Trigger warning: implied rape

Give up, we needed the c o m p a n y

Let's drink to your health

Another night, another round of lonely drinks. It was habitual by now. Tessa could stop drinking during a job, but the moment if was over, she could be found at the nearest bar by nightfall. It was rare she got completely drunk anymore. Her stomach usually got upset at the amount of liquid she had ingested before the alcohol ratio rose above her tolerance level far enough for her to feel truly drunk. It was closing time, so that meant a barely tipsy Tessa was put out on to the street. She didn’t want to go home yet. Two am was far too early. New York was for more fun than Alabama when it came to drinking.

What, you may ask, was Tessa doing in Alabama? Taking some rich thrill seeker over the border into Georgia. Your next question might be, why would she even agree to something like that. It paid really really well for a short gig. Also, she wasn’t completely stupid about it. She made the idio put together a full protection detail, which she then refused to lead. She did recommend a man for the job though. It was someone she knew would take the assignment seriously and not try to be a cowboy. Kurt did exactly as advertised. The client got to see zombies, and live to tell about it. Bonus, Tessa got to shoot a couple too. Overall, a good day.

Tessa was smiling rather morbidly while remembering one of the zombie heads exploding when she shot it. Hollow points could be pretty good at things like that, and the rich kid seemed to enjoy it as well. People who had money could be amused so easily. They’d never listened to people they care about tortured. They’d never had those same people killed while they watched so some twisted political agenda. So watching a zombie’s head explode from a gunshot while safely in the center of a circle of armed men was exciting and not scary or horrifying. The smile had long since melted away as her thoughts progressed.

The former Army sergeant was snapped out of her thoughts by as scream. A scared scream that was cut short. For a moment Tessa froze. That wasn’t an adult scream. Her legs began moving on their own. Once her brain had unlocked a moment later, she burst into sprint. She rounded the corner to find a body, half hidden in the shadows, but clearly in a pool of blood. Another, smaller one was beyond that, fully in the shadows. Beyond that, was seemed like a seething pile, all centered on something in the middle. She stepped forward. The first body was a man, his throat slit. More steps. The second body was a little boy, but he was still breathing, barely. Now she could see what was going on, and no one with an ounce of morals would agree with it.

One man went down, a throwing knife sprouting from his back. All activity stopped and the crowd of men began to move away from the center. The last man up motioned to two others who moved in to hold down the woman. The apparent leader zipped up his pants as he turned around. His eyes flicked to the side, singling people. A knife appeared in each of her hands. She never got the chance to use them however as she was hit with a sudden, but short jolt of electricity. As the knives clattered on the street, she was tasered again. Men swarmed around her, holding her in place as the leader advanced.

”Tried ta be a hero huh? Well, now you get to watch as you wait yer turn,” he said with a smirk before turned back towards the crying woman, half propped against the alley wall. ”Oh, an' feel free to liberally taz her till she passes out if she so much as flinches.”

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Cassie was in Alabama by chance. Her uncle David had decided it would be a fun road trip to bring the family out this far. “Fun” was not the word that Cassie would use for thirteen hours of driving at high speed, but that was what had occurred, and after the last two days cooped up in a car, it was hardly a surprise that she had felt the need to come out on the streets now.


As of yet she had done nothing particularly exciting- Alabama really did seem as sleepy as the north tried to make it out, although that may largely have been caused by the timing. The most interesting thing was practicing aerobatics with her shape-shifted wings, but she wasn't very good at that.


After a while, Cassie sat down on metal railings near the entrance to an establishment she would definitely have to shape-shift to enter. It was oddly tempting to see what it was like in there, and the music was definitely intriguing, but she entertained herself by looking up at the sky; a lot clearer here than in the North. Here, even in the towns, it was possible to make out a reasonable amount of the stars through the light pollution. Cassie had noted most of the detail before she rose, about to take flight for their hotel. She stopped suddenly.


