(Untitled)

[batghoul]

WHO: Baby Cass and YOU
WHERE: In the park.
WHEN: Throughout the day Sunday.
WARNINGS: Probably none!
SUMMARY: Little Cass has discovered the park, and is training there (not unlike her older self).
FORMAT: Paragraph to start, then whatever you want

Comments

tiny assassin #2?

[girlverine]

X-23 had been avoiding pretty much everyone since she woke up and found she wasn't on mission or at the Facility. She had her phone on her but hadn't used it, besides watching other transmissions, and after finding no evidence of how to return home she had holed up somewhere to sleep for the night.

That happened to be high up in a tree in central park. Trees were often very safe places in the city. People rarely thought to look up into them, and no one ever really climbed them anymore.

It was the training sounds that drew her out of her sleep, and she crawled carefully along the edge of the thick branch she was sleeping on until she spotted the younger girl apparently practicing. It reminded her of the way her Master had taught her to train, before...well, before. So her green eyes just watched from her perch, occasionally causing the leaves to rustle around her as she adjusted.

it's a tiny assassin get-together!

[batghoul]

Cass had punched the tree a few times, and it seemed normal enough. She didn't start to get suspicious until she saw the rustling of the leaves, and caught a glimpse of some body language that seemed distinctly human among the branches.

So she paused from her training, and proceeded to scamper up the tree as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Her dad had taught her that people watching her was never a good thing.

This calls for a merry chase.

[girlverine]

X didn't move when the other girl suddenly started climbing the tree, although she realized that meant the other had probably seen her. She stayed perfectly still, perched on the branch, until she was sure the other was headed towards her before she dropped down off of it, falling the thirty or so feet to the ground and hitting it in a crouch.

She barely supressed a whimper as pain shot through her leg from what was probably a broken shin, but she could already feel it healing as she slowly stood, peering into the tree for a moment before she began moving away. Curiousity was one thing, but she wasn't exactly supposed to interact with people that weren't her target.

indeed!

[batghoul]

Cass watched the other girl fall, and then saw the pain wash across her body as she hit the ground. She was injured. That should make it easy to catch up with her.

She climbed out to the edge of the limb and began to descend using the smaller branches until her weight caused the limb to bend and almost reach the ground. Letting go, she hit the ground running toward X-23, smiling and almost seeming to regard the whole thing as a game.

[xuffasch]

Damian had a rather traumatizing conversation with Steph yesterday in which he found out that Cass is also a child. This is even more disturbing--or perhaps equally so--than Grayson being twelve years old. So, yes. He had spent some time looking for her.

He eventually comes to the park, and spots her--but doesn't approach yet, because damn she is small and still so good. Wow.

[batghoul]

She noticed him, but his body language was non-threatening, so she didn't think much of it. It almost seemed to hint at him knowing her, as well. She just continued to train, flipping around acrobatically and occasionally slamming a small fist into a nearby tree.

[xuffasch]

He's not sure how to respond, but he's equally relived that Stephanie didn't get them both hit by a truck, or something. So after a moment he wanders over and nods to her.

"You're very good."

[blondevigilante]

Stephanie arrived with two ice cream cones. One was already half eaten as evidenced by the ice cream ring around her mouth. She watched in awe as Suzie did some really amazing karate moves; she wondered if the other girl would teach her some of those moves.

Walking closer she finally spotted someone else and her eyes narrowed. Walking right up to Robin she said, "I bet she's better than you."

more tiny assassins!

[niceassassin]

Cass was not the only new child here who enjoyed the park. To a boy used to a crowded medieval city where the closest things to "parks" were private gardens and hunting grounds kept by nobles, it was a wonderland, and he kept being drawn back even knowing that surely his mission, whatever it was, lay outside, in the greater city.

This time, however, it was not wonder that greeted him but horror. He huddled in the shadows around a small cluster of trees and stared at the girl practicing nearby. She was so much swifter and stronger and more skilled than he was. Was this his competition? He was doomed.

No. He couldn't think like that. He would just have to fight dirty. That determined, Zevran began to creep up on her, slowly reaching for his dagger.

hooray!

