Post by Bixir on Feb 17, 2023 7:02:07 GMT
General Information
Full Name
卡桑德拉该隐 || Cassandra Cain
Codename or Alias
一个谁是一切 || "One Who Is All"
Little Death
Batgirl
Gender
Female
Race
Human
Age
Seventeen
Birthdate
January 26, 2006
Place Of Birth
China
Occupation/Status
Fugitive
Street Vigilante
Wayne Foundation Ward
Champion
Alignment
Hero
Factions
The League of Assassins (former)
The Bat-Family
The Champions
Canon Or Original?
Canon (Detective Comics)
Powers/Abilities
Illiterate
Cassandra is largely dyslexic as a result of her father's extreme training and conditioning, intending for fighting to be her first language. She can only form basic words, and usually only in English. Her thoughts are also very simplistic, usually occurring spontaneously, as instincts rather than actual thoughts or words, making it difficult for telepaths to read her mind, only able to pick up on the actions she is planning on carrying out. However, she can understand English perfectly fine, as well as Japanese, and Gan, Xiang and Mandarin Chinese. She simply cannot read or write in any of these languages. Cassandra often communicates using sign language, provided that those she is speaking to is able to understand.
Master Assassin
The entirety of Cassandra's experiences and skills thus far come from the brutal training by her father, David Cain. Trained by some of the deadliest warriors on the planet, Cassandra is an incredibly accomplished martial artist and unarmed combatant, preferring not to use weapons of any kind against her opponents. Her skills from her upbringing are as follows:
Peak Human Conditioning
Cassandra's body has been conditioned to operate at near-superhuman levels, with little to no recourse or additional fatigue. Aside from her body reading ability (see below), the main boon of her father's training was the result it had on her body. Cassandra's body possesses an unnaturally high amount of serotonin, giving her an insane tolerance for pain, such as being able to take direct hits from gunfire without flinching, as well as knives being embedded in her, and keep going in spite of such injuries. This pain tolerance is largely due to the abusive training her father gave her, which focused on gunfire, including high-caliber rounds. If Casssandra has a reason to, she can alter her heart rate at will, lowering or increasing it to make it undetectable or give strange readings to those who rely on hearing her heartbeat. This can be used to the extent of temporarily stopping her heart from beating, to give a false impression of death. However, using this skill for too long may force Cassanda into a deathlike coma.
Strength
Cassandra's strength is extremely focused, able to project far more force than a teenager should ever be capable of producing. She can shatter a sword with her fist, break through several inches thick of military-grade protective glass, and - if she can locate any structural weaknesses - prison concrete, with only a few strikes. She also has the capacity to knock low-level superhumans out cold, often with a single punch; this is accomplished by her using normally killing blows, which is translated into devastating "nonlethal" blows to their superhuman physique.
Agility
Cassandra is incredibly agile as a result of her training, to the point that many may suspect her of being superhuman. She is capable of dodging bullets at point blank range, so long as she is focused on the shooters and is prepared for the attack. Her reflexes border on the unnatural, being even more skilled at dodging close-quarter attacks, which is her specialty to begin with. It goes without saying that she can also deflect or even catch multiple projectiles mid-combat, such as arrows or shuriken, a feat that pales in comparison to her bullet dodging.
Martial Arts
Cassandra was instructed in virtually every fighting style known to man by her father, as well as other prominent members of the League of Assassins, Ben Turner and Malcolm Merlyn among them. Though Cassandra has begun to invent styles of her own in recent years, Dragon Style Kung Fu, appears to be the most prominent style that she applies to her combat, whereas the Falling Leaf, a nerve pinching technique of sixteenth-century Chinese monks, is one of her most frequently used skills; only Cassandra and David Cain know this technique. Cassandra often uses it to completely paralyze her opponents in large groups, a seemingly fatal attack that gives the impression of a still corpse. She may use this technique on singular targets, able to disable someone with a single strike to the chest, or a similarly vital area, with varying effects (i.e. temporarily pacifying the brain and sending the subject into a brief comatose state (or much worse, if she so wishes) by striking the corresponding lobe). She is also capable of stopping someone's heart with a single strike, and restarting it in a similar fashion.
