Post by redsycorax on Jul 25, 2021 3:15:39 GMT
MONTREAL, 1982: EARTH-109:
Twenty years after the Cuban War destroyed much of the world as they had known it, Tina Turbine was sitting, telling her children stories about the valiant but vanquished Justice Guild of America, who had perished two decades before that, saving Seaboard City from a direct hit by an incoming intercontinental ballistic missile. Donna pointed to an older volume about the exploits of her uncle's crimefighting group and a hitherto unremarked, unknown woman, dressed in a green, gauzy tubular skirt.
"Ah, her. That's Cassandra."
"Why haven't you told us about her, Mom? And she isn't in the more recent volumes about the Justice Guild, up until the war took place. Why?"
"Tommy, Cassandra died about a year before the Cuban War broke out."
Donna frowned: "Isn't her name the same one as the Trojan princess you told us about in that Trojan War story last year? So was she some sort of farseer? But this was before the War, so she can't have been a post-apo mutant like most of the ones we know are."
Tina nodded: "That's right, darling. She was named after the mythical Cassandra and no, she wasn't a mutant in the sense we know it. And there are other parallels..."
GIRDER CITY, 1955:
Black Siren and Catman watched, astonished, as the new mystery-woman worked rapidly and almost effortlessly to bring down their assailants. It was almost as if she knew what the crooks were going to do, well in advance of what assaults they had planned:
"Hey there. Sorry, we were going to join in, but you were doing very well subduing them, Miss...?"
The platinum haired woman looked up as she let the last criminal fall to the ground before her: "Cassandra. So called because I can see a year in advance of the present. Wow, Catman and Black Siren. I can't believe I'm meeting you two."
Catman looked at his colleague: "It's not as if crime fighters like us are all that common. Say, have you considered joining..."
"The Justice Guild? Oh yes! I've idolised all of you for the last eight years, before I got these abilities of mine."
"Just think of the possibilities your abilities could pose for preventing crimes before they actually happen!" Black Siren enthused.
"Ah. Well, my abilities aren't that precise or convenient. I only get warnings of the specific locations and times of crimes about fifteen to ten minutes before they actually occur. Before that, it's hazy. Enough that robberies, murders or abductions can all be prevented before they can actually take place."
Catman grinned: "That's just as good! Even if we can't actually prevent them, we can stop them from being successful. Wow, Cass, you'll be a real asset to the team."
"And you can fight too!"
"Ah. One of the perks of my power is that I can predict fight tactics and positions well beforehand. It's useful when you need to take people down. As for where I got them, there's an old family legend within our Astriides clan. Apparently, one of the girls in each seventh generation of our family gets the ability of precognition. We're supposed to be descended from the original Cassandra and Agamemnon, the Greek prince who fell in love with her. What the old Oresteia trilogy didn't tell you was that en route back to Mycenae, Cassandra had a daughter of her own. She escaped when Clytemnestra murdered her parents, spirited away by a faithful nurse. She grew to adulthood and married and thus was our line founded."
Black Siren raised an eyebrow: "It'll be nice having another girl around the place too."
ENSUING:
For eight years, Cassandra fought alongside the other members of the Justice Guild, especially growing close to the Streak (Jake Alden) and his wife Irene, the only member of the Guild to have married, although no-one could tell about Tom Turbine and his girlfriend Lyra Lewis. Tom wanted to do so, badly, but Lyra was a career woman who valued her economic and personal independence and it would have taken too much of a sacrifice for her to say yes. Still, she was visibly weakening at last. And then, one day in October 1961, Cassandra woke up screaming with what she had seen. For several days, she wrestled with the gravity and magnitude of what she had seen. However, her attempts to do something about the encroachment of destiny on her future, those of her colleagues and friends, and the rest of the United States were invariably frustrated. She tried to tell the Joint Chiefs of Staff about the impending danger that they were all in. They disbelieved her. Some of them insinuated that she was in the employ of the Soviet Union. Then she took a gamble and told the rest of her colleagues. Scott (Green Guardsman) Mason raged at her, unable or unwilling to believe what would happen. Donna left the meeting, upset and Ted (Catman) Blake went after her. To his credit, Tom sat and talked with her, while Jake sat, listening.
