Stephanie's voice wheezed. "It's alright."

"No," Cassandra moaned, tears slowly dripping down her face as she struggled to contain defeated sobs. "Killed."

"You didn't," Stephanie soothed, slowly wrapping a warm arm around Cass' shaking shoulders. "He's alive. I checked. I promise, Cass, it's just the gas making you think you killed him. He's gonna be spending weeks in the hospital, but he's alive. He's alive, Cass."

"Really?" Cass asked, her choked voice sounding like a child desperately wanting to believe.

"Really," Stephanie confirmed gently. "Just let it out, Cass. Just let it all out."

With those words Cassandra collapsed against Stephanie, the tears finally coming in quiet, heart-wrenching sobs. She didn't even know why she was crying; she just knew that she needed to, and that Stephanie said that it was okay. It took her a long time to finally calm down and relax, safe from even the fear of the drugs while in her friend's arms.

Commissioner Avery found them still huddled together some time later, an unconscious and bloodily beaten Scarecrow not far away. She approached quietly, handing Stephanie two small vials. "Here. A sealed box of Fear Toxin antidote just appeared on my desk right before we headed out. No idea how it got here so fast, but we saved some for the two of you."

"Thanks," Stephanie said, smiling slightly. She quickly injected both of them with it, the last fearful fogs slowly fading from them.

"Go on home," Avery said. "You two need some rest. We'll finish it from here."

"Thanks, Commish," Stephanie said as she helped her friend up. She kept an arm around Cassandra the entire way out of the prison, past the swarms of policemen and into the night, before reluctantly separating to use their lines to head back home.

An hour later both women were sitting at their kitchen table, having taken showers, patched injuries, and dished up huge plates of Cassandra's brownies. "These are really good," Stephanie said after swallowing a huge mouthful.

"Thanks," Cass said as she picked at her own food.

"Cass... I'm sorry," Stephanie said as she set her fork down.

"Why?" Cassandra asked.

"Lots of reasons," Stephanie said. "You're right about me being reckless. I'm gonna do better from now on, I swear. And... I'm sorry about going on that date with what's his name."

Cassandra shrugged, her attempt at nonchalance being easily seen through by her friend. "Can date who want."

"Good," Stephanie said. "Because I know who I want. I was just scared before, but I realized something today. I'm not going to let being afraid stop me from being happy."

Cassandra stared wide-eyed at her friend, hardly daring to hope that what she was reading in her body language was real. Heart pounding in her chest, Cassandra suddenly realized that she couldn't remember how to say anything. Even if she had been able to, she wouldn't know what to say.

Stephanie could tell that words weren't what was needed just then, as she simply smiled and leaned forward, kissing Cass soundly. It was everything that she had imagined, everything Cassandra's few previous kisses had never been. She could have stayed like that forever, and she was in a warm daze when Stephanie finally pulled back, a satisfied smile on her face.

"I love you," Stephanie said quietly.

Suddenly Cassandra remembered how to speak, and for once she knew exactly what to say. "Love you."

Chapter Text

Hope is a Thing With Feathers

Cassandra smiled as she mopped the kitchen floor. She was a bit battered and bruised, or more than a bit if she was being honest, but her injuries didn't bother her. Instead, all she could think about was blonde hair and a ready smile, and she felt buoyed past all of her troubles. She had seen people in love, but she had had no idea just how wonderful it really was.

"So, I take it she liked the brownies?" Anna asked as she finished up some final prep work before closing the bakery for the night.

"Yes," Cassandra said cheerfully.

Anna chuckled slightly. "You sure are in a good mood. How well'd she like those brownies?"

"Kissed," Cassandra admitted.

"Good on you, sugar," Anna said encouragingly. "So she does feel the same, then?"

"Yes."

"Well, if brownies worked out that well for you, tomorrow I'll have to show you how to make my famous chocolate crème pie," Anna said. "But for now, you've got things cleaned up. Go on, get out of here! Go see that girl of yours."

"Thanks!" Cassandra said, not needing to be told twice as she quickly put everything away and all but ran out the door.

Anna laughed at her employees antics. "Ah, young love."

It didn't take long for Cassandra to reach Rick's Diner, and when she arrived her smile widened as she caught sight of Stephanie working hard despite her broken thumb and assorted bruises. It was nearly time for her shift to end, so Cass just hung around the entrance while Stephanie finished up. Her sappy smile turned into a slight frown as she watched the cook pestering Stephanie for a date again. No matter what her friend said, he just wouldn't seem to leave her alone.