Hand-to-Hand Combat
Cassandra is a master of hand-to-hand combat, versed in virtually every assassin technique there is to know, from pressure points to disrupting the flow of chi, and of course killing techniques that her father made sure she could execute flawlessly. She has never used any of these techniques after she made her first kill... though she knows them all the same, with how easy it is to take a life, and in so many ways.
Body Reading
Cassandra's foremost ability is the capacity to read the movements of her opponents. While this as a principle is not exclusive to her talents, the extent to which she can do so is unparalleled. Even if her opponent is far more skilled than her, Cassandra's brain has been wired to predict what an opponent is going to do before they even do it, with perfect accuracy. She can also use this on individuals far faster than herself, and even nonterrestrials, provided she can adapt to any differences in body language. This also allows Cassandra to identify transformed or otherwise disguised people as well, being able to see past any bodily illusion. This simulates the effect of a human lie detector. Cassandra may pick up on someone's fighting style while fighting them, especially if she fights them on more than one occasion, to the point that she can defeat them with their own techniques. However, this incredible skill comes at a great cost (see Illiterate). The only other person who has a body reading ability as keen and perfected as Cassandra's is her mother, Lady Shiva, from whom David Cain took the inspiration in the first place.
Unfortunately, Cassandra tends to over-rely on her body reading over her own skills. Her ability is ineffective against those that can disguise their movements, making it unclear even for Cassandra to tell what they're going to do next, leaving her vulnerable. Her ability also doesn't work on individuals whose focus isn't on their movements, such as a cybernetic or electronic system taking over for their fighting. This does not apply to Iron Man unless he puts his suit in autopilot, as otherwise it is Tony Stark making the attacks, not his armor system. Her body reading also doesn't work on the mentally unstable or deranged, as their body and mind are too far gone for anyone to predict what they will do next, such as Victor Zsasz and the Joker.
Stealth
Cassandra is a master of stealth, a skilled tracker, and an expert infiltrator, able to remain undetected by all but the best hunters when she doesn't want to be found. Her time on the streets in numerous third-world countries, and then Gotham City, has made Cassandra a skilled pickpocket, and intensely familiar with urban landscapes and knows how to use them to her advantage.
Dancing
Part of Cassandra's training under David Cain included forms of ballet and acrobatic dance. At the time, it was meant to hone her agility and equilibrium. Cassandra has since taken a fascination with dance as a performance unto itself. Though Cassandra continues to use dancing techniques in her fighting style, she is just as - if not more - invested in it as an art form. She has pursued this skill since she became Bruce Wayne's ward, frequently performing at recitals, in Gotham and abroad.
Weapons/Items
Civilian Gear
Rare though it may be, Cassandra does keep mundane effects on her person when she isn’t fulfilling her duties as Batgirl. In the time she has spent with the Bat-Family, Cassandra has learned little of society at large, still learning what to keep with her in those moments when she is someone other than her assassin-turned-crimefighter persona.
Identification
Since becoming Bruce Wayne’s adopted daughter, Cassandra now keeps her forms of identification for such on her person, from her affiliation card to the Wayne Foundation to her miniature transfer certificate verifying the adoption, to the papers themselves… granted, of course, that she remembers to take them with her when she goes out. Cassandra also continues to keep other identity forms for her other aliases that Oracle has developed for her over the course of her career. Strangely enough, it is more likely for Cassandra to keep these available than her actual identification forms; function over form, as they say.
Smartphone
Only at Oracle’s insistence did Cassandra acquire a smart phone. Custom made by Oracle for Cassandra, it responds only to her voice and finger signature, and will deploy countermeasures similar to those found in her Batsuit upon attempted tampering. The phone is largely a formality for Cassandra, who can hardly use a basic computer, let alone a smartphone. Most of the device’s operations are carried out by Oracle, using it as an indirect PDA to monitor Cassandra’s location, vitals, and immediate activities while she is away from her duties as Batgirl. Cassandra may, however, use the phone as she sees fit, with all of the features one would expect to find on an asset designed by and for a member of the Bat-Family.