After the meeting concluded, Jake took Cassandra aside:
"I'll have a talk to Scott. You know how gung-ho patriotic he is about these things. But Cass... I believe you."
"Thanks, Jake. That means a lot."
"But there's one thing I need to know. Did you see any fallout shelters that had survived... after it happens?"
Cass hesitated: "Yes, Jake, I did. In the northwest. Nebraska. And...I saw Irene and the children there. They were crying."
"But not me, huh?"
"Jake, that doesn't neccessarily mean that you..."
"As long as Irene and the kids are safe when it happens, that's all that matters to me. As a Guild member, we all have duties."
Cassandra laughed, in a brittle tone: "Oh, Jake, if only you knew..."
"Actually, Cass, I do. I may be overstepping here, but I followed you to the neurologists office at Seaboard Hospital. You're dying, aren't you?"
Cassandra nodded: "Ironic, isn't it? I can foresee doomsday, but I won't live until then. Like the original Cassandra in ancient Greek legend, according to Aeschylus."
"Yeah, that's right. In Agamemnon, she delivers a chorus to the people of Argos before she enters the palace where Clytemnestra is waiting to kill her."
"Which is what you've just done now."
"Perhaps it's ironic, in a way. Perhaps time is impervious to change or transformation, or the will of the gods."
"Did...you see all of us die, Cass?"
"Yes, I did. All of you died heroes. Which is more than I do. In a hospital bed, two or three months from now."
"I can't even begin to know what it's like to foresee your own death. Yet despite that, despite having no stake in that future, you want to save as many people as possible. That's real heroism, Cass."
Cassandra's eyes brimmed over with tears: "I only wish I could save more."
"You're our closest friend and what you've just told me will mean Irene and the children survive this. Don't beat yourself up because you can't change the minds of stubborn, ignorant old fanatics."
MARCH 1962:
And as it turned out, Cassandra Astrides did die in a hospital bed. She died a hero, stepping in front of a bullet that would have killed Black Siren, slipping away as a grief-stricken Streak and his wife Irene clasped her hands, insuring that their dearest friend wouldn't be alone when she died. And for the first time, at her graveside, the Justice Guild of America knew loss. Ray Thompson grinned malevolently as the others travelled back to their headquarters- he had foreseen what would happen as well and he reveled in the end of the only person who might have stood some chance of averting his world's cruel destiny and his ascent to absolute power in his hometown after the nuclear holocaust. Seaboard City erected a statue of their fallen heroine, in its cemetery. Given the brief tenure of her membership of the Guild, she was not often featured in group photographs.
OCTOBER 1962 AND AFTER:
And finally, when doomsday dawned for Earth-109 in October 1962, both the Justice Guild and US Chiefs of Staff realised that Cassandra had been right. As a result of her forewarning, Jake was able to rush Irene and their children to safety in a distant fallout shelter and at least, their lives were spared. However, in the immediate nuclear exchange, hundreds of millions of people died, including the Streak and the other members of the Justice Guild of America, who fell trying to save their adopted city from the tragedy that befell it. When Ray Thompson became a fully fledged mutant, he erased Cassandra from the simulacra of the Justice Guild that he 'resurrected' and as phantasms, they didn't 'remember' Cassandra either. But the people of Seaboard City did and, avoiding Ray Thompson's fury, they surreptitiously laid flowers at her statue each year on the anniversary of her death. She became a symbol of defiance to Thompson's covert tyranny and almost absolute power during the ensuing decades of darkness. When the facade of pre-apocalyptic conservative utopia fell after the Justice League intervention on Earth-109, though, Cassandra's statue was rehabilitated and re-engraved with her name. And as Thompson's influence didn't extend to the Young Justice Guild, posterity did record Cassandra's vision and valour. Posthumously, she lived on as a tale of heroism and strength despite the brevity of her life and career, as one of the bravest of the Justice Guild of America.