Cassie heard the scream, a strange muffled feeling creeping across her mind. It sounded like a young child. Hopefully one who was just a bit lost, except no-one could lie to themselves that anyone would scream like that without some direct threat. Her body had already sprung into action, and she rose, turning, beginning to follow the course of the screaming. She allowed her façade at human skin to drop, her skin seemingly bubbling into green. Her suit shifted, forming long trousers and a dark-coloured vest-top. Her hair swept itself back off her face and into a pony-tail as her figure bulked out slightly. The process took about ten seconds, or long enough to have finished accelerating into a sprint. She saw the woman ahead of her heading towards the scream probably around a hundred metres ahead. She tried to catch up to her, but Cassie wasn't a particularly fast runner, and her breathing was already coming in heavily.


She was too heavily built- literally- for running unless she shifted, which would take far too much time.


Cassie decelerated rapidly as she rounded the corner, her chest rising and falling with her pounding heart. If she had had more warning she could have flown, gotten here when she could have helped the screaming child, and now it was too late. She stayed in the shadows, taking in the scene. Raw disgust worked its way through her body, so strong she almost wanted to vomit. She saw the form of what must have been the screaming child in the alleyway, his chest only just moving. How could anyone do this? If her skin weren't green already, it certainly would have become so now.


She forced herself to look up at the woman, wanting to help her, but she was too shocked for motion. Cassie snapped to attention when she saw the glint of light on the knives, recognising a fight was about to happen, and that this woman would likely appreciate back-up at least. She stepped out just as the men shocked the black-haired woman.


The light catching on her face was by no means detrimental to her. She practically spat out her words. ”You don’t need to be a hero to want to stop dirt like you.” She was probably intimidating enough as just a green-skinned rather muscular teenage girl, but now she allowed her more Kree-like form to appear, and she seemed to stretch in all planes to a rather more hulking figure. ”Right now I’m more worried for you than her.”


Cassie knew she had probably just drawn all their attention onto her, the merit of which was debatable. Sure, she was a lot less breakable than most people but now they were going to be even more furious and irrational than before in all probability. They were sure to try to find a way to break through her more durable skin, and she knew from experience that she was not electricity-proof, even if she was resistant. Still, she would likely fare better than their latest victim seemed to be (she restrained a horrified shiver), so Cassie took her next steps forward, readying herself for an inevitable barrage of pain.

Give up, we needed the c o m p a n y

Let's drink to your health

She usually would have spat out the words, ’I don’t need help’, but tonight, clearly she did, and the girl was clearly not just some average bystander. Tessa didn’t need much of an opening. As soon as eyes turned towards the new arrival, Tessa exploded into action. Her first order of business was to gain control of taser. It wasn’t hard. The man holding it wasn’t trained how to counter her. Actually a mildly trained child probably could have gotten the taser away from him. Unlike her former captors though, Tessa didn’t bother to just threaten those around her with a taser, she used it. Before five seconds had passed, three men had fallen, jerking with electrically induced spasms.

”Protect the boy,” she said, hardly glancing at the green skinned girl. She slid the taser over to girl. She didn’t have time to wonder if the girl could handle herself. If she didn’t take down the leader soon, they could all figure out how to gang up on the two of them and kill both her, the green-skinned girl, the boy and his mother. Before the taser had even slid halfway to the girl, tessa had already sent one knife flying, embedding deep into the knee of one of the men, another knife was already in the air, and a third was being pulled from her boot.

She wasn’t thinking right now. She was only reacting on instinct. Six men were down before she ran out of throwing knives, and there can a lull in the action. She slowly stood from the crouched position she’d used to throw the knives. Gold glinted in her hardend eyes from what little light there was. Large, demonic looking wings spread slowly from her shoulders. The black, constantly moving mist the shrouded their true form also dripped like a black acid, vanishing before it hit the ground. Her head was tilted down slightly, making her look angry without having to furrow her brow. This wouldn’t exactly help her fight, but it did cause about 6 more men to flee in fear.

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Cassie’s first thoughts on the woman’s fighting style were “I want her to teach me.” She delivered only one upper-cut – which seemed fairly effective in stopping the target’s attack, although the blow had landed off-centre and the guy managed to push himself back off the floor in seconds- before Tessa’s command.

