Got Your Back, Always

0.II

The Joker laughed as he finished creating his first liquid. "Now my dear, try this. I will be right here the whole time taking notes, so don't fight any of the effects. I want to make sure my observations are as accurate as possible."

Cassie breathed deeply and tried to clear her mind and focus on her new mantra. She hoped it would be enough to stop whatever effects that liquid the Joker was making would definitely have on her.

He laughed and forced her mouth open, pouring all of the liquid down her throat. She coughed and sputtered as he walked away. 

"What the hell is this supposed to do to me?"

"Not a clue, that's what we are here to find out," he laughed taking a seat in front of her.

She closed her eyes trying to will the burned pain the liquid gave her, where the pain was she couldn't really tell, it was all-consuming. Not long after she opened her eyes, but she was no longer in the room with the Joker. She was in her bedroom, in Gotham.

Cassie sat up, she was covered in sweat and breathing hard, as she had just woken up from a nightmare. She got up, shook it off, and got ready for the day. She walked out of her room and literally ran into Dick.

"Gray? What are you doing here?"

"What are you talking about Cassie? I never left. Come on, before they eat all of Alfred's french toast." He grabbed her hand and pulled her to the dining room.

She had never seen all of them eating peacefully before, so that was the first thing that rang a bell in the back of her mind.

The table could sit up to twenty people, but normally it just held two or three at a time. But not today. Today it had Bruce at the head, sitting next to Diana and Clark, Donna sitting next to Diana and Garth, a spot open for Cassie next to Clark and Dick on the opposite side. Then she saw Hank, Dawn, and Barbara. Her family, all at the same table, laughing and enjoying breakfast. She smiled at Alfred who was moving around the table making sure there was enough food for everyone.

"Cassie, you just gonna stand there or what?" Dick laughed nodding for her to join them.

She smiled, but then her smile faded, Dick called her Cassie. He's never called her Cassie. He said it earlier too. She titled her head thinking and furrowed her brows. She shook it off and tried to walk forward, but she couldn't she was frozen in place.

"Cassie, come on. Before the animals eat all of the strawberries," Donna laughed picking up the half-empty bowl.

Cassie smiled and tried to move but couldn't, again. She tried to say something but couldn't make a sound.

Cassie furrowed her brows realizing something wasn't right. She was just beginning to panic when a large crash was heard. She looked up and a large object was falling through the sky. Heading straight for the table that was surrounded by everyone she loved.
She tried to scream, to tell them to move. But for some reason, none of them saw the object, nor heard the crash. Clark didn't even blink an eye.

So when all of them were thrown back from the force of the explosion, the object had been a bomb, Cassie could finally move. She ran towards the first person she could, Alfred. She checked his pulse: nothing. She started to shake. Alfred. No.

She ran from person to person, checking pulses, nothing. She had checked Alfred, Barbara, Hank, Dawn, Garth, Donna, Diana, and Clark. She thought two of those people couldn't possibly be killed by a simple bomb, I mean come on. She had tears streaming down her face. She slowly made her way to Bruce, she checked his pulse: nothing.