THE END
Twenty years after the Cuban War destroyed much of the world as they had known it, Tina Turbine was sitting, telling her children stories about the valiant but vanquished Justice Guild of America, who had perished two decades before that, saving Seaboard City from a direct hit by an incoming intercontinental ballistic missile. Donna pointed to an older volume about the exploits of her uncle's crimefighting group and a hitherto unremarked, unknown woman, dressed in a green, gauzy tubular skirt.
"Ah, her. That's Cassandra."
"Why haven't you told us about her, Mom? And she isn't in the more recent volumes about the Justice Guild, up until the war took place. Why?"
"Tommy, Cassandra died about a year before the Cuban War broke out."
Donna frowned: "Isn't her name the same one as the Trojan princess you told us about in that Trojan War story last year? So was she some sort of farseer? But this was before the War, so she can't have been a post-apo mutant like most of the ones we know are."
Tina nodded: "That's right, darling. She was named after the mythical Cassandra and no, she wasn't a mutant in the sense we know it. And there are other parallels..."
GIRDER CITY, 1955:
Black Siren and Catman watched, astonished, as the new mystery-woman worked rapidly and almost effortlessly to bring down their assailants. It was almost as if she knew what the crooks were going to do, well in advance of what assaults they had planned:
"Hey there. Sorry, we were going to join in, but you were doing very well subduing them, Miss...?"
The platinum haired woman looked up as she let the last criminal fall to the ground before her: "Cassandra. So called because I can see a year in advance of the present. Wow, Catman and Black Siren. I can't believe I'm meeting you two."
Catman looked at his colleague: "It's not as if crime fighters like us are all that common. Say, have you considered joining..."
"The Justice Guild? Oh yes! I've idolised all of you for the last eight years, before I got these abilities of mine."
"Just think of the possibilities your abilities could pose for preventing crimes before they actually happen!" Black Siren enthused.
"Ah. Well, my abilities aren't that precise or convenient. I only get warnings of the specific locations and times of crimes about fifteen to ten minutes before they actually occur. Before that, it's hazy. Enough that robberies, murders or abductions can all be prevented before they can actually take place."
Catman grinned: "That's just as good! Even if we can't actually prevent them, we can stop them from being successful. Wow, Cass, you'll be a real asset to the team."
"And you can fight too!"
"Ah. One of the perks of my power is that I can predict fight tactics and positions well beforehand. It's useful when you need to take people down. As for where I got them, there's an old family legend within our Astriides clan. Apparently, one of the girls in each seventh generation of our family gets the ability of precognition. We're supposed to be descended from the original Cassandra and Agamemnon, the Greek prince who fell in love with her. What the old Oresteia trilogy didn't tell you was that en route back to Mycenae, Cassandra had a daughter of her own. She escaped when Clytemnestra murdered her parents, spirited away by a faithful nurse. She grew to adulthood and married and thus was our line founded."
Black Siren raised an eyebrow: "It'll be nice having another girl around the place too."
ENSUING:
For eight years, Cassandra fought alongside the other members of the Justice Guild, especially growing close to the Streak (Jake Alden) and his wife Irene, the only member of the Guild to have married, although no-one could tell about Tom Turbine and his girlfriend Lyra Lewis. Tom wanted to do so, badly, but Lyra was a career woman who valued her economic and personal independence and it would have taken too much of a sacrifice for her to say yes. Still, she was visibly weakening at last. And then, one day in October 1961, Cassandra woke up screaming with what she had seen. For several days, she wrestled with the gravity and magnitude of what she had seen. However, her attempts to do something about the encroachment of destiny on her future, those of her colleagues and friends, and the rest of the United States were invariably frustrated. She tried to tell the Joint Chiefs of Staff about the impending danger that they were all in. They disbelieved her. Some of them insinuated that she was in the employ of the Soviet Union. Then she took a gamble and told the rest of her colleagues. Scott (Green Guardsman) Mason raged at her, unable or unwilling to believe what would happen. Donna left the meeting, upset and Ted (Catman) Blake went after her. To his credit, Tom sat and talked with her, while Jake sat, listening.