”The best defence is a good offence” was all Cassie could say before a couple of men tried another attempt at the boy. Claws grew out from where nails had been a second before. Cassie shut her eyes tightly for the first blow, aiming claws at his throat while stepping forward heavily. The other was punched backwards with a super-strengthened blow to the stomach. Cassie may not have been a hero but she still avoided kills if it was in any way possible. Both men fell to the ground, hopefully unconscious at least.

It was then that she grabbed the Taser. The device was nothing like her style, but she kept it firmly gripped in her right hand for when she decided to use it; for now that left her with just her left arm.

After that her primary object was guarding the two civilians. She used her body as a shield, knowing she was far more likely to be able to survive any of the attacks. One man approached her from the side, and quickly received a glancing blow to the skull which dazed him momentarily.

One gang-member managed to jump onto Cassie’s back with a knife as she fended off the previous one. The knife was practically useless against her skin but she could still feel his attempts. Cassie manouvered neatly and rapidly, slamming the back-stabber against one of the alley walls with enough force to break most of his ribs. She turned back to the civilians, and threw her weight into the no-longer-dazed man, actually sending him into spasms this time as the palm of her left hand collided with his ribs.

Cassie grinned as the woman grew out her wings, and followed suit, although her normal pair seemed somewhat comical in comparison- green structures with a fleshy yellow-freckled membrane between.

She was actually very grateful for doing this even if her wings were ineffective as a threat, as the larger surface area of highly resilient flesh afforded far better protection against the fleeing men, and it took her throwing herself completely in front of the civilians to defend them from the gang.

Give up, we needed the c o m p a n y

Let's drink to your health

She waited, like a master hunter out waiting their prey. Soon enough they would make a mistake, and then she could pounce. The leader of the gang was still there and Tessa assumed the remaining men were his officers of sorts. Those just below him, and most loyal. Tessa had had that once. Of course her team wasn’t a bunch of raping thugs. Well some might have called them thugs. Someone always found a way to call Americans thugs. Tessa didn’t care. Some squads might have been bullies, but not hers, she made sure of it.

”Oooh, a muti. Well we are scared now ain’t we boys,” the leader said in a mocking tone. His followers chuckled, now all sporting various weapons. So far no one had pulled a gun yet, but that could always change.

”The mad scientist muti and her little green, pet monster.” He said the words as it he still had the upper hand. As if Tessa and the green skinned girl hadn’t just taken out a good number of his guys and then watched as half of the remaining ran off with their tails between their legs. Tessa’s lips curled into a cruel smile. There were evils in this world she could let slide, or that didn’t bother her as much. But praying on those who weren’t able to defend themselves, and in overwhelming numbers; that was something she couldn’t let slid in the least. It was time like this when the beast broke through its beautiful shell.

”Oh honey. I’m going to enjoy this,” she hissed, almost animalistic in a way. He knees bent and her eyes begged them to come at her. Of course these testosterone driven men couldn’t let a woman win. Their attacks were a little better coordinated than the regular grunts from before. Two came at her while one slipped by towards the green girl behind her. Sadly Tessa could only take on so many people at once. The girl would have to catch the stragglers.

Tessa folded her wings down to almost flat against her back to keep them out of her way. She used the momentum of the first guy to reach her, to shove him into a wall while she refocused on the second one. He threw a punch, holding a knife in the same hand. Tessa easily deflected the arm with one of her own. Her other hand came forward and slammed into his chest, sending him reeling back. Her ears caught the sound of movement almost directly behind her, and she put her large wings to good use. They’d actually changed shape by now, becoming smaller, more angel-like, but still black as night. She turned, not far, and punched out with her wing. She had bent over a little so that the top of the wing would sweep at her attacker. The guy was not at all ready for that move, and was knocked over by the impact.

It was at that moment a shot rang out and a white hot pain slowly grew on leg. Tessa’s knee buckled under her for a moment before she steadied herself. The second man was still lying on the ground, most likely knocked out. The first man had gotten back up, and having lost his knife, was now pointing a smoking gun at Tessa.

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Cassie practically bristled at the comments about Tessa and herself. ”I’m no one’s pet, and I’m not a monster!” She really didn't know what part of the man’s insult got to her most, but she knew that he would at least get a severe pounding from her in return.

Cassie couldn't help agreeing with Tessa. Punching up this dirt that passed for people was certainly satisfying.

