(no subject)
A week before now.
"I want to be trained. I don't care how much I have to bug you for it. I need it."
She'd been clutching the journal like she wanted to rip it in half when she had said it. Her heart was in her throat. She was angry, upset. Cassie had spent the entire day in Kon's bed, and upon realizing what they'd done, she'd decided that she couldn't, just couldn't, let Prime sit unthreatened for a second longer.
She wanted Prime dead, dead by HER hands, and the power she needed to do it was at her disposal. Ares was here. He was the only one who could offer this.
And then his reply had come out of the journal, exasperated, and then he agreed. He agreed.
On the condition that she impressed him.
Two days before now.
Murder.
The entire castle was put on edge. Cassie had been sleeping when the first few murders had gone down, but by time she was awake and alert to what was going on, the castle was already battening down into a state of apprehension and vigilance.
The Peace Patrol was absent, but the real peace patrol, the assorted group of people from assorted worlds and assorted backgrounds, was doing a better job in its stead. The Justice League was getting into position. Despite a conflict with Batman, Superman and the rest of the League were ready to get a handle on the situation.
Cassie had glanced between her motley crew: Kon, Robin, Jaime.
She wished she could do more, but she couldn't. Not until she got a new team assembled. If Robin wasn't interested in leading, she'd do it herself. She was fully capable of it and she knew it.
But for now, there was a murderer on the loose.
One day before now.
She hadn't yet figured out how to show off to the god of war that didn't involve slaughter or destruction, but she still needed SOMETHING bold and brash, leading to this genius idea:
"Just fight me. I swear I'll show you that you didn't pick me for nothing."
Genius, Cassie. Genius.
He'd said she could have the edge. It was her choice when and where they fought, and she'd spring it on him whenever she was ready. "Don't keep me waiting too long," he had said.
She had plans. Big plans. Especially now that Diana was no longer in the castle: she still had to be careful, but Diana finding out and schooling her ass for making deals with Ares was no longer the top threat. Now she was just hiding from Tim and Kon, and, to an extent, Wally and Claire. Travis Touchdown? She was sure he didn't care that much.
What did anyone else know about her problems, or about Greek gods and her connection to them?
Cassie felt she had this thing down.
She'd just wait until the murder to wrap up, and then she'd make her move.
Now.
Unfortunately, Ares doesn't wait.
Cassie should have seen it coming, but she was incorrect in assuming Ares wasn't interested enough to take the offense on her. Very incorrect.
She learns this the second Ares appears, standing over her, and she's forced to raise her wrists and hold off a brutal assault by his sword. He doesn't even let her get up off the couch.
At least the temporary shock on his face is enough to make being taken off guard feel a little less embarrassing. He didn't realize she'd be more than a mouthy teenager. He doesn't know she's an Amazon, or that she's got more up her sleeves than talk. All he has to work with are assumptions.
But still: the difference between the Ares she knows from the present and the Ares she's fighting now, thousands of years in the past, is not such a huge difference that she has no trouble taking the advantage. He's not as powerful as he is in her time, but he's still powerful.
He's the God of War.
Cassie indulges in a bit of banter before things get serious. At one point she has him pinned on the floor, punching away, but at another point, she's hurled into a wall. Another point has her rushing him through the wall, but yet another has her being held up by her throat, struggling to get free.
At the very least, she can prove she is as much bite as she was bark, and that she isn't going to give up. Even when she's getting hit, even when she's on the ground, Wonder Girl does not give up.
She strikes him with Zeus' lightning, as he's wrapped up in his own gift to her.
Victory hers, for now.
After some talk and being challenged to defeating Callisto to prove her worth as a champion, but still hopeful that he'd see enough benefit in their fight to keep his word, Cassie returns to her room and bandages herself up, and curls up in bed to wait for her body to recover. Thank Ares, she reminds herself, for providing regeneration and extraordinary resilience along with the strength and speed she'd been blessed with.
Ares takes just as much as he gives, and she is supposed to know that.
