"See, It's Not Just About Being In Charge. It's About Deciding How You Want To Be In Charge."
- Tedy Mcdonald (Snowfall)
...
After a while, Cassandra clapped her hands and returned to Dean's side with an expressionless face.
Mikey lay on the ground, barely breathing, his eyes rolling back and moaning in pain.
Dean didn't want to count how many bones were broken in his body, but it was definitely more than the other three combined.
While Cassandra's attacks were ruthless, she still had some restraint. Even the most beaten-up Mikey was spared his life.
But that wasn't the point. The point was that Cassandra had vented her frustrations and cleared a path for them.
"Let's take this path. It'll take less than half an hour to get to Gotham General Hospital."
Cassandra calmly gestured to Dean.
"So... you didn't run over here earlier because you heard someone being bullied, but to take a shortcut?"
Her unexpected response caused Dean to blink in confusion.
This wasn't going as expected. It would save a lot of time to go through this. At first, he didn't know how strong Cassandra was and didn't want to risk her safety.
Gotham's alleys were always full of danger, and while Dean was kind-hearted, he couldn't bear to expose an innocent girl to potential harm.
But now things were different.
With Cassandra's skills, it would be difficult for three to five people to even get close to her. There wouldn't be any problem walking through Gotham's alleys.
Other people should be afraid.
"We better hurry. Although I haven't been around Gotham for long, I've already experienced how unsafe it can be at night. The later it gets, the more dangerous it becomes. Going home alone will be troublesome."
Cassandra quickly gestured to Dean, although her meaning made Dean laugh and cry at the same time.
He didn't expect Cassandra to worry about his personal safety.
Without asking for permission, she grabbed Dean's hand and led him through the group of four robbers without any hesitation.
As they walked, Cassandra suddenly turned her head to look at Dean.
There was some hesitation on her face, as if she were unsure whether to 'say' or not.
But in the end, she made up her mind to tell Dean.
"The force you threw the stone with earlier... was a bit off."
Cassandra cautiously gestured as if she were very concerned about Dean's reaction.
"The force was off?"
Dean raised an eyebrow with a slightly surprised look on his face.
Cassandra nodded and gestured, "Although you used the stone to knock the guy's gun away, you wasted a lot of strength. A better way to throw the stone would have made it faster, reach farther, be more invisible, and also save energy."
She gestured further and looked around. She picked up a small, odd shaped stone from the ground to show Dean.
The stone was about the size of a thumb, and its shape was very odd.
Cassandra stood still and gestured for Dean to look at the balcony on the second floor of a nearby building, where a green plant was visible.
The exact species of the plant was unclear, but it was clear that its extending branches were quite long and eye-catching.
"It's about 30 meters away from here. Do you think you can use such a small stone to throw and break one of those branches?"
Dean imagined what he would do if he were in her shoes.
"It shouldn't be difficult to do; it just requires a bit more effort."
He turned to look at Cassandra and pondered what she might do next.
Then, Casandra held the stone between two fingers and twisted her arm at a peculiar angle; even the angle of her wrist was different from how a normal person would throw something.
Soon after, Casandra's arm snapped forward like a spring squeezed to its limit, incredibly swift and even leaving a faint afterimage behind as she gently released the stone.
Even though Casandra's motion in throwing the stone was so fast that it almost resembled an afterimage, it seemed to Dean as if she didn't use much strength at all.
Contrary to what Dean thought, the stone flew at an amazing speed and hit the potted plant on the balcony with accuracy, breaking the thin branch that extended from it.
Just how fast was that speed?
Let's put it this way, almost at the same time Dean saw the stone leaving Casandra's hand, in less than a second, the branch fell from the balcony.
And Dean completely missed the stone's trajectory in the air, he didn't even hear a sound!
Honestly speaking, Casandra's move really amazed Dean.
It was just too hard to understand!
'Could this be the long-lost finger flicking technique?'
Dean wondered with disbelief in his mind.
"Give me your hand."
At this moment, Casandra extended her hand to Dean, gesturing for him to give her his hand.
Dean's mind stirred, and he immediately stretched out his right hand, and then Casandra swung Dean's arm.
She guided him into a posture similar to how she had thrown the stone earlier.
"Weren't you saying that you needed to hurry and see Barbara? Can you teach me this now? It seems like the kind of skill that can't be learned in just a day or two, right?"
Dean curiously asked as he let Casandra manipulate his arm.
"It's alright. I've observed your body already. Your foundation is actually much better than you think, and this isn't something very difficult. It's just a matter of simple technique for exerting force. I think... you should be able to grasp the basics in about five minutes."
Casandra waved her hand, reassuring Dean not to worry.
After all, throwing stones randomly near a hospital wouldn't be a good idea.
"Wait, what do you mean by 'observed' my body?"
Dean's eyebrows twitched.
Casandra didn't respond to that and instead pointed and directed at Dean's body, telling him where to exert force and where not to exert too much force.
Five minutes later.
Dean looked at the last broken branch on the balcony and smiled with satisfaction.
Although he couldn't do it as easily as Casandra, Dean had already learned the basics. He was confident that it wouldn't take him long to fully master this technique.
In fact, his card-throwing skills would even improve by several levels in the future.
He had truly learned a valuable technique this time.
"Casandra, thank you for teaching me this useful throwing technique."
Dean sincerely thanked her.
"Consider it a return for you teaching me how to read at the library."
Casandra smiled and waved her hand.
After some time, the two of them passed through several narrow alleys and finally arrived at their destination.
Gotham General Hospital.
They encountered two incidents of robbery along the way, but they were on a different level compared to those four idiots from Mikey.
These were real robberies.
As for the fate of these robbers, it goes without saying.
When Dean and Casandra arrived at Barbara's private room based on the information provided by the librarian, there were already two people visiting her...
...
patreon.com/Sothisq
You can find up to 20 advance chapters at my patreon.