After the meeting concluded, Jake took Cassandra aside:
"I'll have a talk to Scott. You know how gung-ho patriotic he is about these things. But Cass... I believe you."
"Thanks, Jake. That means a lot."
"But there's one thing I need to know. Did you see any fallout shelters that had survived... after it happens?"
Cass hesitated: "Yes, Jake, I did. In the northwest. Nebraska. And...I saw Irene and the children there. They were crying."
"But not me, huh?"
"Jake, that doesn't neccessarily mean that you..."
"As long as Irene and the kids are safe when it happens, that's all that matters to me. As a Guild member, we all have duties."
Cassandra laughed, in a brittle tone: "Oh, Jake, if only you knew..."
"Actually, Cass, I do. I may be overstepping here, but I followed you to the neurologists office at Seaboard Hospital. You're dying, aren't you?"
Cassandra nodded: "Ironic, isn't it? I can foresee doomsday, but I won't live until then. Like the original Cassandra in ancient Greek legend, according to Aeschylus."
"Yeah, that's right. In Agamemnon, she delivers a chorus to the people of Argos before she enters the palace where Clytemnestra is waiting to kill her."
"Which is what you've just done now."
"Perhaps it's ironic, in a way. Perhaps time is impervious to change or transformation, or the will of the gods."
"Did...you see all of us die, Cass?"
"Yes, I did. All of you died heroes. Which is more than I do. In a hospital bed, two or three months from now."
"I can't even begin to know what it's like to foresee your own death. Yet despite that, despite having no stake in that future, you want to save as many people as possible. That's real heroism, Cass."
Cassandra's eyes brimmed over with tears: "I only wish I could save more."
"You're our closest friend and what you've just told me will mean Irene and the children survive this. Don't beat yourself up because you can't change the minds of stubborn, ignorant old fanatics."
MARCH 1962:
And as it turned out, Cassandra Astrides did die in a hospital bed. She died a hero, stepping in front of a bullet that would have killed Black Siren, slipping away as a grief-stricken Streak and his wife Irene clasped her hands, insuring that their dearest friend wouldn't be alone when she died. And for the first time, at her graveside, the Justice Guild of America knew loss. Ray Thompson grinned malevolently as the others travelled back to their headquarters- he had foreseen what would happen as well and he reveled in the end of the only person who might have stood some chance of averting his world's cruel destiny and his ascent to absolute power in his hometown after the nuclear holocaust. Seaboard City erected a statue of their fallen heroine, in its cemetery. Given the brief tenure of her membership of the Guild, she was not often featured in group photographs.
OCTOBER 1962 AND AFTER:
And finally, when doomsday dawned for Earth-109 in October 1962, both the Justice Guild and US Chiefs of Staff realised that Cassandra had been right. As a result of her forewarning, Jake was able to rush Irene and their children to safety in a distant fallout shelter and at least, their lives were spared. However, in the immediate nuclear exchange, hundreds of millions of people died, including the Streak and the other members of the Justice Guild of America, who fell trying to save their adopted city from the tragedy that befell it. When Ray Thompson became a fully fledged mutant, he erased Cassandra from the simulacra of the Justice Guild that he 'resurrected' and as phantasms, they didn't 'remember' Cassandra either. But the people of Seaboard City did and, avoiding Ray Thompson's fury, they surreptitiously laid flowers at her statue each year on the anniversary of her death. She became a symbol of defiance to Thompson's covert tyranny and almost absolute power during the ensuing decades of darkness. When the facade of pre-apocalyptic conservative utopia fell after the Justice League intervention on Earth-109, though, Cassandra's statue was rehabilitated and re-engraved with her name. And as Thompson's influence didn't extend to the Young Justice Guild, posterity did record Cassandra's vision and valour. Posthumously, she lived on as a tale of heroism and strength despite the brevity of her life and career, as one of the bravest of the Justice Guild of America.
THE END