"I want to be trained. I don't care how much I have to bug you for it. I need it."
She'd been clutching the journal like she wanted to rip it in half when she had said it. Her heart was in her throat. She was angry, upset. Cassie had spent the entire day in Kon's bed, and upon realizing what they'd done, she'd decided that she couldn't, just couldn't, let Prime sit unthreatened for a second longer.
She wanted Prime dead, dead by HER hands, and the power she needed to do it was at her disposal. Ares was here. He was the only one who could offer this.
And then his reply had come out of the journal, exasperated, and then he agreed. He agreed.
On the condition that she impressed him.
Two days before now.
Murder.
The entire castle was put on edge. Cassie had been sleeping when the first few murders had gone down, but by time she was awake and alert to what was going on, the castle was already battening down into a state of apprehension and vigilance.
The Peace Patrol was absent, but the real peace patrol, the assorted group of people from assorted worlds and assorted backgrounds, was doing a better job in its stead. The Justice League was getting into position. Despite a conflict with Batman, Superman and the rest of the League were ready to get a handle on the situation.
Cassie had glanced between her motley crew: Kon, Robin, Jaime.
She wished she could do more, but she couldn't. Not until she got a new team assembled. If Robin wasn't interested in leading, she'd do it herself. She was fully capable of it and she knew it.
But for now, there was a murderer on the loose.
One day before now.
She hadn't yet figured out how to show off to the god of war that didn't involve slaughter or destruction, but she still needed SOMETHING bold and brash, leading to this genius idea:
"Just fight me. I swear I'll show you that you didn't pick me for nothing."
Genius, Cassie. Genius.
He'd said she could have the edge. It was her choice when and where they fought, and she'd spring it on him whenever she was ready. "Don't keep me waiting too long," he had said.
She had plans. Big plans. Especially now that Diana was no longer in the castle: she still had to be careful, but Diana finding out and schooling her ass for making deals with Ares was no longer the top threat. Now she was just hiding from Tim and Kon, and, to an extent, Wally and Claire. Travis Touchdown? She was sure he didn't care that much.
What did anyone else know about her problems, or about Greek gods and her connection to them?
Cassie felt she had this thing down.
She'd just wait until the murder to wrap up, and then she'd make her move.
Now.
Unfortunately, Ares doesn't wait.
Cassie should have seen it coming, but she was incorrect in assuming Ares wasn't interested enough to take the offense on her. Very incorrect.
She learns this the second Ares appears, standing over her, and she's forced to raise her wrists and hold off a brutal assault by his sword. He doesn't even let her get up off the couch.
At least the temporary shock on his face is enough to make being taken off guard feel a little less embarrassing. He didn't realize she'd be more than a mouthy teenager. He doesn't know she's an Amazon, or that she's got more up her sleeves than talk. All he has to work with are assumptions.
But still: the difference between the Ares she knows from the present and the Ares she's fighting now, thousands of years in the past, is not such a huge difference that she has no trouble taking the advantage. He's not as powerful as he is in her time, but he's still powerful.
He's the God of War.
Cassie indulges in a bit of banter before things get serious. At one point she has him pinned on the floor, punching away, but at another point, she's hurled into a wall. Another point has her rushing him through the wall, but yet another has her being held up by her throat, struggling to get free.
At the very least, she can prove she is as much bite as she was bark, and that she isn't going to give up. Even when she's getting hit, even when she's on the ground, Wonder Girl does not give up.
She strikes him with Zeus' lightning, as he's wrapped up in his own gift to her.
Victory hers, for now.
After some talk and being challenged to defeating Callisto to prove her worth as a champion, but still hopeful that he'd see enough benefit in their fight to keep his word, Cassie returns to her room and bandages herself up, and curls up in bed to wait for her body to recover. Thank Ares, she reminds herself, for providing regeneration and extraordinary resilience along with the strength and speed she'd been blessed with.
Ares takes just as much as he gives, and she is supposed to know that.