Depending on how this is received I might write more Young Justice fics. I had fun with this, I hope you enjoy it too.

Disclaimer – I own nothing, all characters belong to their respective owners... blah, blah...

Temper

There was not a shred of doubt in Cassie's mind that Wonder Woman was trying to kill her.

Admittedly, she wasn't trying very hard. After all as hard as she had just hit Cassie – and it felt like she had just been run over by a two-ton truck – she knew that Wonder Woman could hit a hell of a lot harder. She was holding back, only unleashing a fraction of her true strength and speed.

This meant two things; firstly: Wonder Woman was, despite her sweet, innocent and compassionate act and all her talk of peace, a sadist. She was clearly intent on slowly and "gently" beating Cassie into an early grave, prolonging the pain rather than just granting a swift and merciful end.

Secondly: it meant that Wonder Woman was coddling her; which was way insulting.

Cassie rolled onto her front. She gripped her bruised ribs with her arms, hugging herself; her forehead was pressed down into the sand of the Circle, her knees drawn up to her stomach, and her feet tapping a little dance.

"Owowowowowowow..."

Her breath hissed out from between her clenched teeth. Who would have thought that sand was so hard and that landing on it would be so painful? Cassie was half-sure that most of her bruises were caused by her crappy landings and falls to the sand. And then it got everywhere! It was in her hair, which was the least annoying place that it was located; she had sand in her ears, up her nose, she could taste the wet grit of it in her mouth, and it was caked down her sweat soaked body. She was also pretty sure that it had got into places she really did not want to think about.

Why couldn't they have trained on mats? Nice comfortable, forgiving gym mats. What did Wonder Woman have against mats?

"Are we done here?"

"N... No." Cassie forced herself to her knees, pushing against the sand with her hands. She could see lots of tiny, raw cuts across the back of them. They were like paper cuts, small but stingingly painful, and were caused by the hated sand.

She looked up at Wonder Woman. No surprises here she looked immaculate, dressed in a small white skirt that showed off her long legs that Cassie was sort of jealous of, and sort of felt something else that she couldn't quite decide but usually plagued her mind in the quiet of night. She also wore a small white top, which much like the skirt, showed off far too much flesh. Wonder Woman had her hair pulled back into a loose braid that hung down her back, swinging whenever she moved. Her feet were bare. The only thing she wore from her usual get up were the bracelets, shining metal that gleamed coolly in the light of the room. Cassie had never seen her take them off.

Cassie stood up, her legs shaking so badly that she thought she might just fall back down again.

"No way," she said, sounding more confident then she felt. "No way are we done yet."

Wonder Woman smiled.

Cassie wanted to smile back but simply standing up was taking all of her effort and concentration. That and her face actually hurt.

When she had asked Wonder Woman to train her she had been disappointed but not surprised that the Amazon had said no. Then Cassie had begged her. She had followed Wonder Woman everywhere, harassing and annoying her until she had finally, sounding exasperated, agreed to train Cassie.

Cassie had thought that they would start slow, maybe with some boring meditation to help her control her powers. Diana seemed to like meditating, sometimes spending hours just sat in silence with her eyes closed. And Cassie knew that she needed to learn to restrain her strength, sometimes when she was angry, or even when she wasn't paying close enough attention, she would accidently wreck something, her foot through the floor or a door ripped from its hinges. Occasionally having super strength sucked. So it made sense to her that they'd start with exercises designed to teach her control and restraint.

Wonder Woman apparently didn't think that was the best starting place.

She had taken Cassie to her training room, which was handily located beneath her home, the Themysciran embassy. Cassie had always been not so quietly impressed that Diana had a training room that looked like it had been taken out of Clash of the Titans or 300. White stone walls and ornate columns that superficially held up the ceiling, it would have been beautiful were it not essentially a war room. There were racks of weapons on the wall, some that Cassie recognised and most that she did not, and not a single one she knew how to use beyond hitting someone with it; apparatus for stretching or some other sort of exercises that Cassie wasn't familiar with were dotted here and there; punching bags, which Cassie definitely knew how to play with, and loads of other fun toys littered the room. In the centre of the room there was a large circle, raised slightly from the ground and surrounded by thick twisted rope and lined with pristine white sand. This was where the sparring took place.

Or, when bored, it was where Cassie made sand angels.

Wonder Woman had warned her that they were going to spar, and they wouldn't be leaving the Circle until one of them had submitted to the other.

Cassie had practically flown into the Circle, bouncing up and down, and kicking up clouds of what had been perfectly raked sand. Wonder Woman had entered the Circle calmly, almost hesitantly and looking a little grim. Her feet were bare and she had spent a moment curling her toes into the sand.