The man who ran towards her only made a few steps past Tessa. Cassie’s fist shifted to include long claws, and she grabbed him over the chest, not really caring what parts of him she hit, but judging from the look of pain on his face, she had hit a lot. She swung him round and slammed him head-first into the brick wall, which was maybe a little unnecessary what with all the chest wounds he had clearly just taken. He flopped over, anyway, and fell in a slightly broken heap on the floor, although she could still see his chest rising and falling very slightly.
 
Probably the last man of the pure grunts took the opportunity to try attacking the civilians as Cassie’s back was turned. She heard the horrified reactions, and responded by spinning around and delivering an uppercut, remembering to restrain her strength somewhat. She had no prohibitions about maiming a murderer, but she felt the sight of the man’s neck snapping from the backwards force might be enough to be inappropriate in front of the civilians, mores the pity. She brought her foot around behind his leg as he already stood dazed, sending him toppling to the floor.

The gun shot pulled Cassie’s attention immediately over to Tessa. She delivered one last kick to her target, and saw him fall, before she charged over. She practically threw herself at the man with the gun, completely unafraid of the weapon. The fact that she really had had no proper combat training was probably obvious in her strange grip of the man, but at least she had the sense to place herself between Tessa and the shooter, then to wrench his hand downwards before trying to remove the fire-arm.

She squeezed his wrist hard using her right hand, feeling the strain on his flesh before he dropped the gun. Cassie slammed her foot into the cold metal, hearing the crack quickly. She pulled her knee up between the man’s legs, using her other hand to ensure he couldn't dodge.

It was by no means a permanent measure, but it at least would incapacitate him for a short while.

She had been managing so far by the men deciding it was good tactics to approach one-at-a-time like cops in a bad crime film. If they all approached at once she really wouldn't have much she could do to them. Now she had just forced an attack on one of them, surely they would all start attacking her as a group now.

They had called her a monster before. Maybe she better had show them how much of a monster she could have been.

Cassie’s form rippled briefly before quickly expanding to near gargantuan proportions. She felt the tarmac crack under her bare feet from the increasing mass. She was still green, but now the “little green pet monster” had turned into a “large green rage machine” clearly copied from her father’s namesake.

She took a step back, turning slightly to ensure that both Tessa and the civilians were in her line of sight, and that she would be close enough to make a somewhat decent attempt at defending them.

Give up, we needed the c o m p a n y

Let's drink to your health

Tessa hated being shot. Well who really enjoyed it, but she knew from past experiences that she didn’t like it. Her visions blurred for a moment as shock tried to take hold of her, but she shook it off with a shake of her head and a few deep breaths. By the time her vision cleared, a matter of maybe 30 seconds, the girl had again grown in size and was now standing between Tessa and the civilians, and the remaining thugs. She’d already disarmed the man who had shot Tessa, and quite frankly, Tessa was rather willing to let the other girl wrap this one up.

Well maybe not this time. The girl tended to flail a bit. Didn’t look as though she’d ever had any kind of real training past the very basics on how to throw a punch. With a grunt Tessa got back up to her feet. She limped over to the fallen goon that had shot her and picked up his gun. She aimed and pulled the trigger twice. The gang leader fell over, two shots to his chest.

She dropped the gun on the ground and fell again to her knees as the rest of the gang took flight. Tessa sat the rest of the way down, taking off her leather jacket. ’Um, so, thanks for the help. What do I call you?’ Of course Tessa hadn’t offered her name in return. It just hadn’t really occurred to her. Personal interactions hadn’t been her strong suit for sometime now.

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Maybe leaving the fighting all to Cassie would have been a bad plan.

Cassie’s fighting style did indeed leave much to be desired. Given all her fighting training came from her uncle, who was himself a speedster with no serious fighting training, it was not hard to see why it was so awful. That and that in most fights it was possible to shape-shift into somebody with a better offensive power-set and just use that. She really did need some proper training at some point.

Cassie was maybe a little surprised to hear the gun-shots when they came, but she gave little reaction beyond a little head-turn to check who it was. She knew she would be unaffected by the bullets no matter who it was; hence the only very minute reaction.

