Nadia opened her eyes. She immediately shut them again when she was blinded by the bright light shining in through her window. It was a monday. She hated mondays. Groan. She knew it was late, she never got up on time, let alone early. It was only a matter of secounds before her mother would holler up from the bottom of the stairs for her to get up. Yep. In five, four, three, two, one...

"Nadia! Nadia, get up. School starts soon!"

"Dammit woman," Nadia muttered under her breath.

She slowly opened her eyes and turned to face her alarm clock. It was 6:52.

'Oh crap.'

The bus came at 7:10. Nadia bolt up in her bed and jumped off it. Grabbing a towel, she ran into her bathroom and quickly showered. She steppped out of the shower and pulled on a towel. After blow-drying her hair, it was time to brush it through. Nadia continued brushing until her hair until her perfect curls were formed. Nadia's hair was one of her best features, along with her large icy-blue eyes. She let her hair fall down her back in cascades of black curls and waves.
After drying herself off, Nadia ran back into her room to pull on her uniform. St.Charles Jr.High was a strict christian school. It's attire consisted of an onix skirt that ended a few inches above the knees, a white polo that had the St.Charles emblem (a large S overlapping a large C) embroided into an area right above the heart, and brown mary-janes. Nadia, who for the life of her would not be caught dead in mary-janes had somehow managed to sweet talk the principal into letting her wear her adored black boots that came up to her knees. She couldn't really remember how she did it. Something about a large scar on her calf, and the emberassment she would half to take. Snort. Nadia's perfectly tanned skin was scar free, but she had always been a favorite of the staff at St.Charles. She did have the highest GPA in the school. She was probably the most clever thirteen-year old she knows about, not to sound concieted. Once again, she glanced at the clock. 7:04. She grabbed her black bag that strapped across her chest and ran down the stairs, grabbing her house keys as she went. She yelled that she was leaving to her parents and shot out the door shoving a piece of toast into her mouth as she went. Nadia's bus stop was at the end of her block, thank god. So she reached there no problem.

'And with time to spare.'

It was often lonely at her bus stop, she was the only one that was ever there. She sat down on the bench, alone. She pulled out her iPod, alone. She looked to the sky al-...

Nadia did a double-take from her iPod to the sky. There was something that looked like a siamese bird headed strait toward her.

She furrowed her eyebrow."The hell!"

All she could do was watch as the creature drew nearer. As soon as it was clear enough to see what the creature was, Nadia's eyes widened.

'That's no siamese bird.'

It was, actually, three men. One, it seemed, was out-cold. The other two looked beat up. By this time things were strange. But it gets stranger. Not only was the weird credature three humans, well two humans and one kryptonite, but they were all familiar to Nadia. The one she noticed was passed out was the infamous superman, the others were Batman, the Dark Knight, and Flash, the fastest man alive. As they got closer, Nadia braced herself for a crash. She thought about running, but she wanted to make sure they were alright. They got closer, and closer. Nadia could see that Flash was spinning his arms, so they could have an easier fall. Right when it looked like they were headed straight for Nadia, they made a swift turn and tumbbled on the deserted road directly in front of her. They were on the floor now, moaning in pain. Nadia slowly got up and walked towards them. She kneeled in front of Batman and tried to help him up.

"Are you alrig-AH!"

Nadia, had turned her head only slightly to the left, and to her horror, saw that only feet away from them was her big yellow school bus. It looked like they were about to be squashed, but the four were engulfed in a black shadow that rose from the ground. Nadia didn't know where she could take them, and only one thing popped in her head. She had seen pictures of this place called the Lighthouse...no, the Watchroom...no...whatever it was, it was the justice league's base, so she figured they should go there. She had never been inside, so it was ridiculously difficult to transport four people there, especially since Nadia had never taken more than one passenger. She focused her thoughts deeply on the League headquarters and in the blink of an eye, they had dissapeared from the street to what must have been the league's cafeteria.

There were two people in the cafeteria. A man and a woman. The man looked like something straight out of Robin Hood, and the woman looked like a jazz dancer, with blonde hair. Since it was a difficult process for Nadia, she unfortunately missed the ground, and the four were transported about four feet in the air, and falling four feet hurt more than it sounded.

Nadia landed on her butt. Oddly, it reminded her of the time she was swinging from the swings in her backyard when...

Nadia shook her head. The man and the woman were approaching her. The man looked from Nadia to the three other men, then back to Nadia, who was the only one who seemed unharmed.

