Prologue
Chang

RAYLEY Inc. is one of the most successful companies in Jump City. Its owner, Ulrick Rayley, never raised his voice or shouted at his employees. He was considered a great man, and he never bragged about it. His wife, Molly, complained he was too nice to his old rival Bruce Wayne, owner of Wayne Enterprises in Gotham city. His nine-year old daughter, Ember, didn't mind, though. She admired her father, and she never disobeyed him.

Ulrick looked to young to be forty-six. He had a childish face, messy brown hair (his eyes were also brown), and a height of 5'11". His wife, on the other hand, had long black hair, a face that easily shows any type of emotion, and vibrant blue eyes. Ember had long brown hair like her father and blue eyes like her mother. The only difference in her was that she had two medium strands on the side of her hair, somewhat hiding her ears. For this, her parents call her "Sidely".

Now, Ulrick was happy and wealthy, but he did have his share of problems. His best friend, Roy Harper sr, died in a forest fire trying to help some victims escape nine years ago. Roy's son, named after him, was only two-years old when it happened. Ulrick offered for young Roy to live with them, but he got sent to another family. Ember goes to school with Roy, but being two grades apart, she doesn't even know he exists. Another of Ulrick's problems was that he would get calls from other company owners, insulting and blaming him about stealing their profit.

But, the worst has yet to come.
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"Mr. Rayley, you have a call on line two."

Ulrick looked up from his notes and smiled at his assistant, who was poking her head inside his office.

"From who Barbara?" he asked, getting up from his desk.

She shrugged and said, "Some professor named Chang. He says it's extremely important that you talk to him."

Ulrick sat back down on his desk and sighed. It had to be another complaint. The citizens always had complaints for him, but he always tried to solve them. Hey, what can he say? It's his job.

"Ok," he told her, "I'll get right on it. Thank you Barbara."

His assistant nodded and went back to her post. Ulrick sighed again and picked up the phone. He pressed the blinking red button, now talking to his caller.

"This is Ulrick Rayley speaking," he declared, "How may I assist you today?"

There was silence. Ulrick raise an eyebrow and spoke into the phone again.

"Hello? May I help you?"

"Yes," a male's voice finally stated, "You may help me with something. Let me introduce myself, my name is Professor Chang, and I conduct very important experiments for a... Brotherly group that I work for."

"Well, then," Ulrick muttered, "How may I be of assistance?"

"I need help of financing an experiment of mine," Chang said, "I assure you, if the experiment is a success, I will give you fifty percent of the profit it makes."

"And what experiment are you going to conduct, Professor?"

"That's of no concern right now," spat Chang, "I just need you to give me a loan of fifty-three billion."

Ulrick jumped out of his seat in shock. "Fifty-three billion!" he stammered, "Professor, I can't give that kind of loan! Just what kind of experiment do you need that money for anyways?"

"Just give me the money," hissed Chang, "And we won't have any type of problem, deal?"

"No deal," Ulrick snapped, "Go look for another business that'll give you that type of money. I don't need a filthy stinking piece of crap to tell what I should do with my money"

"You will regret that," snarled Chang, "I'm not sure if this is correct, but your daughter's birthday is in two days, am I right?"

Ulrick froze and slowly looked at his calendar. Ember's birthday was marked July 16. Today was July 14.

"I shall be seeing your daughter on that day, Mr. Rayley. I'm sure she'll be happy to help out with my experiment, painfully."