Bubble Gum
Bubble gum that for once isn’t some elaborate gadget or tool of misdirection… that is, not any more than an ordinary pack of gum. After being introduced to the stuff by Tim last year, Cassandra has become hopelessly addicted, and is bound to always have a couple packs whenever she needs a fix. And no, you can’t have any.
Transit Pass
An all-purpose transit pass designed by Oracle for transit not only for Gotham’s bus and rail systems, but capable of interfacing with any mass transit platform around the globe. The card’s magnetic sheet automatically adapts to whatever device is used to scan it, withdrawing directly from a private Wayne Foundation account made specifically for Cassandra’s personal expenses.
Since becoming Bruce Wayne’s adopted daughter, Cassandra now keeps her forms of identification for such on her person, from her affiliation card to the Wayne Foundation to her miniature transfer certificate verifying the adoption, to the papers themselves… granted, of course, that she remembers to take them with her when she goes out. Cassandra also continues to keep other identity forms for her other aliases that Oracle has developed for her over the course of her career. Strangely enough, it is more likely for Cassandra to keep these available than her actual identification forms; function over form, as they say.
Smartphone
Only at Oracle’s insistence did Cassandra acquire a smart phone. Custom made by Oracle for Cassandra, it responds only to her voice and finger signature, and will deploy countermeasures similar to those found in her Batsuit upon attempted tampering. The phone is largely a formality for Cassandra, who can hardly use a basic computer, let alone a smartphone. Most of the device’s operations are carried out by Oracle, using it as an indirect PDA to monitor Cassandra’s location, vitals, and immediate activities while she is away from her duties as Batgirl. Cassandra may, however, use the phone as she sees fit, with all of the features one would expect to find on an asset designed by and for a member of the Bat-Family.
Bubble Gum
Bubble gum that for once isn’t some elaborate gadget or tool of misdirection… that is, not any more than an ordinary pack of gum. After being introduced to the stuff by Tim last year, Cassandra has become hopelessly addicted, and is bound to always have a couple packs whenever she needs a fix. And no, you can’t have any.
Transit Pass
An all-purpose transit pass designed by Oracle for transit not only for Gotham’s bus and rail systems, but capable of interfacing with any mass transit platform around the globe. The card’s magnetic sheet automatically adapts to whatever device is used to scan it, withdrawing directly from a private Wayne Foundation account made specifically for Cassandra’s personal expenses.
Vigilante Gear
The Batman impressed upon each of his proteges the critical necessity for preparedness against every possible threat. To that end, Batgirl, like every member of Gotham's vigilante family, is dressed to the nines in a myriad of modular equipment to assist her in their war on crime. Grappling hooks, tacks, tasers, repellent for nondescript predatory animals, adhesive explosives, communicators... the list goes on, and will go on for much longer if one dares ask. Suffice it to say, Batgirl has the gadgets to address most situations she may find herself in, especially situations that no ordinary human ought to be capable of addressing. However, Cassandra must regularly restock her supplies, either by returning to the Batcave or one of numerous dead drop locations used by Oracle for remote requisitioning.
Appearance
Visual Appearance
Physical Appearance
Cassandra is a surprisingly fair girl, with cold, dark eyes, soft facial features and short black hair that falls just short of her shoulders. Underneath all the armor and rough clothing, the result of her father's brutal and abusive upbringing comes to light. While only a little over five and a half feet tall, her body is more toned than an Olympian athlete, packed extremely tightly with muscle that no one, let alone a girl her age, ought to have. Her arms are wiry, and her overall frame belies a petite physique. A closer glance reveals just how fit Cassandra really is. Cassandra's back is also riddled with numerous, deep scars, from blades, bullets, and other torment, all from her father's training.
Clothing and Armor
The only memorabilia kept from Cassandra’s childhood is her League of Assassins uniform that she grew into while being trained under her father. It is extremely durable and resistant to most forms of damage. Made of a highly synthesized composite armor, it is the same design Bruce Wayne used to develop the Bat-Suit after training with the League. Cassandra's version of this armor is focused on nimble combat, for the assassin she was to become. It covers Cassandra entirely from the neck down, including a pull-over hood to better conceal her features. The armor is pitch-black, with gold highlights. It now resides in the Batcave, a constant reminder of her past life.