When Stephanie returned she grinned at Cass, ready to head back to the apartment to get ready for some time off. While they were healthy enough to patrol if they had to, Hub City wasn't Gotham, and things were likely to be quiet for a few days while the underworld adjusted to the death of Joseph Mandragora. As the first day since they gotten together, they had decided to go on a date. Part of Cass was thrilled at the prospect, while part of her was terrified, but in the end she had settled on eager.

Instead of walking out the door, Cassandra took one last glance around the room. After seeing the cook's not-so-subtle leer, she stepped closer to Stephanie and kissed her hard. The world went away from both of them for a moment, and when she stepped back she smirked smugly at having put her girlfriend into a daze. Ignoring the raucous reaction of some of the patrons, Cass led Stephanie out into the night.

"You probably shouldn't have done that," Stephanie tried to scold, although she was too happy about it for her complaints to do any good. "We don't need people hassling us 'cause of being together."

"Can deal," Cassandra said, shrugging. As far as she was concerned, anyone that attacked them because of how they felt for each other was deserving of what would happen to them. "Ready for date?"

"Where are we going?" Stephanie asked, accepting the subject change.

"Movie," Cassandra said. "Got tickets on way to work. Read signs."

"Good job," Stephanie said proudly. "Your reading is really improving."

Cassandra smiled at her before changing course and leading them into a dark alley. "Come out."

"Cass?" Stephanie asked, looking around warily, her posture shifting from lover to crime fighter instantly.

Nightwing emerged from the shadows. "How long have you known I was there?"

"Since before left work," Cassandra said dismissively.

Nightwing chuckled. "Haven't lost a step, I see. And your form looks better, Steph."

"Cass has been training me," Stephanie said coolly.

"Good," he said, nodding. "Babs has been keeping an eye on you two, and she's proud. You really should call her, though."

"Did call," Cass said, before wilting under Nightwing's look.

"Right," he said. "I mean a real call to the woman who took you in, not a demand for help and then hanging up."

"We thought stopping the prison break might have been a bit more important," Stephanie said.

"Fine, fine," Nightwing said, holding up his hands defensively. "Just remember, the rest of us have to deal with Babs every day, and she's been really grumpy since her favorite protege ran off."

"Was fired," Cass pointed out.

"I know, and I've already tried to smack some sense into Batman's thick head about that," Nightwing said. "You know how he is, though. He knows it was a bad move, but he wouldn't apologize if it would stop the Joker."

"Won't go back," Cass said. "Hub City... our city."

"I know how you feel," Nightwing said sadly. "Just be careful. Things can be rough, but you don't need to do this all on your own. You're still part of the family."

"I doubt Batman feels that way," Stephanie said.

Nightwing grabbed two large packs and tossed one to each of the women. Opening them, they saw that they were full of Bat-issue gear. "He's Batman. He won't say anything, but I think those two bags sitting in the cockpit waiting for me to come here says everything."

Cass smiled, suddenly choked up. As angry as she had been at the way Batman had treated them, she had really seen him as a father to her, and the things that had happened had really hurt. Knowing she wasn't a disappointment to him, a failure to his crusade, made a knot in her chest she hadn't even been aware of loosen.

"Oh," Stephanie said. "Um... thanks. Really."

"I've got to get out of here," Nightwing said. "I need to make sure Scarecrow gets back to Arkham. Call Babs, okay? She feels really bad about how things went down."

"Okay," Cass said, smiling. "Will call. After date."

Stephanie jumped, blushing slightly as she looked at Nightwing, who just chuckled. "Yeah, I kinda saw the display in the diner. I'm still trying to find the best way to let Timmy know."

"Hey, he cheated on me," Stephanie said defensively. "I had every right to move on."

"Actually, he didn't cheat on you," Nightwing said. "It was all a big misunderstanding. But you're right – it's good you've moved on, and I'm glad you're happy. You both deserve it. But if I couldn't tease Tim mercilessly, where would the fun in that be?"

Stephanie smiled, rolling her eyes. "Fine, fine. Tease away."

Soon afterwards both young women were walking together again, enjoying each other's company. Cassandra looked up at the early evening sky, her heart lighter than it had ever been. She had a job, a home, a life, love, and now her family back. Nothing would ever erase the scars of the past, but all she could think of was the bright future ahead.

Life was good.