Tonight, the drama continues but it's about to start getting interesting. The Bat Family's war on Petrov continues, and Cassandra's personal journey carries on as well. She's making new friends, discovering old ones she never knew were there. But in the shadows, there's a menace that she never knew was there as well. Her demons aren't the only ones that lurk.
Adventures of Cassandra Cain, Ch. 8
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The Queen's Heart Martial Arts and Gymnastics Studio
Cassie's new gym is quiet for most of it's first week before her and Barbara finally see a couple customers, most of their excitement during this time coming from their patrols every other night. Their endorsement by her dad eventually paid off with a couple members of the PD swinging by to sign up for their monthly gym package. Shortly thereafter that same day, they finally see a local young man swing by for her beginner's kickboxing course.
This positive turnaround was the break they'd been looking for for a long time. Cassie doesn't often smile, but she certainly was today as she sees her first customers. Her eyes were alight as she accepted the young man's money and told him in her simple way,"Monday, five." The young man nodded, a curious look at her speech mannerism.
"Uhm, yeah. I'll be there, I'll bring a couple of my boys too," he says with a nod. He asks then,"Muay Thai, ain't that what they show in those Wu Tang movies?"
Barbara replies, knowing Cassie has never owned a TV to have a clue,"Think Tony Jaa, Ong Bak and the Protector."
The guy snaps his fingers as the light goes off in his head,"Yeah yeah, I gotcha. Wu Tang is all like...ninjas and kung fu." He holds a hand up like a claw and pretends he's Bruce Lee ripping someone's heart out, earning a nervous laugh from both Cassie and Babs.
Shortly behind them arrives a young woman with blonde hair trailed by a tabbie cat. Cassie's brows raised as she recognized Selina Kyle right off, as does Babs."Selina,"greets Cass.
"I'm here for a workout, where do I sign up?" She said with a grin, the young man blinks as he seems to register who she is.
"Oh uh...you gonna be here too, huh? Sorry about the other day..." He nervously offers, taking a step back to the door.
"Oh it's alright. We all make mistakes, just not with animals." She narrows her eyes at the poor guy as her tone takes an edge.
"Oh come on, we thought you were all about cats! I mean, your apartment has, like, a dozen of them! Now we got dogs wandering around pissing on everyone's cars and..." Selina just rolls her eyes then when the guy gets to that point.
"So call the pound. I catch you shooting anything at anything in MY neighborhood again, I'm taking a trophy, got it?" Selina narrows her eyes now, then adds,"I really don't care what happens to dogs, until it's people happening to them."
"Right...he then starts to make his escape pointing to Cassie, who has a deer in headlights look as he says,"See you monday! Five o'clock!"
Selina chuckles as she asks Barbara,"Was he seriously asking about Wu Tang Clan? Poor boy."
It's Barbara's turn to laugh then, and Cassie finally asks,"What's Woo Tang Clan?"
Selina answers,"You really have been sheltered, they're a rap group, or hip hop or whatever. They happen to like Hong Kong movies and pretending to be ninjas." She holds her hands out like she's karate chopping then, mouthing, "Hwaaa..." then rolling her eyes yet again as she rests them on her hips.
Barbara nodded then as she chimes,"Heard of them, but I don't care about hip hop or old movies so..." She shrugs at that.
Cassie just slowly nods, pretending to have a clue until Selina asks more candidly,"So seriously. A martial arts studio? Gymnastics?"
Cassie nods and Selina lets out a peel of laughter. She asks then,"So...are you gonna have a gi with a big yellow bat on the back of it too?"
Barbara sighs and shakes her head, but it's Cassie who speaks up there as she simply states,"Not funny. " Her jaw squares a little as she takes a posture like she's ready to bounce her out the front door.
"Whoa whoa, I'm just kidding!" Selina smiles as she holds her hands up defensively,"Seriously though, why kickboxing and only serious lessons once a week? By the way, sign me up for your gym. I'll help you out." She flashes a wink with that.
Barbara puts her name down as Selina counts over the damage. She explains,"We want to start small, see which way the business goes before committing. We might become a more dedicated studio if that's what people like." She didn't want to explain that Cassie just isn't sure what the systems were called that she learned. A good gym for ninjutsu would be too expensive and dangerous, besides not being able to teach remotely the way she had learned that.
About that time, a young man walks in followed not far behind by someone they at first think is a young man. The former they recognize as Dick Grayson. Recognizing him, Selina smiles thinly and says,"I suppose I should be on my way." Dick just grins at that.
"Catch you later,"he offers the departing Catwoman.
The other woman behind him is a tough looking sort. Her cheeks are slightly sunken, her hair closely cut in military fashion. She has firmly corded arms and squared shoulders, and her knuckles are calloused. Altogether, she strikes the image of someone who isn't afraid of a round or two in a ring.
Dick leans against the counter, gesturing to the girl to go ahead of him as he looks to Babs,"So how you two doing today?"
"Not bad, had our first sign ups," Barbara raises her brows a little when the woman behind him inquires after the Muay Thai courses, beginners and advanced.
"Yes. Beginners Monday and Wednesday, advanced Friday." Cassandra explains this before the other girl folds her arms.
"Well, can I have a demonstration before I sign up? You look a little...small,"the girl rubs the back of her head as Cassandra simply nods and steps over to the ring. She follows not far behind.