When Cassandra took on the mantle of Batgirl, Barbara developed a new suit for her successor. Numerous revisions were made to the original design, the most prominent of which was making the cowl a full-face mask and updating the armor plating on the upper torso and head sections. Cassandra's Batgirl is sleeker, fiercer, though no less true to Barbara's legacy.
General Personality
Given her upbringing, Cassandra's personality is thoroughly subdued, and for many, it would appear that the girl does not have any personality at all. She is extremely quiet, from the fact that she simply does not know many words to speak, and that she is antisocial and introverted as a result of her father's training. Though she may wish to make friends and to get to know other people, she hasn't the faintest idea on how to do that, and worse, wondering whether anyone would want to be friends with someone like her. A girl, trained since birth to be an assassin, daughter to one of the most infamous agents of the League of Assassins... she wouldn't want anything to do with someone like her, either. She is uncertain if she will ever be able to be anything different than the life that she ran away from, but the fact alone that she fled her father shows that she at the very least has hope that she can.
“Those who know, do not speak. Those who speak, do not know.”
Lao Tzu
More than anything, Cassandra Cain is a survivor. She came from less than nothing, and has been living her life to outrun that creeping shadow ever since she learned how to walk. That feeling is a constant state of being, something that she can never fully walk away from. Her childhood was taken from her, and not even her distant family is a comfort to her, assassins that are ostensibly interested only in pulling her back into their fold. This is not to say that Cassandra does not appreciate what David Cain taught her, or that she necessarily hates him. He was her guardian, who raised her, made her who she is, without whom she would be nothing. It is a complicated relationship that continues to plague her, a matter of weighing the inherent kinship of her biological father with everything that he put her through, and continues to put upon her life, even after she has closed that chapter. It need not be said that she does not speak of these things, nor how she reacts to people who attempt to bring up that part of her life. To bear these things before she even became a teenager, let alone through infancy, is but prologue for why she has become the way that she is. Cassandra is not devoid of hope or emotion, certainly not, though before any of that enters one’s ideas of Cassandra Cain, least of all her own, one must reconcile the events that brought her to be who she is today; it is not so different from the man she takes after now.
Not far behind is Cassandra’s nature as a warrior. She is an assassin, a dancer, a vigilante, all encompassing a lifestyle of conflict that has defined and continues to define the young woman. She has seen no battlefields like a common soldier, but she has waged war nonetheless: She has made the criminal element her bitter enemy, in the streets of Gotham, in Hong Kong, New York City, and the world over. Much like the Caped Crusader Himself, Cassandra Cain is a brutal vigilante, more than capable of leading a one-woman war on those who would commit themselves to a life of criminal intent. The war of Cassandra’s past was that of the League of Assassins and her father. Those battles, physical and mental, have forged Cassandra’s identity of a survivor. Through these experiences, Cassandra has learned that she ultimately despises killing, and is terrified by it. She realized this when she took her first life, something that continues to haunt her to this day. Cassandra harbors a death wish for herself, a longing to somehow atone for her actions, and become something that her father never intended her to be: someone who saves lives, instead of taking them. Cassandra’s mind is itself a persistent battle, caught between the worlds of her new vigilantism and her childhood left behind. Cassandra best understands things when it is through the lens of violence. While physical violence is the simplest vehicle through which she has processed the world, Cassandra has also become a warrior of the mind and other indirect means in understanding and defeating her enemies. As far as she is concerned, all things in life are in one way or another a battle to be won, a goal to be conquered… intimacy with others most of all.
”The only person standing in your way is you. It's time to let her go. Lose yourself.”
