Out of the Shadows

Chapter Thirteen

  Stephanie was not expecting to nearly be sliced in half by a seven year old. Yet, here she was, barely dodging the katana of some little boy she'd never seen before. "Watch it!"

Sword boy rolled his eyes. "It's your own fault for not being aware of your surroundings. I was here first, you should have gone around."

"You jumped in front of me!"

"Natural selection."

"That is not what that means!"

"Damian!" Tim's voice cut through their argument- just like the kid's sword had nearly cut through her- "Be nice! Put the sword away when someone gets within distance. Seriously. Basic safety precautions much?"

Damian rolled his eyes again.

"Sorry, Steph. This twerp is Damian. That's Cassandra over there." Tim pointed to a girl that Steph hadn't even noticed. She really did have to work on her observational skills. "Damian, Cass, this is my best friend, Stephanie."

"That explains a lot," Damian scoffed. Neither Tim nor Stephanie dignified him with a response.

"I take it you're not the adoptive baby of the family anymore, Tim?"

"Yeah. Bruce got stuck with three newbies last night. These two and- well, it's actually a long story, I'll fill you in inside. Also, it shouldn't be too long until Babs gets here."

"I'm not adopted!"

"Shut up!" Tim snapped at his new brother.

"Make sure you warn Mr. Smart Ass over there to watch out for her. The last thing she needs is another spinal injury."

"Steph!"

"I was just being honest! A sword to the spine cannot be good for you!"

  "Fair enough. Damian, watch the sword when Barbara gets here! She can't jump out of the way."

"I'm always watching my sword!"

"You literally just almost sliced someone in half!"

"That isn't my problem."

Tim leaned over to Stephanie and whispered, "It's been less than twenty four hours and I'm already ready to kill him."

"I wouldn't blame you."

"How about we go meet Cassandra? This way."

Stephanie let Tim drag her away from the tiny brat. The girl watched her the entire time. Stephanie felt like her eyes were staring into her soul. Up close, Steph could see several scars on Cassandra's face. She wasn't sure if they were cool or terrifying. "Hi." She said awkwardly. "I'm Stephanie. Nice to meet you."

Cassandra gave her a small smile in return.

"She's nonverbal," Tim filled in. "And just... non-lingual? She has some kind of developmental issue, I guess. The language part of her brain doesn't work, or something. Anyway, she doesn't know any language."

"Wow." Stephanie's eyes were wide. "That's... crazy."

  "Yeah. Bruce and Alfred are both acting more stressed about that than anything else. Personally, I think they're trying to focus on that instead of the other chaos happening. It's something actually serious they can focus on without feeling like assholes."

Cassandra jumped up. By the time Tim and Stephanie had whipped their heads around, she already had Damian's sword in hand. The blade was a centimeter away from a tree trunk. She lowered the weapon and immediately started reprimanding him. Gesticulating wildly, anger lacing her features. Then she shoved him. Twice.