Damian exhaled as he found himself in one of the base’s large training rooms. Apparently it had received its share of destruction earlier when the explosions began before his escape. Pieces of metal ceiling with sparking wires littered the floor. Hopefully, the explosion wasn't enough to damage his secret exit route...

"Damian." a soft voice spoke behind him and sent an icy sensation down his spine.

Damian whirled around to face the voice and his heart stuck to his throat.  It was the black-clothed figure of Cassandra Cain, former leader of a faction of the League of Assassins and former Batgirl. Yes, she had been pursuing him as well. He should have known that out of all the assassins in the League, she'd be the most successful in catching up to him. She had worked under his father after all.

When explosions set chaos to the resurrection ceremony, she had appeared. Cloaked in black rags like the proverbial figure of Death, she had come for him. Talia had shouted for the League to stop her, but as Cassandra brought down everyone that dared to stand in her path, Damian had escaped the room.

As far as he could tell, she wanted to him dead. It made sense in a way. 

Rejection from the Bat clan hurt alright, as did abandonment, and to his knowledge, Cassandra had faced that and more.  What better way to gain revenge against Batman, than to kill Batman's real son? (even if Batman didn’t truly love him, a voice had whispered in his head)

It probably didn't hurt that she wanted to ruin the plans of the League of Assassins, as well.  They weren't exactly humane in their treatment of her after she was caught attempting to run away from her destiny. Damian briefly wondered how she had managed to escape her prison cell, especially in the condition that she had been in...Beaten, starved, and in chains.

Damian's eyes wildly scoured the room for a weapon and found a sword that had fallen out of a toppled sword case nearby. He instantly threw himself at it before the One Who is All stopped him. Surprisingly the young woman did not move from her position near the doorway. Damian noted this upon getting to his feet with the sword held out.  Cassandra continued to observe him from beneath her black hood as he carefully put distance between them.

"Do you think you can fight me? With a sword?"

Damian glared at her. No, he knew he couldn't. The sword, being much heavier and longer than what someone of his stature required, hovered uneasily in the air, his small hands gripping the hilt till his fingers were white.

"I don't care. You're not taking me away. I will kill you before you do."

Without warning, Cassandra was in his face and a crack sounded near his ears. Her arm was extended to the side.  Damian found himself tripping backwards with pieces of sword falling through the air about him. 

She had broken the sword with her fist. HER FIST.  He realized looking at the broken blade in his hands in complete shock.

It was shorter and lighter now. Damian instinctively rolled away and held the sword up to the side, ready to charge.  Cass approached him again and Damian moved, faster than he ever had before.
 

He would escape this, he had to.
 

Cass sidestepped as Damian sliced past her and continued doing so as he kept charging.
 

"Damian."
 

"Leave me alone!" Damian swiped his sword as Cass jumped back.
 

"I can't. I have to save you."
 

Damian nearly loosened his grip in surprise, but he caught himself in time to stab at her again.  She move aside and quickly struck his hand with hers. Damian cried as his fingers lost their grip and Cass caught his sword in her hand.
 

"Liar! Stop stalling me!" Damian ran from her and picked up a wooden staff as he made his way across the room.
 

"No! Damian! stop!"
 

Damian's foot stepped into a puddle of water and the boy silently cried out as an electrical current caught a hold of him. A live wire hung from the ceiling at the edge of the puddle.
 

In the same instant, Cassandra was by his side, grabbing onto the staff clenched in his hand, and yanked him back.
 

The boy should have been knocked unconscious, but Damian had suffered worse in his "training" and he only fell to the ground whimpering as he gathered his senses together.
 

"Damian..." Cass tried reaching out to check on him.
 

"Don’t touch me!" Damian screamed swiping Cass' hand aside. He crawled away from her. "Don't you dare touch me! J-just leave me alone!" Damian clenched his teeth as he grabbed a hold of the staff once more and picked himself up. Visibly shaken, he could only walk back, holding the staff out, like a sword.
 

"I won't hurt you, Damian. I'm here to help you get out. Come with me. We don't have much time left." Cass extended her empty hands to him. "Please believe me, Damian. I want to save you."  She pleaded with him. 
 

What an odd sight to see her face like that. He was used to dealing with straight-faced or twisted scary killers.  But seeing one of the best assassins looking at him like that--an almost gentle look--was disturbing to him. It was a look that crossed his mother’s face ever so often, and only when others weren’t looking.  To see it on anyone else's face frightened him. 

It didn’t make sense. Cassandra Cain was a killer, the best in the whole league. Why would she bother saving a kid like him? She wouldn't. There was no reason too. She no longer worked for Batman. She was no longer a hero. She was...
 

Damian's back finally hit the wall. He was cornered. He stubbornly held the broken staff out.  It was a pathetic attempt to hold the powerful young woman off, but if he was to die tonight, he would go out fighting.
 

"Why should I believe you?" he hissed bitterly. "How do I know you're not going to use me too? You-You’re just like everyone else! You’re all liars! Mother...even my mother betrayed me, why wouldn't you?" Damian swallowed his grief at the thought. His mother was sick, that's all. She was mentally sick.

"Because..."

Cass stopped a few steps ahead of him and her hood fall back, revealing haunted dark eyes in a rather young face. "...Because I know what it's like to be cheated out of your childhood."

Damian stared at her in disbelief.

Cassandra continued on, her gaze solemn, "My father…raised me to be the perfect assassin since birth...in complete isolation. When I asked for love...affection, all I got was the back of his hand." Cass shook her head. "There was nothing else for me. I never got a chance..to decide...I didn't...ask...to be who I am. It..it hasn't made me happy."

Damian was stunned. No one in the League talked about their past, unless it was a past full of training and glorious trials. His mother had explained Cass's past and purpose to him once in passing, but he never realized that Cass may not have wanted that life.

"But...Damian, you still have a chance. You’re young. Don't give up. Don’t get...used...like me."  

"But why...?" Damian interrupted her. "Why are you worried about me? You ran away from us.... Why are you here now? You could have escaped, instead of come after me. You'd be safer if you stayed away."

A sad expression crossed her face. "I don't want anyone to suffer like me." Cass looked up at him again, "I don't want anyone to be used like I was. When I heard what they were doing to you...I couldn't let that happen."

Cass approached him and entranced, Damian allowed her to push the staff away. 

"You're a person Damian. Not a weapon, not a tool, and not a vessel." Cass then smiled. "You are Damian, a young boy who likes...planes...and rockets, right?" Cass asked almost shyly.

Damian's eyes widened as he heard her words. How did she...? No one knew about his interests. Or at least no one cared enough to find out. It was not essential to his training and development. He couldn't remember the last time someone acknowledged what he liked, never mind looked at him.

HIM, not Batman's son, not Talia's son. Not the heir to the Demon Head, not Ra's al Ghul's vessel. But HIM, simply Damian. 

Before he could ask her how she knew, he was violently thrown to the side as shots rang out from the doorway. They had been discovered.

To Be continued...