Black Swan
Cassandra’s role as Batgirl is integral to holding her identity together. With nothing in her past to ground her in times of doubt, Cassandra only has the identity she seized for herself within the Bat-Family. This lifeline has only become more valuable to Cassandra as time has gone on, a way for her to visualize her purpose, as well as a way of seeing how far she has come since she first fled the League of Assassins. And yet, even after formally severing ties with David Cain, even after becoming Batgirl, Cassandra is uncertain if she will ever be able to be anything different than the life that she ran away from. The fact that she accepted Bruce's invitation to become his daughter, as well as the fact that she joined the Champions, however, would lead one to believe that she is much closer to certainty than she was when she first came to Gotham City. Cassandra Cain is a woman defined by her indomitable hope as much as her looming despair, never failing to rise to the occasion, for her friends, for Gotham City, for justice… and most of all, for herself.
Face/Voice: Jing Tian
Anything Else
Socially Inept
Being trained from birth to be the perfect assassin didn't leave Cassandra any time to learn social cues, manners, courtesy, or anything one might expect of a teenage girl, or any decent human being for that matter. While she is certainly no longer a cutthroat assassin, she doesn't exactly know how to "be nice", either, and can come off as rude and obnoxious without realizing it. Cassandra is more than eager to learn, though the only thing more difficult to learning social conditioning ten years too late is learning to trust anyone after what she just escaped from.
Extras
Sexual Orientation
Asexual
History
Siblings
N/A
Mother
Sandra Woo-San / "Lady Shiva"
Father
David Cain (Biological)
Bruce Wayne (Adopted)
Other Family
League of Assassins*
Ra’s al Ghul
The Sensei
Talia al Ghul
Slade Wilson / "Deathstroke"
David Cain
Ophelia Sarkissien / "Viper"
Kazuo Oyama / "Lord Deathstrike"
Nina Thurman / "Domino"
Benjamin Turner / "Bronze Tiger"
Jacques Duquesne / "Swordsman"
Jade Nguyen / "Cheshire"
The Bat-Family**
Alfred Pennyworth
Katherine Kane / "Batwoman"
Julia Pennyworth / "Penny-Two"
Richard Grayson / "Nightwing"
Barbara Gordon / "Oracle"
Jason Todd / "Red Hood"
Tim Drake / "Red Robin"
Damian Wayne / "Robin"
Stephanie Brown / "The Spoiler"
* Cassandra Cain was a prized pupil within the League of Assassins, a reputation that has not faded since she left her first family. While some see her as a traitor, others, David Cain chief among them, long to see what Cassandra Cain will make of herself in this new path.
** The found family of Gotham’s crimefighters is Cassandra’s new family, at first an impromptu relationship that later became concrete when Bruce Wayne took her on as his latest apprentice.
Heiress of Death
The origins of Cassandra Cain are not known to many, and they are certainly not known to her. David Cain was a premier member of the League of Assassins, who was most notorious for having trained Batman in the art of fighting. As his teachings turned to ways of assassination and murder, however, their paths diverged. Cain longed to make a legacy for himself worthy of the Demon's Head. He searched endlessly for ways to create the ultimate warrior, 一个谁是一切, "One WHo Is All" that would be Ra's al Ghul's perfect soldier in his crusade against the hubris of mankind. He attempted to raise numerous children to become his successors (all of whom he "adopted", formally or otherwise) via a trafficking ring in a mountain fortress in the Himalayas, though all of them ultimately failed. In his travels across the globe, Cain eventually found his answer in the two Woo-San sisters, Sandra and Carolyn Woo-San. Secluded martial artists who resided deep in the Kunlun Mountains, they sparred frequently with one another, with a bond that was inseparable. Upon observing them, Cain noticed that Sandra, the younger of the two, was by far the superior, though she always held back, out of love for her sister, and Cain suspected, a reluctance to unleash her true fury. Cain murdered Carolyn in the dead of night, and left clues that led Sandra to her sister's corpse. As he hoped, Sandra attacked with everything she had, but Cain was still the better fighter... but only just. Cain offered to teach Sandra how to be the perfect warrior that he knew she always wanted to be... in exchange, she would bear a child for him. She accepted.
“Every child born has innate goodness.”
