CAIN

1. Cassandra Wu-San

Gotham City at midnight is far from a "lively" city. Midnight is the peak crime hour in the streets and most of the pedestrians have locked themselves in their homes. With minimal lighting on the roads and thugs roaming the alleyways, that would typically be the safest place for law-abiding citizens to settle at this time of night.

Walking down the creepy nighttime streets, alone, is young Cassandra Cain, shrouded in all-black clothing, soaking wet from the intense rainfall. Cassandra's been on the run for years now. Nine years to be exact. After having been trained by her world-renowned assassin father until she was eight, Cassandra fled her father's captivity and has been searching for a new life all on her own.

Cassandra attempts to find shelter and food to last her the night, or at least until the rain finally lets up, but it seems hopeless to find such a haven at this time of night in the city. Every house is quiet, every door closed, and every window dark almost throughout the entire neighborhood...except for one. A local convenience store still shines its bright, deceptively warm lights through its windows. Cassandra notices and starts to pace faster towards the door. As she approaches she tries for the door to only realize it is locked. Out of slight frustration, she continued to pull on the door hoping it would eventually open and lead her to a dry room. As she pulls and pulls, a man walks up to the window with an annoyed look on his face.

Store Clerk: Hey! Can't you see that we're closed!?

The clerk points to the big square sign that reads "Sorry! We're Closed." Cassandra stares at the sign with a blank face, then looks back at the man and scowls. Unfortunately, Cassandra can not read. Part of her training as a girl was to read only the body language of her opponents to anticipate their every move. The part of her brain that speaks, reads, and writes is nonfunctional, leaving her practically mute and unable to fully communicate with others.

Store Clerk: Go head. Beat it. Scram!

Cassandra continues to stare at the man for a second, eager to break the glass and invite herself inside. Instead, she turns back towards the sidewalk and pulls the hood on her drenched hoodie over her head more. She continues to walk down the street, finally turning into a dark alleyway.

As the rain continues to pour down heavily onto the filthy streets, Cassandra is desperate to find somewhere warm and dry to stay. Having only been in Gotham for not even a full week, she begins to wonder if staying here is even worth it. As she nears the end of the alleyway she notices a very bright beam aiming toward the sky. Immediately her face brightens up and she starts to jog toward the street. The rain begins to slow down as she approaches the end of the dark street. As Cassandra clears the buildings she looks up into the grayish sky and removes her soaked hood revealing her short, black silk hair to see the Bat-Signal brightening up the night sky. Cassandra sits there and stares at the light in admiration. She may not be able to read, but she knows what it means when that symbol hits the skies.