Got Your Back, Always

V.XIII

Cassie gently knocks on the door frame. 

Jason snaps his head over to it and takes off his headphones, "Cassie. Hey." He sits up on his bed. "How was the dinner?"

She shrugs, "Nothing unexpected. Confirmed my hunch about a few things." She took a seat next to him on his bed, "How are you though?"

"Better I think. Little to no withdrawal symptoms now, and- and she says I'm getting better at controlling my anger," he looks at her. 

Cassie smiles, "Good. And you haven't skipped a session in months. I'm proud of you."

Jason sighs and looks away, "I'm- I'm sorry. For everything. Especially for Hank. I- I know he was like your brother and I'm just so sorry Cassie."

She grabbed his hands, "Hey. You apologize everytime I see you for that. And everytime I tell you mistakes were made, so long as you grow from them. And that's what you are doing. Hank... I miss him, of course I miss him, but I know he's back with his actual brother. So I know he's not alone. You made me a promise that you'll be better and you are upholding that promise, that's all I can ask of you. Besides now you also aren't being manipulated by a narcissistic asshole."

Jason chuckled and wiped a tear away, "Yeah that helps."

She smiled and pulled him in for a hug. 

He clung to her. 

Jason pulled away after several moments, "I... you look tired. Are you okay?"

She nodded, "I am perfectly okay. Just pulled a lot of all-nighters lately. You never need to worry about me." She moved a bit of his hair out of his face, "Hmm, the white streak is nice."

Jason gently touched it, "Oh it- yeah thanks." He sighed, "I want you to know that I care. And I'm here if you need me, you know that right?"

Cassie grinned, "I know. And I appreciate you for it. But you getting better and healing is what I need okay? Knowing you are okay is what helps me sleep at night. Making you feel like you aren't alone is what is important to me."

Jason rolled his eyes, "Yeah I'm never alone, Tim's always around."

They both laughed.

"He's good for you. You both work well together even if you don't want to admit it."

Jason gave her a look, "That's like saying Dick and I work well together."

"When you two aren't arguing, you do."

Jason huffed, "Whatever."

Cassie chuckled and shook her head. 

Dozens of dead Talons and League of Assassin members lay on the ground, spread around the two people in the epicenter.

Ra's Al Ghul sheaths his sword, "I don't make deals with those of lesser value." He snarls at the person wearing a gold owl mask. "You will tell us how you are creating these creatures."

The Voice shrugs, "Talons for eternal youth. Seems fair don't you think?"

"You will have no such power," Ra's puts his hand on the hilt of his sword.

The Voice snaps their fingers and even more Talons crowd around them, stepping over their dead brethren. "No deal then? Shame, I think we would have worked well together."

"Your city will perish for your actions," Ra's threatened. Assassins appeared out of the shadows around him. "No one threatens The Demon and lives."

Talons and Assassins surged toward each other, both sides aiming to kill.

"Oh shit," Cassie curses and sits back in her chair.

She and Dick were the only two in the Batcave, everyone else was out or sleeping.

He rolled his chair over to L.O.V., "What?" Dick's eyes widened, "How in the world can you read any of this?"

Her screen was covered in coding on various tabs, and even more tabs open with tons of information. It was a jumble of words and pictures to anyone looking, anyone except Cassie.
She rolled her eyes, "I built the damn thing." She made the tab that caught her attention larger, "Look."

Dick looked at the person's picture, recognizing it, "Okay what about him?"

Cassie nodded, "He's The Voice."

Dick looked at her, "What?"

"I've been going through everything that I got from my bugs from the meeting. I put the data through L.O.V. trying to compile a list of members, matching voices and descriptions to my database and I got a 100% match for him being The Voice. He's in charge of the Court of Owls. And look," she clicked a few more tabs bringing them closer for Dick. "Their plans for Gotham are using the abandoned subway by The Cauldron to essentially make a man-made earthquake to completely wipe out that part of town. And this says they want to rebuild that area into another high-end neighborhood, they want to build more mansions and stupid golf courses over thousands of low-income bodies." She scoffed and stood up. "How fucking dare they. They preach they want to make Gotham better, but they only care about themselves and making their lives better. A football stadium so they can host the Superbowl and make more money? No schools, no hospitals, no help centers." She grabbed a knife out of her boot and started flipping it in her hand.

Dick scanned the screen taking everything in, and turned to her. "Okay, I know that look- you're thinking." He looked at the screen and back to her, "I'm going to hate the plan aren't I?"

Cassie smirked and tossed her knife, hitting the target perfectly center, "Maybe. It'll mostly be a waiting game. Stuff like this isn't something we can take out with a team of vigilantes Gray. This has to be done my way."

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Cass I know you hate when I say this- but this is dangerous. What you are planning is dangerous. If your stuff is right the Court has been around for over a hundred years."

"I know it's dangerous. That's why we can't tell them," Cassie grabbed his hands. "Promise me you won't tell the others. We can knock out two birds with one stone if you just let me handle this."

He groaned and put his forehead against hers, "What trap are you going to set?"

"I'm not going to set anything. They've already stepped in it when they invited me to that dinner," she squeezed his hands. "I just have to get everything prepped for when it springs."

He groaned, "And you promise they won't know a thing?"

"I promise on my knives."

He nodded and looked at her, "Okay. Okay, I promise I won't say anything and we can take care of them your way. Even if it makes me feel useless."

She pulled him into a kiss. "You aren't useless. You're my motivation."

Dick scrunched his nose, "Cheeseball."

She laughed as he pulled her in for a kiss.