Chinese Proverb
Cassandra Cain knew fighting, and only fighting, ever since she was an infant. Her father intended to make her into "One Who Is All", and that was exactly what he set out to do. The training was relentless, and it started as soon as Cassandra could walk. Cain didn't spare her a single moment, using every opportunity to beat a new skill into her, and often a new scar to go with it. As Cassandra grew, her back became a mural of pain and abuse, marks of everything she had gone through. Not knowing any better, Cassandra was conditioned to embrace this torture, and even came to enjoy it, as it was quality time with her father, twisted as that would sound to any decent parent. The foremost skill Cain instilled in his daughter was the extraordinarily rare art of body reading, something that he had seen in Sandra Wu-San herself, who then became known as Lady Shiva upon joining the League of Assassins. Cassandra never saw or met her mother, however, nor was she made aware of her existence. There was only Cain, and occasionally, other members of the League would step in to offer their experience for One Who Is All. Cain made a note of only training Cassandra in skills that were necessary to be the perfect assassin, but nothing else. This did not include social cues, or most significantly, speech. In Cain's mind, the only language she needed to know was the language of violence, which caused Cassandra to develop severe dyslexia at a very early age.
When Cassandra was at the ripe age of eight years old, it was time for her first mission. Her first kill. The target was Faizul, a book man in Macau, who had been marked for death by the League. Cassandra played along, thinking it was one of the many "games" that her father had her play. When she struck a death blow to the man's neck, however, Cassandra "read" him in his final moments, and saw death through the eyes of her first victim. Horrified of what she had done, and overwhelmed with guilt, Cassandra fled Macau, her father, and everything she had ever known that night. Alone on the streets, Cassandra did everything she had to to survive, but she never killed again. Not once. She knew in that moment that murder was terribly wrong, and would never bring herself to that act again no matter what. And she certainly wasn't returning to the only home she had ever known.
Batgirl
Several years later, Cassandra remained plagued not only by her past, but also by what she could even do with her life. Still on the run from the League of Assassins, Cassandra fled to Gotham. After hearing of the so-called Batman, rumored to be one of the greatest fighters in the world, Cassandra wondered that maybe... just maybe... he could help her escape the cycle of violence and death that she was born into. In a chance encounter with Cheshire, one of her former League mentors, Cassandra crossed paths with the Batman himself, and together they stopped Cheshire's assassination attempt on Doctor Lesie Thompkins. That effort became a prolonged investigation, tied to efforts to mislead Batman into believing the Joker was planning a multi-pronged terrorist attack on the city. Instead, Batman and his new protege went up against the League of Assassins in a similar bioterrorism plot. Though Cheshire escaped, she promised Cassandra that this tangled web had all been a test of faith, to see if the first decision she had ever made for herself was worthy of her legacy. For Cassandra, it was a different test entirely: whether she was worthy of a family at all.
“I've been avoiding you. It's… your background. The assassin training and all that. It's just… my childhood's so normal. I mean, Batman and Nightwing had some rough stuff to deal with growing up, but… but you -- you were raised to be that guy there, and you turned yourself into one of us. That's… pretty intimidating.”
Timothy Drake
The months that followed saw Cassandra Cain formally in the role of Batgirl, with a new suit to boot. Though Cassandra was unaware of it at the time, the time she spent between training under Oracle in the Batcave and going on patrols with Him highlighted the tension between the two. The former, for feelings of betrayal, abandonment, in favor of the very girl that she was preparing to take her place, and the latter, for struggling to return to a life He had thought behind Him, only to turn around and embrace a new protege, in spite of how it was making those close to Him feel. Cassandra could make out flashes of these notions, but keenly aware of the ripples that her new presence was having on her family. Cassandra was unmistakably happy to be here, knowing that this was her new place; she could never return to what she had left behind, nor did she want to. Alas, her presence in Gotham would only continue to cause rifts among those she now called family, even if she had never meant it to be so.
Thankfully, there was much to distract Cassandra from these thoughts. Even after averting disaster with the Demon’s Head, the insanity of Gotham City simply went on as if nothing of consequence had taken place. There was a new Batgirl, and the criminals accepted it as if it had always been that way. Cassandra’s confusion with this city would not fade with time, though she came to understand its many parts and how they fit into the larger whole of why Gotham needed caped crusaders. The Penguin, Two-Face, even Catwoman crossed paths with Cassandra, often under the strict purview of Batman Himself. These adventures were also alongside a new Robin, Tim Drake. Cassandra was often unsure what to make of the boy, and he was even less sure what to make of her. This impromptu family was quickly becoming a home that Cassandra could confidently call her own.