"What happened."

He helped her up while the woman started to exam the three on the floor.

"I wish I could tell you, but I only know so much."

The man raised an eyebrow at her. Then turned to the woman.

"How are they, Canary?"

The woman, whom Nadia now recognized as Black Canary, spoke without looking up.

"They've all fainted. But I don't see any serious damage."

The man, whom Nadia had now dubbed Robin Hood, nodded and walked to a far wall, and started talking to it. Nadia thought this a little strange, and it dawned on her that he must be speaking into some sort of speaker phone, to contact some help. Surely enough only moments later the Martian Manhunter
(Nadia knew who he was at first sight) materialized right next to Robin Hood. Nadia wasn't freaked out by this, after all, she wasn't entirely normal herself. She could hear their conversation from here. The manhunter spoke first.

"Green Arrow, where are they?"

'Oh, so you're green arrow...' Nadia thought.

The Arrow, Nadia declared this to be his new nickname, pointed to where Nadia was standing, and Canary was examining the three heroes. When he looked at her, the Manhunter's eyes widened slightly and he looked at the Arrow, who merely shrugged. They started to walk towards Nadia, and she had just one thing to say when she looked at her watch, and the two were near her.

"I'm late."

The Arrow had a questioning look on his face."What?"

"I'm late for class." Nadia's face fell. She hadn't been on time for two weeks. And this was supposed to be her glory day.

The two Justice League members had to look down to get a view of her face.

"I don't think you'll be making it to school today," the manhunter stated, as thought it was a fact, rather than a prediction.

Nadia sighed. She didn't see this as good. She was one of those students who actually enjoyed going to school. Maybe it had something to do with her being able to get through her work like it was chocolate ice cream.

The Arrow and Manhunter looked at eachother and nodded simontaniously, then looked back at her.

"Ok, kid. Follow me," said the Arrow. But Nadia was as stubborn as a mule.

"Why?"

"Because, I'm going to take you to a waiting room."

"Where?"

"In the east wing."

"When?"

"Now."

"How?"

"Well, if you don't hurry up, I'm going to swing you over my shoulder."

"Oh, so you're just gonna diss your bow and arrows like that? Wow, I'm never gonna be your friend."

Canary giggled, and the Arrow stomped off, muttering somehting about rotten kids, Nadia following close behind.

They had been walking for a few minutes, now and then running into someone who would say something like 'Hey Arrow, who's the kid?' or
'Looks like you got yourself a girlfriend eh, Arrow?'. Nadia practically gagged at comments like the secound one. They walked without talking for a few more secounds, until Arrow broke the silence.

"So, what's your name?"

"Nadia."

"How old are you?"

"Thirteen."

"Thirteen," he let out a long whistle," man, that's young. Where do you live?"

"Gotham, my favorite color is baby blue, my mom's name is Sophie, my stepdad's name is Jonothan, I was born in Detroit, I go to St.Charle's Jr.High school, my grade point average is 4.1, I have a belly button piercing, I have a tatoo on my back, my full name is Nadia Valencia Malano, I have a doberman named poochie, I'm an only child, my adress is 45838 Pensely Drive, Gotham city, my phone number is 802-347-9545, my cell phone number is 240-496-0707, my birthday is May 27, I'm a Gemini, and my blood type is an outstandingly origional O. Anything else?"

Because of the silence, Nadia assumed the answer was no. They stopped at a doow and Arrow punched some numbers into the key pad. He motioned her inside.

"Just wait here, someone will be with you shortly."

He turned and left, closing the door behind him. Nadia looked at the room around her, and noticed a comfy looking chair beside a large window. She sat down on it so she was sideways, her legs dangling off the left side of the armrest. She looked out at the beautiful view of the stars.

Reaching into her bag, Nadia pulled out her cell. She wanted to call in sick, so the school wouldn't call her parents, but scowled when she saw she had no signal. She reached back into her bag and pulled out a thick photo album with a black leather cover. She smiled. Nadia got this album the same day she learned she had powers, almost three years ago.