Cassie had wondered if she should also be barefoot, and if it would be considered rude on Themyscira to wear sneakers in a sparring Circle.

She had been so preoccupied wondering about sparring etiquette and shoes that she hadn't heard Wonder Woman yell: "Begin!" and her first warning that they were starting was when her face had met the ground. She had got up quickly, spitting sand and feeling more than a little annoyed when Wonder Woman had kicked her legs out from under her and Cassie had found herself staring up at the ceiling.

And then she had found herself in some sort of horrendous arm lock that might actually have been the most painful experience of Cassie's life. That was until Wonder Woman had put her in an entirely different arm lock. Or that leg thing that had made Cassie whimper, gasp and cry. Or when Wonder Woman had thrown her around like a rag doll. Really the entire session had been the most painful and possibly the most humiliating experience of Cassie's life. And all the way through this torture Wonder Woman had loudly demanded that she "get up!" or "try to hit me!". Cassie had tried, both with the getting up (slightly more successful) and with the hitting (utter failure), and the only thing she had accomplished well so far was face planting in the sand.

This didn't put her off though. It only made her more determined.

She was back on her feet, she was shaking like a tree caught in a storm, but she was determined to see this through.

She tried to return Wonder Woman's smile, her lips drawing back, but instead found herself snarling like an animal and probably looking quite manic.

Wonder Woman shook her head more than a little fondly. "Again," she said.

Cassie tried to move into a fighting stance, but her arms wouldn't budge and her legs refused to respond. She stood there uselessly and watched in helpless horror as Wonder Woman flew towards her at a terrifying speed.

This was it. She was actually going to die. She would be nothing more than red mist in the air and an inconsequential red mess on the sand that would dutifully be raked over. She probably would have wet herself if she didn't hurt so badly.

Wonder Woman came to a dramatic stop just before Cassie, air rushing past her and ruffling Cassie's hair. She whipped both hands round and clapped them right in Cassie's face. If Cassie had thought the wind caused by Wonder Woman flying was strong then it was a gentle breeze compared to this, which was more like a full force gale localised right in her face. It forced her eyes close and she actually felt her mouth fill with air as her cheeks were pushed back, rippling under the wind pressure.

And the noise! It was like someone had fired a gun right next to Cassie's ear. It was the loudest thing she had ever heard and it echoed around the room, reverberated back on itself. The weapons racks actually rattled.

For a brief moment Cassie stayed standing. She creaked open an eye. Wonder Woman stood in front of her, her hands still pressed together right in Cassie's face. Cassie's ears were ringing; the echo still hadn't quite died yet. She opened her mouth and let out a small, dry croak. And then, ever so slowly, she toppled backwards.

She couldn't move her arms to break her fall and so she landed badly, her head bouncing off of the sand. Her dry croak turned into a sob. Her eyes stung and she could feel tears leaking from them. She couldn't move. Her arms and legs were like lead weights, aching; her chest rose and fell with each painful sobbed breath, and her throat was raw. She was lying on her back in the sand, in agony, having just given a humiliating performance of her "skills" to her hero. And the absolute worst thing was that she was crying in front of Wonder Woman.

Worst. Day. Ever.

Diana knelt down next to Cassie and placed her hand gently against her cheek. "I think we're done for today."

If Cassie could have moved she would have nodded.

/\/\/\

Cassie had cried all the way through getting changed. Diana had massaged some life back into her limbs, but every movement had been blinding agony, and Diana had had to help her get changed also.

Cassie was out of her sweats and back into her normal clothes: jeans, t-shirt and hoodie. For the first time ever she felt vaguely embarrassed that her hoodie had a Wonder Woman logo on it, though Diana didn't seem to mind.

Surprisingly Diana looked completely different when she wore normal clothes. Perhaps it was because when she was in costume all you saw was the tiara, the bracelets and the symbol and completely missed the woman behind them. It wasn't as though Diana looked less than she was in civilian clothes, smart pants, shirt and long creamy white coat for tonight; she was still tall, strong, statuesque and unbelievably beautiful in a traffic stopping kind of way, but somehow she still looked different. Cassie was surprised that more people didn't notice that Wonder Woman was walking down the street.

Diana's heels clicked an even rhythm on the sidewalk. Apart from the traffic and Cassie's occasionally pathetic sniff the tapping of her heels was the only sound. They didn't speak. Cassie wasn't sure if Diana's silence was disapproving or not. Maybe she was annoyed that she had to give Cassie a piggyback home.