This sentiment came under deep doubt when the Red Hood made his appearance in Gotham, decades after Batman had dealt with him as one of His first enemies in the city. Worse still, when he revealed himself to be a fallen Robin, returned from the grave. Cassandra refused to let her drive be undermined by a bitter phantom, though it was all she could do to bury her angst on what Jason Todd represented to Him, and in turn, what he represented to her. Would she lose herself as he had? Was it right to lose oneself in such a way? Was he right in what he said about His dream? Cassandra was certain that the answer to all of these questions was no in the end... though that didn’t mean his war with them hadn’t left its mark on her. On all of them. Jason Todd had sorely tested her bonds with Oracle, Tim, Him... and they were found wanting. For good or ill, it would not be the last any of them would see of Jason Todd.
Family Matters
“Maybe she couldn't know who she was today. Maybe it was enough to know that she was no longer who she was before.”
Orson Scott Card
The Red Hood ordeal left Cassandra in a stranger place than she had ever been before. She longed to prove herself to Him, convince Him and Oracle that she was not like Jason Todd, that she was capable of becoming more than what she had been before… she prayed that they did not discover what she had done in her old life. Would they still want her? Was her inherent deception proof that she was unworthy of what had been given to her? Would it be better for her to simply leave and go her own way? It had become clear to Cassandra that the division that had been created over her arrival. For a time, it did not seem like this tension was ever going to be resolved. Cassandra knew that something was wrong, but she lacked the will to speak to either of them about it. Eventually, Oracle summoned her to her clocktower for a talk. In spite of Cassandra's dyslexia, they were able to have a heart-to-heart that they should have had a long time ago. It was difficult at parts, and overwhelming at others, though they made it through, for the time being. They still needed to speak with Him.
Bruce Wayne, not Batman, invited everyone for a special dinner at the Wayne Manor, including Jason Todd of all people. Once he had gotten everyone to relent from killing each other, Bruce admitted that there was something he had been meaning to tell all of them for a long time. It was in that moment that Bruce turned to Cassandra, and handed her some papers for her to sign. Dyslexic that she was, Cassandra did her part to sign what she later learned were adoption papers. Bruce Wayne would become her legal guardian. More than ever before, Cassandra didn’t know what to say. She had always looked up to Him as a father, but always in a metaphorical sense. She never imagined that she would ever be able to consider Tim or Dick her brothers, or Bruce her... It almost felt unfair, to be treated with such kindness. That unfairness was reflected in the second statement Bruce had arranged this meeting to make: he was retiring from the cowl. Not only that, but he was embracing his civilian identity of Bruce Wayne and running for Senator of New Jersey. To say that everyone was shocked was an understatement. Bruce made no illusions about his expectations for the rest of them. He knew that none of them - and especially not Cassandra - were going to stop doing what they could to protect Gotham. Those responsibilities would be more important than ever before.
Champion
Cassandra Wayne was perhaps the slowest to acclimate to the new circumstances. In spite of her passion for "the mission" as He so frequently put it, Cassandra felt more like that orphan who ran away from her destiny as an eight-year-old girl than she ever had before. She believed she would always be alone among "friends". Thankfully for her, Barbara made convincing arguments. None of her kindred vigilantes blamed Cassandra. This was difficult for all of them. Bruce had been planning this long beore she had entered their lives, and had decided to do this without asking anyone (except maybe Alfred). They would need to make the most of the situation. That included what Cassandra was going to do as Batgirl. She was not going to stop being Batgirl, that much was clear. However, Barbara and Dick agreed that she needed something more than whiling her life away in the manor. She couldn't always be a superhero, and not even Alfred could give Cassandra the upbringing that had been stolen from her. Thankfully, there was an initiative in the works for this exact thing. Cassandra was inducted into the Champions as one of its founding members, alongside the likes of Robot, Supergirl, Beast Boy, and Ms. Marvel. She had no idea what to think of her new peers, though she welcomed the change. She wanted - needed - to open herself up again.