"Demonstration, or spar?" Cassandra asks. The girl just nods and climbs into the ring. She pulls a pair of her own MMA gloves and a mouth guard from a fanny pack about her waist. Cassandra understands the meaning perfectly as she snatches up a pair of gloves for herself.
Cassandra straps on her gloves as the other woman raises her hands and takes up a boxing posture. She's no giant herself, but is at least a half a head taller. When Cassie is ready the other girl bounds across the matt and they get started.
Cassie dances to the side from the incoming girl, spinning around as she throws a crescent kick that nearly catches the impatient opponent but for a timely hindu drop on her part that allows Cassie's leg to sail over her. She rights up in time to discover that Cassie had already closed on her now, close enough that she gets tagged with a fist to her midsection that drives some her wind out and a second more painful to her solar plexus before dancing away.
"Tch...quick," the girl mutters before Babs comments aloud a second later,"Try not to hurt our customers, Cass!"
Dick says to Barbara,"Glad she's having fun. So what was Selina doing by? Seeing the new business in her district?"
Babs replies,"I guess. She seems like she's already met Cass, though. She actually bought a month in our gym."
Dick is genuinely surprised at that as he looks to the gym where the new customer seems to be hanging in there. Cassandra blocks a kick, then assumes the Thai shield at her stronger follow up. The fight is over a moment later when she takes the kick, rotating with the force to bring her heel across the other girl's face.
As she helps her to her feet, Cass advises her,"Next time, we wear helmets ok?"
Groaning at her defeat, the girl just replies,"Ok."
The two leave the ring, and Babs asks,"So, interested in signing up?"
"Sure. My name's Katherine Kane, Kate for short," she introduces herself with raised brows all around,"K-A-N-E," she spells, aware from a sign in the window what the source of surprise was.
"Where you learn first?" Asks Cassandra, attempting a conversation.
"I was in the service a while, my dad taught me after that. Colonel Jacob Kane, he's retired special forces so a big believer in self defense," she just shrugs a little at that."Where'd you learn?"
Cassandra just shrugged a little, leaning against her counter,"I've...been around," she responds in noncommittal fashion.
Dick chuckles easily before complimenting Kate,"You aren't half bad, don't be hard on yourself." As he consoles her with that, Kate hands over her signup fee.
Across the street, a big man with dark hair watches the studio. His form is hidden behind a trenchcoat, his face concealed by the elevated collar. The tall man regards it dispassionately, his hands in his pockets as he stood leaned against a wall. After a while, he turns away and walks down the street without ceremony.
ro
That night, Cassandra is actually tired. It had been a big day for her, her first time facing the public. She didn't know how she would handle her first class next week. She was still terribly nervous around new faces, she was grateful it had been mostly familiar ones.
She was tempted to step out to the music store and see if she could find this Woo Tang Clan she'd heard about, Babs insisted music was good for workout but she still preferred traditional music to the modern stuff Babs subjected her to. Madonna, Garbage, No Doubt, she hated that fake sounding nonsense. Tool was ok, she liked The Creatures ok too, but she really didn't like electronic or loud stuff. She had taken a bit of her earnings today to buy herself a new boombox, and was surprised to see she barely had enough for a Tool album to go with. Theirs was among the most expensive in the store, but she still got it.
She plugged it in and put it on, laying back on her bed and listening to Maynard Keenan sing,"Why, can we not be sober I just want to start this over..."
She realizes she must have accidentally put it on random, sitting up to go and set it to play from the first as she had listened to this album before. A crash snapped her attention away from the radio then, and she looked to the window where it came from. A sizeable rock wrapped in what looks like rope and paper lays on her floor amidst the glass there, she steps over to it to inspect, careful not to cut her slipperclad feet.
"Your blood for Wayne's conscience," it reads in thick letters, and a red glint dazzles her eyes as she processes this.
She dives to the side, acting on pure instinct as her floor is perforated with silent gunfire where she had been. After a moment, another crash heralds an inferno. A molotov had landed there, spreading a lake of fire right there. She heads to her cabinet, well out of view of her window and hastily unlocks it to get dressed in her gear as the fire begins to spread in earnest.
She clicks on her helmet, the built in airfilters giving her the chance she needs as she now creeps out her front door using the fire as cover from the outside. Someone had just tried to assassinate her, and knew she was tied to Bruce. Who would do such a thing, who knew so much that hated them?
Cassandra made her way to the rooftop that had to have been the shooter's perch. She found nothing there, not even shells. Whoever it had been was professional enough to police up their brass, or had used a weapon that didn't eject brass with each shot. Like a silenced revolver of some sort. She was no gun expert, only knowing enough to know how to efficiently take them from people.
After a moment to glance at the surrounding though much less probable rooftops, she began to hastily make her way to the Lighthouse. Swinging from rooftop to rooftop, she made very good time until encountering someone improbable.
"Hey, slow down there!" Hollers Dick Grayson in the blue and black of Nightwing. He swings over when she skids to a stop, having been in midstride when she heard him.
"I thought you'd be asleep, I think today is the first time I've seen you look tired," he cheerfully starts.
"Home burned, shot at," Cassandra as Black Bat replies in a matter of fact tone that earns a look of surprise from Nightwing.
He curses then snaps out his grappler,"You're right, lets get to the Lighthouse." Together they swing away, they had calls to make and an emergency to declare.
@jamiewolfe7: Hmm feels very much like a Birds of Prey atmosphere is being created. As for the arson attack...
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