Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or anything DC-related.

Chapter One

How had she gotten herself into this mess?

To be honest, it had seemed so simple in the beginning. As the middle child, it was Stella Cho's duty to take care of her younger brother and protect him. That's how she rolled, always have and always will. He wasn't the strongest kid, but then again, he was only nine years old. Still, he was smaller than most his age. That made the poor boy an easier target for a lot of bullies.

This particular bully was one of the biggest and meanest ten year olds in fifth grade that always picked on the poor boy when the chance arose. And this time? The prick demanded her innocent little brother to 'get out of my swing, loser' and had pushed him off roughly. Being the older sister and unable to control her sudden anger, she had charged at the guy and pushed him roughly. And now here they were. She wasn't sure if it was good or bad that they were at a playground and not at school.

"No one treats my brother that way!" Stella yelled angrily while stepping protectively in front of her brother.

The bully sputtered in surprise before regaining his balance and stared at the older girl incredulously for a moment. However, that was shortly lived when the few kids that came to the spectacle started giggling at him. Not liking the fact that he was being laughed at, he glared at her and sneered meanly.

"Hiding behind your big sister, crybaby?" The sneer made the corner of her lips twist down in disgust. Ugh, the guy was a total prick and he was totally gross too.

"The only crybaby I see is you." She shot back while crossing her arms. "Especially when I'm done with you, kid."

"Oooooooh!" The kids that gathered chimed and giggled again. That only served to push the bully's anger and embarrassment even further.

The bully lifted his fist up and shouted at her in rage, "You're going down!"

Taking up the defensive stance she learned during her taekwondo class, she frowned and prepared herself for his fist. She would be lying if she said her heart wasn't squeezing in fear. She'd never used taekwondo outside of her lesson because her instructors always told her that it's never used to fight people. Martial arts should be used to defend yourself and that was her first lesson when she took up taekwondo all those years ago. However, not once had she needed to use it to defend herself. Well, until today, that is.

The punch came fast, but she managed to block it with a middle block and swipe his fist to the side. It surprised her, but it made her heart swell proudly at how well she had blocked that first attack. The second punch was weaker than the first due to him using the opposite arm, but she blocked it again. She couldn't believe it! Her taekwondo is really paying off right now!

Before he could throw another punch, she countered by shoving his chest really hard with both her hands when she saw the opportunity. Her counter had him back on his butt, looking just as stunned as the other kids.

"If you pick on my brother again, I swear it'll be worse next time." She threatened with a harsh glare.

The bully looked absolutely flustered as he scrambled up and took off quickly. The other kids laughed after him until he disappeared out of sight before they all dispersed as well. Shaking her head, she turned to help her little brother up and dusted off his pants.

"Thanks, noona." Aiden mumbled softly as he swiped his forearm across his eyes to wipe his teary eyes. She couldn't help the smile that spread across her lips as she ruffled his hair gently.

"Isn't that what big sisters are for? I'll always be here for you." She lifted an arm and flexed it, trying to show him the muscles - not that she had any - to him. "I'm almost like a superhero, huh?"

Finally, a smile bloomed on Aiden's face and he nodded. Together, the both of them walked back home before it turned dark and their parents started getting worried. Even though they were in the richer part of Gotham City, that didn't mean it was necessarily safer after dark and her parents hated them being out too late.

By the time they arrived home, their mother was in the midst of cooking dinner and their eldest sister was doing homework at the kitchen table. The delicious smell of Korean food filled her nose and her stomach grumbled loudly.

"Aiden, you got your pants all dirty." Their mother said with a slight frown as she put the diced vegetables into the pot of boiling broth. Aiden cast his eyes down sheepishly, telling her that he had fallen before he dashed upstairs to get changed.

Teresa, her eldest sister, looked up from her homework and gave her a look to silently convey that she didn't believe what Aiden had said. Stella just shook her head and shrugged, silently telling her sister to drop the matter. Thankfully, her sister was smart enough to catch on to that and only rolled her eyes before going back to work on her homework.

Dinner was pretty uneventful. Their dad came back home from work and they ate Korean hotpot – one of her favourites – for dinner. After dinner, she packed for taekwondo and her dad drove her all the way to class. Taekwondo class was pretty uneventful too. Like usual there was stretching, running a few laps around the room, and then they were practicing their forms and moves. They were reviewing and practicing the old moves because there was going to be a belt test soon.

With a surprised yelp, Stella Cho got knocked off her feet and landed on her butt before she could register what had happened. Blinking a few times, she looked up at her instructor and smiled sheepishly.

"Stella, you're getting distracted again." Her taekwondo instructor scolded with a disapproving frown. 'Again'. It definitely hadn't been the first time she had daydreamed during her class and her instructor knew it. At this point, he didn't reprimand her too harshly because he knew no matter how many times he told her, she would end up daydreaming again at some point. Plus, could anyone really blame her for drifting off? She'd been practicing and reviewing the same things over and over.

"I'm sorry." She smiled and got right back up, quickly straightening out her uniform.

He sighed and smiled at her too, knowing that the girl was good at heart. She also happened to be one of his best students. The girl was innocent and naïve, but she worked hard during class even if she did daydream from time to time.

"Pay attention closely next time." He gave her one last look, though a bit half-hearted, before jogging to the front of the room. A couple minutes later the class ended and she was walking to the back to grab her jacket.

There was a pat on her shoulder and her friend, Christina, popped up from behind her with her contagious smile. "You were daydreaming again, weren't you?"

"I was just thinking."

"You're always thinking. What was it about this time?"

"Batman." Stella replied while slipping her coat on. "Well, superheroes to be exact. Wouldn't it be so cool to be one of them?"

There was something about superheroes that had always intrigued Stella Cho. She couldn't remember when she had become so interested in superheroes. Maybe it was when she saw Batman for the first time in her life on television, or when she saw the Justice League on the news saving the world. Nevertheless, it had been memorable and she dreamed to be someone that could help people.

Christina rolled her eyes playfully and nudged Stella with her shoulder. "That's why it's called a daydream. We're just kids. Plus, that stuff should be left for Batman and Superman."

It wasn't the first time Stella had heard this from people, and she knew that it wouldn't be the last. 'You're just a kid', 'That's not a real dream', 'Those are silly thoughts', and so much more. At first it had discouraged her. What was wrong with dreaming? But now she knew not to take it so hard.

"Hey, you never know. I could probably beat bad guys up with my martial arts skills." Stella punched the air in front of her to emphasis her point and laughed loudly. Well, she had today when she practically beat her brother's bully up.

"Yeah right!" Her friend laughed too and slowly brought her arm downwards in a slow, playful attack. Stella immediately lifted her arm up in a high block and grinned cheekily. That was shortly lived though when she saw her family's car waiting for her, and she bid her friend goodbye before scurrying to the car.

She greeted her mom cheerfully as soon as she closed the car door and proceeded to tell her mom about tonight's class during the whole ride home. The rest of the night passed without incident. There was some homework and television watching with her family, then just before bedtime she read her newest book on the Justice League.

That night, like every other night, she dreamt of her favourite superheroes.

Hello!

This is my first time posting a story on this site. It's actually been awhile since I've written a fanfic actually so I apologize in advance if it's not up to par.

I've had this idea floating around for quite some time before I got managed to write. I was inspired to post it up. I know a lot of people aren't too fond of them, but I'll try my best to make it good. In the meantime, I think it's safe to say this is an AU story.

I hope you enjoyed this first (introduction) chapter!

~Mari