Flashback

Ten year old Nadia sat on the floor with her legs crossed, brushing the hair of her favorite doll, Melanie. She smiled brightly. Her stepdad, Joe, had bought this for her last night, and she hadn't put it down since. Melaniehad dark brown hair that clashed with her pale face. Nadia had dressed her in a pretty red dress with white frills at the end of it. She decided that Melanie should see the outside world, and wanted to take her for a walk. It was 4:00 and still light out, so Nadia figured her her mother wouldn't mind. She stood with Melanie still in her arms, walked down the stairs, and out the door There was a light breeze in the sunny weather, so Nadia felt very nice. She loved it when it was sunny but breezy. They walked down the road and then turned on a shorter street. They were taking Nadia's 'secret shortcut' to the park. They came across a dead end with a dirt path at the end. They walked down the path until they made it to an old wooden fence. Nadia felt around on the fence for a while then found the one she was looking for.

One of the wooden legs was loose. Nadia pushed it open and revealed a small gap. Just big enough for a small girl and her doll to fit through.

Nadia climbed through the opening, pulling Melanie with her. The residents of the house that owned the fence and all of its contents were complete slobs.
Inside of the fence, the grass was so high, Nadia could get lost in it. There was trash everywhere. Old tires, garbage cans, old food, branches, bushes, bikes, rusty chairs, even rats dwelled there.

Nadia felt ready to puke. She held Melanie close to her. Taking a large gulp, Nadia started making her way through the lawn. She made it about halfway when she heard a soft but clearly angry growling somewhere inside the bushes. She stopped dead in her tracks. The growling was getting heavier, and heavier. And then it stopped. Nadia sighed, thinking she and Melanie were safe. She took one step, and something large and grey jumped from the bushes and tore Melanie from her arms.

The culprit was a bit grey dog that looked big enough to ride on. To Nadia's great dismay, it started taring and biting Melanie.

Nadia screamed her dear life out.

"Stop!"

But the dog tared on.

"Stop it you're hurting her!"

RIP

"STOP!"

As if Nadia's words were some sort of trigger, her shadow, yes her shadow, rose from the ground, creating a completely black figure of Nadia. The real Nadia felt someone behind her turned around. When she saw a faceless verdion of herself, she almost screamed. They stood there, Nadia looking at where her shadow's eyes would be. It took a wile for her to comprehend the siduation. Nadia mentaly told her shadow to raise it's arms. It did. Nadia then told it to touch it's head. It complied. Nadia reached out to her shadow and touched it's face. It was solid, but it's black skin was clammy and cold. Then Nadia had an idea.

'Please, help Melanie' she told her shadow.

Her shadow walked past her to Melanie and the dog. Nadia watched as her shadow. The shadow had now gotten the dog's attention, and it lundged at her, gwoling. But the shadow was too quick for it. When the dog lunged, the shadow threw a punch directly at it's stomach, and it fell to the floor, whining. The dog rose to it's feet, whimpered and scrambled away, dropping a torn Melanie to the floor. The shadow turned back to Nadia, then sunk into the floor, adn darted back to it's place behind Nadia, whom was utterly confused. How could she do that? She suddenly remmebered Melanie, and ran to the doll picking her up. She stared at the beat up toy, and then dropped it again. For some reason, she felt too old for dolls now.

Nadia smiled. This was going to be fun, very fun.

Present

For three years Nadia had learned to master her powers, and use them to their full extent. She was able to summon her shadow, as well as the shadows of other people and control them. She could change her shadow's size and shape. For example, the black blanket that brought Nadia here was actually her shadow, in a differant form. She can also transport herself and others with her shadow, but very rarely to places she hasn't been, use her shadow as energy bolts, and turn even the brightest places dark. She can pretty much do anything that includes shadows. But above all, her favorite ability, besides summoning shadow, is fly. The only thing she can do that doesn't include shadows is fly.

Nadia never thought of herself as a freak, or weird, just special. Her powers were a good thing, they helped her a lot. She never tol a soul about them, and didn't plan to. But she had a faint idea that today, she might have to.

Normally Nadia would wonder why she had these abilities. She figured it probably had to do with her birth father. Nadia's mother was raped at seventeen, so naturally Nadia never knew her father. Sophie met Joe when she was twenty-two, and they got married when she was twenty-four. Nadia liked Joe. He was a wealthy man, and somewhat of a clown.

Nadia sighed and pulled out her iPod. She put on Three Evils by Coheed and Cambria. She was in the middle of the song when the door slid open. She had the urge to just transport herself back home right then, but knew that she couldn't transport herself more than once every three hours. Now standing in the doorway was four core league members, Nadia knew them as Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Hawk Girl, and again Martian Manhunter. She turned off her ipod and stood.