Cassie sniffled. She tightened her grip on Diana's sturdy shoulders, and hunched her own up, her head down. It was beyond embarrassing that she had to be carried. Once she was changed she had been unable to stand up let alone walk. It had been Diana's idea to carry her, but Cassie still felt awful about it.

She had her hood pulled up, obscuring her face from whoever was walking by. She didn't want them to see her red-rimmed eyes or pink tipped nose. God, she could not believe that she had cried in front of Wonder Woman. So embarrassing.

She lifted her head, and forced her arms to loosen their death grip on Diana's shoulders, wincing as she did so since even that minor movement hurt.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"For what?" Diana turned her head looking back at Cassie.

Cassie shrugged. "For having to be carried, I guess."

"Ah." Diana smiled and turned her head back, facing forward. "Don't be. You're not heavy."

"But there's not much that is heavy to you," Cassie pointed out. She hadn't been bothered by her weight; Wonder Woman could easily lift several hundred tons after all. It was the principle of it, like she was some small annoyance, a minor irritation that Wonder Woman could do without. Surely Diana had better things to do then carry one girl home.

But then perhaps Wonder Woman had better things to do then train one excitable young girl.

"True, but you still shouldn't be sorry. I don't mind carrying you." She sounded slightly amused, which made Cassie feel a little bit better.

It didn't take long to get to Cassie's house. The lights were on, which meant that Cassie's mom was home. That was a pain. No doubt she'd fuss over the state Cassie was in.

Hopefully she no longer looked like she'd been crying.

"Do you have keys?" Diana asked.

"No, I forgot to bring them with me."

"Good thing your mother is home then." Cassie wasn't sure she agreed with that. Diana rapped her knuckles neatly against the door.

The door opened quickly and Helena Sandsmark stood there looking slightly frazzled. "Diana?"

"Helena, it's good to see you," Diana replied warmly.

"Cassie!" Helena shrieked. "Where have you been? I've been so worried."

And this was part of the reason why Cassie had been hoping her mom was out.

Diana looked back over her shoulder at Cassie. "You didn't tell her that you were with me?"

Cassie hunched her shoulders up.

"No, she didn't," her mom said shrilly. "I've been trying to phone you for hours now."

"I left my phone in my room," Cassie said in a small voice. This was true; she had left her phone in her room. She just neglected to say that she had done it on purpose.

Her mother looked pretty pissed. Diana was, thankfully, her usual calm self. "You left your keys and your phone? That was irresponsible of you," she remarked.

And this was where the telling off was going to start. Her mother was going to yell herself red in the face but it would be Diana's quiet disappointment that would sting the most.

Helena's mouth opened ready to start shouting, but then her eyes went wide and she stared right at Cassie over Diana's shoulder, and it was like she had just seen her properly. "Why are you being carried?" She sounded worried. She looked to Diana. "Did something happen?"

"Nothing serious," Diana answered. "We were..." She trailed off and then sighed. "Cassandra, you didn't tell your mother what we were doing, did you?"

Cassie hunched her shoulders up even more, trying desperately to disappear into herself.

"Can I come in, Helena?" Diana requested. "And I'll explain everything."

Helena's face had gone red with anger. She looked from Diana and then to Cassie who was trying to hide behind Wonder Woman, and then back to Diana again, her eyes wide. Finally she threw up her hands. "Fine. Come in."

/\/\/\

Hissing, Cassie sank gratefully into the steaming hot bath. The water was scalding hot, even to her. Anyone else would probably have been burned quite badly, but then most other people didn't have Cassie's powers. The water felt good on her aching limbs, eased a lot of the tension she felt there. She was still going to be sore in the morning though. She sank down till the water was at her chin.

It hadn't been pleasant when Diana had explained to Helena that she had been training her daughter. Her mom had freaked out and started yelling about how children shouldn't be training to fight, how she should have been consulted, and about how she was so very much not okay about all of this. It had been about that time that Cassie had been sent hobbling up the stairs.

Diana was still here. Cassie could hear her arguing with her mom. Well, she could hear her mom shouting, Diana was speaking too quietly for Cassie to hear.

"She's only a child... You can't do this to her... You should have spoken to me about it... I am her mother!" It went on and on, with only brief moments between bellows where Diana was probably interjecting, but that was lost to Cassie.

She dunked her head under the water. She didn't want to hear what her mom was saying. She'd known that she wouldn't approve of Cassie training, of her wanting to become a superhero. Did she expect Cassie to pretend that she didn't have powers? That was impossible. She had them and she was going to use them to help people. She actually thought she was being pretty responsible by asking Wonder Woman to train her.

She exhaled; blowing bubbles and watching them rise to the surface in a steady stream. She hoped that Diana was fighting her side, but knew that Diana would in all likely-hood agree with her mom. Cassie had ruined her own chances by lying.