She watched the man fall, and shrank back into her more usual, well, civilian form. Once she was sure that all the gang members were down, Cassie finally turned to look at where Tessa was properly, and quickly hurried over.

”You are very welcome. Getting my help must be pretty awesome.” Okay, she couldn’t deny that that was a little bit arrogant. She hadn’t done much beyond stumble wildly, and she wasn’t going to be able to hide that. Still, she had been helpful… somewhat. Now to try to continue being helpful.

”I’m Hulkling. Or just Cassie.” She paused for about a second. ”Though some Teen Titans guy calls me Verdi. Not sure what to make of that; does he think I’m musically talented or that I’m a very dead, very European, very old man?” Okay that wasn’t helpful in the slightest. What were you even meant to do when someone got shot? Cassie was pretty sure that rambling- particularly on something that trivial- wasn’t on the instructions.

”Uh, sorry. I don’t know your name… awesome winged ninja lady?” There. That seemed like an appropriate name. At the very least, no one could be offended by it, and it was true.
"Do we call a hospital or something?"

Give up, we needed the c o m p a n y

Let's drink to your health

She was an odd duck this one. Tessa couldn’t quite put her finger on what exactly it was though. She wasn’t a horrible scrapper, but put up against someone with any kind of skill, and the green girl probably wouldn’t last all that long. The girl could really be something with the proper training. A part of Tessa wondered why the girl hadn’t been trained better.

”You are full of yourself, aren’t you?” It wasn’t meant to be completely an insult. It was said with an element of shock really. ”Also, do you freely give your name out to just anyone?” She knew some heroes didn’t care about their personal identities being secret, but she figured the vast majority of them did. What she said next stopped Tessa in her track of thought.

”Verdi is the color green. Vivaldi is a musician,” she said bluntly. Of course that didn’t stop the girl from continuing her ramble a mere moment later. Tessa was polite though, much of her energy she would have normally used at being annoyed having already been used in fighting. Anyway, this was just a kid. Didn’t kids tend to ramble, or something like that? Tessa couldn’t help but smile, quite a bit at the long name this Cassie girl gave her . She put her hand up to her face to hide it, by pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head.

”My name is Tessa.” The girl didn’t need the whole regalia of titles and last names. Tessa would probably never see her again, right? Of course, she had mentioned something about the Teen Titans. Was she a part of that team? If she was, then why hadn’t anyone bothered to teach her to fight properly. ”Are you on one of those hero teams?” She had to ask. ”We’ll call 9-1-1 and then leave. I don’t need to be questioned.” She pulled out a phone out of a pocket and began dialling. Once the call was placed, Tessa hung up and looked back at Cassie.

”Wanna get some food?”

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Cassie shrugged a little bit at Tessa’s comment. She really wasn’t offended in the slightest. ”Blame my uncle.” If you get most of your training in your powers from a speedster, it was only to be expected.

”Not anyone. Just the cool people. Plus, being a shape-shifter, it’s not really a huge deal if someone knows my name.” Well, that was true, but she also was awful at just not blurting out things. She really did resemble her uncle more than her parents. Anyone who stepped in to stop brutes of men acting out their impulses definitely fell in the “cool” category; really they fitted in the “completely amazing and awesome” category but maybe that was coming on a little too hard when her point was clear already.

”Giuseppe Verdi. Born in Northern Italy, 1810-ish. Wrote mostly operas. Vivaldi was a composer. But the green thing does make more sense.” She practically didn’t pause for breath in that. Cassie noted the smile and the hand movement but passed no comment on it. That seemed pretty normal. A lot of people reacted to her like that.

”No. You’d always have to play good, and where’s the fun in that?” If she occasionally stuck around she might see but without that experience she couldn’t see the fun in it. Plus, everyone knew that always following the rules was plain boring most of the time.

”Okay.” Cassie nodded a bit to Tessa’s explanation, but remained quiet for her call.

”As long as it’s Kosher, always.” No matter what people said about it being hungry teenage boys who needed lots of food, it counted for any teenagers, especially ones who were half-alien. ”But don’t you need medical care first?” No way was she ignoring Tessa’s wounds. Unless she had some sort of healing power she really did need some medical attention. ”And then we can get something after that, right?”