In the midst of Cassandra’s mounting anxieties was an intrepid girl whom Cassandra began to rely on more than she dared admit. Stephanie Brown began as a girl that had taken notice of Cassandra’s activities as Batgirl, to the point that she managed to get the jump on her in her new identity. She threatened to unmask Cassandra’s identity to the public, on the condition that she train her to “do all the cool ninja stuff!” (Stephanie’s words). Cassandra didn’t know what to do with one so diametrically opposed to her as a person, let alone how woefully inexperienced she was. The first thing that they did together, under Oracle’s nose at first, was to stop Stephanie’s father, a would-be criminal mastermind calling himself “Cluemaster”. He had taken after Enigma’s modus operandi in leaving clues to confound the police, though had begun to stray from his usual agenda, leaving Gotham completely in the dark as to his plans. Together, they were able to foil a burgeoning human trafficking ring that a HYDRA cell had been running out of the harbor. At that point, Oracle confronted Cassandra and Stephanie with an ultimatum: Stephanie would be allowed to join their group as the Spoiler, so long as she played by their rules. Much to Cassandra’s relief (and some chagrin), Stephanie accepted. She had her own Robin… sort of. They were more like… partners.
This orphan has come a long way from her point of origin. Longer than any child ought to have come, or understand the world as it is. Her experiences are far beyond the pale, knowing her role in this world like an old woman in a child’s body. In many ways she is resigned to it, with no path but forward on what had been decided for her by bitter white men. In other ways, this choice has always been hers, claimed by her power alone, defining her legacy in a way that only she may describe it. This story has only begun to unfold; there is so much more to tell. There will always be more to tell.
Role Play Sample
Right jab to sternum. Followup left hook to collarbone. Heel turn, vault forward. Reverse kick to spine. Leg sweep to Achilles. Pin right arm at elbow joint. The motions were familiar to her. He had drilled them into her on the sixty-seventh day. She slowly unwound the bandage from her eyes. She opened them slowly, taking in the natural lighting. This place was not familiar. This facility was new, the first of its kind. The first of many. It was a change that she, they, would all need to get used to. It was a wide open chamber, guarded by stained glass windows and architecture that Tim insisted was from the nineteenth century (at least). If not for the various work stations positioned around the room's center, one would not stop to think that anyone lived here. It was not the most spartan accommodations that Cassandra had been in, though there was a nonetheless comforting air to the place. Home.
"C'mon, Cass! Dinnertime!"
She glanced out a nearby window. The sunny cityscape of Old Gotham was replaced with its grim, nocturnal twin. Over at the dinner table, everyone was already waiting... almost everyone. His seat, at the head of the table, remained empty. A "filibuster". That is what Alfred had said this time. Cassandra did not dwell on it. They had all gotten used to this by now. The world was smaller for it. Cassandra took her seat beside Tim, opposite Barbara and Alfred. Dick was further down the table, with Jason. She was not sure why he was here, but she was thankful for it. To her, it seemed these gatherings happened less and less these days. It was enough that she did not mind that the meal itself was had quietly. Seeing her... siblings, was enough for her.
"Say, what's for dessert? I came a long way for this, y'know."
Jason's gruff cut the air. Everyone, Cassandra included, stared at him. This wasn't the first time they had seen him since everything had happened, but he hadn't made that many appearances. Alfred, consistently nonplussed, reached to the center of the table, where the mystery dessert lied waiting. "As I had mentioned when you arrived, Master Jason, it is my..." He grasped the handle of the dessert covering, and lifted.
"...oh, dear."
The atmosphere of the room shifted dramatically. Cassandra's eyes locked onto the target. The last cookie from Alfred's weekly bake. She could sense the antagonism from everyone before they even realized what was going on. This time would be different. Her eyes met Alfred's. The butler gave a resigned, though knowing nod. He had just enough time to recuse himself from the table before the cookie war commenced.
That night, Cassandra went to bed with a satisfied stomach.