She sat back up and brushed her hair out of her eyes. Her arms and legs still hurt but it was more of a dull ache now. Cassie looked around the small, untidy bathroom. There was barely enough room in here for two people; just the bath, toilet and sink squashed in. Cassie's clothes were dumped on the floor. The door was pushed to rather than closed so that Cassie would be able to her what was going on downstairs.

It had gone quiet though. Her mom must have finally shouted herself out. Cassie strained her ears trying to hear what was going on downstairs. All she could hear was indistinct murmurs. She could easily tell the difference between Diana's soothing tones and her mother's wavering pitch.

A short moment later Cassie heard the front door open and then close. Diana must have left, leaving Cassie on her own, and she knew what was going to happen next.

There was a soft tapping at the bathroom door and then it was pushed open. Her mom stepped in the room. She looked tired; her glasses were pushed up on her head, keeping a tangle of hair off of her face. There were dark circles beneath her eyes, and the lines on her face looked deeper and more pronounced. Cassie felt more than a little guilty.

Helena stooped down and picked up Cassie's discarded clothes, and she started to fold them. She put the toilet lid down and then sat on it, looking at Cassie.

"You're folding dirty clothes," Cassie said.

Helena sighed. She rubbed at her eyes and then pinched at the bridge of her nose. "Cassie..."

"I know, I know," Cassie said sitting up and throwing up her hands, splashing water over the side of the bath. "I should have talked to you first, I should have asked for your permission, but, mom, this is my life and these are my powers. It'd my decision what I want to do with them."

"You're fourteen," Helena said sounding like she was trying very hard to be patient. "You don't get to make these decisions. I do."

"No you don't. These are my powers. My responsibility."

"And you are my responsibility." Now she sounded angry. "For god's sake Cassie, look at yourself. You can barely stand. And don't pretend like you're not in pain, because it's plain to see that you are."

Cassie could hardly deny that. She sank lower into the bath. "It'll get better," she said, her voice sounding small again.

"You're not doing it again. I spoke to Diana."

"Yeah, I heard you screaming at her."

"Enough Cassie," Helena said sharply. She huffed an annoyed breath before continuing, "Diana said that she'll teach you to control your powers..."

Cassie sat up, hardly daring to hope.

"... But she's not going to train you to fight."

"What? Mom!" Cassie whined. "I want to learn to fight. I want to use my powers for good, to help people."

"You can still help people without needing to fight. Besides." Helena stood up and gestured towards Cassie. "I don't at all approve of Diana's training methods. I don't care if she is Wonder Woman; she doesn't get to hurt my daughter like this."

"I'm not hurt that bad," Cassie mumbled lamely. Her mom's concern and protectiveness was appreciated but not wanted, especially not now and not with this. "It'll get better, get easier," Cassie said, still hoping to sway her mother. "The first training sessions will always be the hardest, right? And I'm pretty sure she made this one extra hard. Like she was trying to scare me off."

"Cassie..."

"But she didn't, see? She put me through all that and I still want her to train me."

Her mom actually smiled, a sad weary smile, but a smile nonetheless. "You're not selling this to me. 'Put you though all that?' What did she do to you?"

"She kicked the crap outta me!" Cassie said happily.

Her mom put her face inn her hands. Perhaps that hadn't been the smartest thing to tell her.

"I'm sorry Cassie, but no. You cannot train with Wonder Woman."

"Mom!"

"That's my final answer." Helena crossed the small room, opened the door and then paused. "And don't even bother lying to Diana again. I made her promise that she wouldn't train you to fight. Ever."

"Mom, no!" Cassie yelled. But her mom ignored her and left, closing the door behind her.

Diana always kept her promises. Her mom had ruined everything. Cassie let out a frustrated shriek and retreated back under the bath water.

/\/\/\

The next day Cassie hadn't been able to move. Her muscles seized up over night and she spent the entire day in bed pretending that she wasn't in agony. She didn't want to get Diana into even more trouble with her mom.

The day after she was sort of able to move, but each twitch elicited a gasp of pain and each brush of her limbs against anything made her cry out. By the time she climbed out of bed and got to her feet she was crying.

In all her little fantasies about Wonder Woman training her not a single one had included her being hurt this badly.

Eventually her mom, looking somewhere between worried and livid, called Diana and asked her to come back. Her mom definitely was not pleased. Cassie could tell by her mother's expression and the tone she spoke Diana's name in that she had soured her mom's friendship with Diana.

Great. Something else to feel guilty about.