[batghoul]

She continued to practice, throwing some swift kicks and punches, until her keen ears alerted her to someone trying to sneak up on her from behind. Turning quickly, a smile crossed her face as she saw the boy reaching for his knife. Another one of her dad's tests! This was what she was used to!

Not wasting a moment, she sprung into action, charging toward him and throwing a tiny fist toward his chest.

[niceassassin]

He didn't have anywhere near the kind of training he'd need to challenge her, to really fight her. Fortunately, he was quick. He couldn't retaliate very well, but he did manage to jump back and lift the dagger just enough to block her fist.

She was another Crow--she had to be. So he didn't bother with the halting English he'd been using with others, instead staying with his native Spanish, what he knew as Antivan. "This isn't fair! When did they buy you? How young?" More urgently: "I'll do anything. Don't kill me. We can work together." He'd stab her in the back as soon as he could. It wouldn't be that hard, right? He'd have to start killing eventually, after all.

[batghoul]

His body language indicated that he didn't really want to fight--which confused her, since he was the one sneaking up on her. She jumped back, fists still raised but head tilted in confusion. She didn't understand what his body was saying at first, but then there were flashes of don't hurt me and work together with maybe a hint of deception mixed in.

She didn't attack or respond, but continued to regard him warily while maintaining her fighting stance.

And now for something completely different, a perfectly normal child! ... From... the 23rd century.

[dontcallmebruno]

Johnny had seen plenty of city parks before, living in Tops and all. But he was pretty sure he'd never been to one that was actually on the ground before. Some of these trees had probably even been here since before there was even a park! This was like one of those neat nature preserve trips his class had gone on! This whole alternate-universe-time-travel-whatever thing was actually turning out kinda cool so far.

Then while he was walking around he caught sight of this little kid out of the corner of his eye. ... A little kid who was punching a tree, for some reason. Johnny just kinda stared for a sec.

But even besides the whole "punching a tree" thing, something seemed kinda different about this kid. Like he'd seen her before somewhere, or something. After that Ruka and Remus stuff he was definitely starting to figure out that that feeling meant something important, so Johnny figured he oughta check this out.

He started trotting over to her. "Hi!"

[batghoul]

She turned toward the voice and gave him a small wave and a smile. Was he here to fight? His body language didn't seem like it. So she resumed her training--punching at invisible enemies and occasionally evading an unseen blow with an acrobatic maneuver.

[dontcallmebruno]

Nope! Mostly he was just there to watch, because except for the fact that it was like, some little pre-K girl with pigtails doing it, this was starting to look like some real-deal martial arts movie stuff and that's always awesome.

Johnny waved back and walked up to just a little outside getting-punched range while looking progressively more impressed. "Those are some pretty cool moves, kid!"

[batghoul]

She turned and nodded enthusiastically. Someone also appreciated great fighting moves! She flipped into the air, landing on her hands and performing a spinning kick just to impress him further.

teeny tiny stalker adventures!

[lil_red_spider]

Reilly had slipped out of the Spider-House. Among his many talents (reading and punching things) he had gotten good at avoiding adult detection when he wanted to. Sure, all those weird social workers or whatever were nice but they were also really weird.

So he just ran around the park for a while, until he spotted the even weirder girl playing... like, Rocky, or something. And did what any intrigued but cootie-fearing young man would do.

Hide behind a tree.

[batghoul]

She continued to train, throwing quick punches and kicks into thin air. After a few acrobatic flips, however, she seemed to be moving closer to Reilly's tree. And suddenly, she darted toward it at full-speed, leaping into the air and throwing a kick at it.

[lil_red_spider]

That made Reilly leap back and... gracefully fall on his butt. Completely freaked out now. Firmly convinced that she was a tree-killing psycho and that his head was next on the kick list. Because, who kicked trees? For real.

So clearly it was time to run for it. The bushes would protect him. Surely.

[batghoul]

Wait, what was that movement in the bushes? There was something human there rustling around. And then it took off! Clearly, he must have been some kind of spy.

So Cass zoomed off after him, leaping clean through the bushes without even slowing down.