2014-07-07 - Brain Broken

Jason didn't bother dying his hair, his bangs white. He hasn't been in the mood for that today. After a stop at Grant's Gym which went no where except piss him off at a new face, man he has issues!...he heads to Wayne Manor. He isn't here for Bruce, or even Alfred, rather as he lets himself in he is here for Cassandra Cain.

When Jason enters, something tracks him. There's a sense in his head that something is there, something that's not normally around. But looking around gives him nothing, there's nothing to see. After a moment though, Cassandra says, "Roof," from above, giving herself away on purpose. Girl's a frigging ghost.

And she almost gets a gun pulled on her! Jason swears, "Damn it! If I didn't feel bad it took me over a week to find your ass, I'd really shoot you!" Yep, he was spooked and got reallllly jumpy.

Cassandra Cain drops down off of the roof, landing lightly but not really putting a lot of effort into it. "Shoot," she suggests without anything like chagrin. She stands from her landing crouch and raises an eyebrow patiently.

The gun wasn't fully pulled from his lower back and is instead re-secured. Jason scowls at Cassandra, "What the hell happened anyway? I sent you in for Intel, and you got your ass handed to you by Talia and got kidnapped. What went wrong?" This is likely not how he should approach it, but Jason has...issues connecting well with others.

Cassandra Cain sits down right where she is, crossing her legs in the middle of the hallway floor. She doesn't just start talking, looking at Jason for a while. She waits quietly, though in reality she's composing what to say.

"I know you can talk more than that," and Jason just flops there across from Cassandra in the hallway, not caring either. He sits cross-legged, staring at her, and stubbornly waiting her out till she finds the words.

Cassandra Cain explains, when she's ready to do so, that she believed that is wasn't possible to get through the crowd without being seen, so she decided to be seen as an alias instead of something suspicious. Then how she'd been unable to find anything useful but even looking was enough to alert Talia who is hyper-suspicious. She ran, but got beat up. "Lost bad," is how she puts it. She just takes a long time to tell it and she doesn't rush the process for Jason's temper. She does however mention that no ninja got a hand on her.

"Uh-huh....," Jason stares at Cassandra more. "I don't think you are lying, but I don't think you telling the truth exactly. I've seen you fight, you can handle himself, you could handle Talia. Maybe defeat her, maybe not, but not go down in three seconds flat after being chased by ninjas. Geez."

Jason raises a hand and rubs the back of his neck. He's tense, and isn't the patient sort, but he deals with Cass's long story. "Anyway...you alright now?"

Cassandra Cain stands up. She enters a fighting stance, hands up and crossed her body. "Hit me," she says by way of explanation. This, he'll understand. She knows another fighter when she sees one, and sometimes you need to explain right. Her stance is Kung Fu with a slight cross of boxing today, a solid guard. "Hit me," she repeats, accepting no other answer.

Jason moves to stand up, thinking Cassandra is being crazy, but whatever! He is too! So what does he do? He does perhaps a shockingly simple punch, and boy does he punch! He expects her to block it, so it isn't like he...holds back very much....there is no verbal warning, even his body language is subdued till he just /does/ it. He doesn't think about it, he just acts.

And you know the look in the eyes that a yellow belt gets? They know just enough moves to have some idea what to do, but they're confused as to which one to choose. She literally tenses up and tries to throw a block AFTER the punch has hit her in the face, and it's absolutely real. She gets nailed and spins, and drops to one knee and one hand on the floor.

She gets up again, lip bleeding a little, and cricks her neck to the right to pop it. Then she nods once, her eyes slightly cold.

"Oh shit...." Carrie is going to KILLLLL HIM! "I...umm...," and Jason runs! Well, not run, runs! He runs for the kitchen to get a medical kit, and is soon coming back out, "What the hell?!" He's freaking out. "Stop looking at me like that, I only did what you told me!"

Cassandra Cain follows Jason to the kitchen, meeting him halfway. She raises an eyebrow as he comes back, wiping her lip on her shirt, and puts her right hand gently on the medical kit. "Not hurt," she says though the punch should have rattled her brain. "Can not dodge, brain broken. Should have told you before mission. Did not. Not your fault." She spent a while composing that earlier, but she needed to get him to really understand.

Jason scowls, "Damn you Cassandra. Get into the kitchen," and he goes to herd her into the kitchen and if she wants it or not, he is patching her lip up. "Look umm...just don't tell Carrie. Actually don't tell anyone, cause they wiill tell Carrie. Just....this is between us, right? Right.

Cassandra Cain snorts as he makes a fuss over this. She lets him patch her up largely to make him stop panicking, obviously less upset over it than he is. "Training," she says, then adds, "Would ask...do again, but you...worse than me." She grins a bit, ignoring the blood entirely. She pauses, losing the grin, then adds, "Can not...stay like this...Jason. Die first."

"Ya, no shit Sherlock. Well, there goes my guilt out the window. But obviously...hell, how did you brain break anyway?" Jason is trying to help? When did this happen?! Apparently accidentally sucker punching a girl does turn him into more of a gentleman.

Cassandra Cain pats Jason's hand gently, then folds her hands on the table. "Mutant girl," she says, having had to explain this a few times. "Don know how happened. Lost fight..ing, learned to speak. Crappy trade." She shrugs a bit, obviously speaking more lately than she used to. But Jason may not have had much contact with her before the event.

Just the two ninja incidents. Jason sighs. "Alright, so....we find another mutant to fix this? It could take you years upon years to retrain from scratch." He finishes the patching up and puts things away, trashes other things. He doesn't look happy, he...is actually looking worried about Cassandra.

Heck! Jason didn't even jerk away from the pat on his hand.

Cassandra Cain doesn't answer the first question. Or she's just taking a bit longer to answer again. Either way, she eventually does say, "Ten years, to become like Him." There can only be one Him. There is always Him. "Was perfect." She slams her right fist onto the tabletop, cracking the finish. Hasn't lost any of her power. In fact, she's possible a bit stronger.

Jason winces, "Alfred is going to scold you for that," he warns Cassandra. But maybe there is some glue nearby and Alfred won't notice? Who is he kidding, of course he will. "Umm....what about Xavier's Institute. I got a sorta contact there. It might be worth looking into."

Cassandra Cain stands up. "Now," she says, eyes narrowing. She starts walking, heading for the clock and the entrance to the Batcave below, not waiting a cold second. Her voice is something from hell, and she's on her way there.

"What did I just get myself into?" Jason grumbles and puts the medical kit away before he follows after Cassandra. "What is happening now anyway?" He has a feeling he just opened the door to hell and he has no idea how or why.

To be continued...