Thankfully Diana came round straight away. She stood in the doorway of Cassie's room looking concerned but not at all guilty that she had been the cause of Cassie's pain. She exchanged a quick glance with Helena, whose cool gaze might have made a lesser woman wither, and then wordlessly went to see to Cassie. She put her fingers to some of Cassie's pressure points and massaged her aching muscles, testing the threshold to Cassie's tolerance to pain. She ignored Cassie sharp cries of agony and her hissed breathing, she ignored that Cassie was once again crying with actual tears running down her cheeks, and she ignored Helena's angry noises.

Cassie was starting to realise that Diana was remarkably good at ignoring things. She was also very good at inflicting pain upon people and could probably take up a career as a professional torturer. Cassie wasn't sure if that was still a profession, but if it was then Diana would be a shoe-in.

And then it got easier. The pain subsided and gave way to relaxing pleasure, and Cassie's cries turned to grateful moans. The tension left her muscles and they unlocked, her limbs felt more rubbery and there was warmth where Diana's fingers pressed into her flesh.

Of course without the distraction of pain the entire process became so much more embarrassing. Cassie became uncomfortably aware that Diana was running her hands over her body; up her arms, squeezing her biceps, her shoulders, round her back, and even her stomach and chest. Her legs were easily the most embarrassing though. Diana's long fingers ran up from Cassie's feet, slipping behind her calf and up to – who'd have thought that fingertips brushing against the back of her knees could feel so damn good? – and then up her thighs and even higher.

By the time Diana was finished Cassie's face was burning red hot.

"Does that feel better?" Diana asked, moving back from Cassie and taking no notice of her embarrassment

"S-sure!" Cassie said a little too loudly and keeping her eyes on the floor. She didn't think she'd ever be able to look Diana in the face again. She tested her limbs, moving her arms gingerly and lifting her legs. It didn't hurt, at least not like it had before. She smiled. "Loads better."

"Good." Diana sounded pleased. "I could have done this for her yesterday." That was directed at Cassie's mom, and Cassie could hear the reproach in Diana's voice.

Cassie looked to her mom. Helena was glaring daggers at Diana. "You shouldn't have had to do it at all."

Diana actually looked a little sad. "No, I think this would always have been necessary." She turned to Cassie. "I'll see you at the weekend then?"

Cassie nodded. Something felt wrong. The room had felt a little tense since Diana had first walked in, her mom's anger was difficult not to notice, but now the tension was stifling. Her mom still looked pissed but there was something else in her expression and in the rigid way she held herself, something that looked an awful lot like fear.

And there was still a sadness to Diana, like she was resigned to doing something she didn't want to.

Cassie just felt confused. There was something going on here that she didn't understand. If she wasn't still feeling mortified by Diana's earlier ministrations then she probably would have felt quite pissed off.

"That's good." Diana placed her hand firmly on Cassie's shoulder, grasping it. Cassie actually managed t look up from her feet and look Diana in her eye, though she felt her cheeks heat up once more as she did so. Diana's gaze was intense, and made Cassie feel a little uncomfortable. "I'll see you then. Stay safe." And then she turned to leave.

Confused didn't begin to describe how Cassie felt. Diana was freaking her out. She forced a smile and little laugh to her voice and joking said, "What, no 'may the gods be with you'?"

Diana paused at the door. "Sometimes it is for the best that the gods not be with you."

Cassie stared at her in disbelief, her mouth hanging open. The most common departure she ever heard from Diana was one that involved the blessings of the gods. This was just not at all like her. Cassie expected Diana to say more but she didn't, she simply left.

Cassie turned to her mom. "Well that was weird," she said.

Her mom had gone very pale, her lips were pressed into a thin hard line, and she was staring at the vacant door where Diana had just been.

"And things just get weirder," Cassie muttered. She made a show of moving her arms and stepped into her mom's line of vision. "I feel loads better," she declared loudly, swinging her arms in circles. "Diana did a great job fixing me up."

Her mom's eyes snapped to her, and once more she looked angry. "Yes. Well. Now you can go to school."

"What? Mom!" Cassie whined.

"No excuses, Cassie. Get ready and I'll drive you. Now!"

Cassie made an annoyed noise but it was mostly for show. She was glad that if only for a brief moment things seemed back to normal.

Still, something was going on and she was going to find out what.

Thank you for reading, please leave a review and let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is both welcome and appreciated.

Some notes: I decided to go down the ambassador route for Diana's "day job", although the embassy will now be located in Washington rather than New York since in the Young Justice universe that is where Diana lives.

This is obviously set before Cassie is Wonder Girl and before she joins The Team. I'd like to think you got that from reading this, but just in case you didn't I'm pointing it out here.

Temper as in tempering a blade rather than having one.