Harley and Ivy: The Next Generation

by Kaija115

Cross between Sky High and DC Comics. The Jokers daughter has come to cause hell in Maxville with her best friend. Watch as people grow and change and learn more about themselves. Hardships and drama abound, don't judge a book by its cover is the lesson to learn and Ace is willing to teach it. She falls in love and makes mistakes and so does Lily. Read and review to get more. :)

1. Prologue

Title: Harley and Ivy: The Next Generation
Rating: M (For swearing in large doses.)
Prologue: Meeting the Unknown.
-/- Ace's P.o.V -\-
(A/N: Ace usually goes by Jacks; she leaves one of two cards when she leaves a crime scene, the Ace of Spades or the Jack of Hearts.)
"Hey Ace, you been practicing?" The Joker inquired casually as I levitated my pocket knife up off the table and whipped it at him at a high velocity. "What was your power again?" He dodged the knife so I brought it back to me and put it in my pocket after flipping it closed. I smirked as I grabbed my left over Chinese food from the night before, I levitated a pair of chopsticks and walked over to the microwave, and I put the food in the microwave and pressed the buttons before waiting. I smoothed my red and black shirt; I had made it myself by cutting up two shirts and stitching them back together with a black sleeve on the red body half and a red sleeve on the black body half.
"Of course I have, I need to keep my skills as sharp as my knife," I replied just as casually as if we were talking sports or the weather. I pulled my food out of the microwave after in beeped and moved the chopsticks to the table before I sat down and began eating my chicken with broccoli and pork fried rice. "My power is control over energy. I can stop your heart and start it again in a matter of seconds. It's all good fun." I ate my food and looked at the man in front of me, he was always smiling and laughing and in many ways I was just like him. The Joker is the one who raised me after all, so of course I was raised to be just like him, even if he only got a hold of me after I was ten or so.
"Very good Ace, very good, now you said something about wanting to go to Maxville for something? What was it again?" He demanded with a laugh as I ate, he grabbed an egg roll and began to eat it, somehow not messing his face paint up. "You wanted us to go blow something up right? Is that what it was? It was wasn't it?" I nodded casually as I ate my food slowly; I liked to savor the flavors of my food because I was always unsure when the next full meal may come. "Very well, just tell me where we're blowing up and we'll do it after lunch." I nodded again and looked around our makeshift kitchen, we never staid in one place for long anymore, not since I was ten and started living with my father, I'm seventeen now, so that's seven years of moving between six or seven different places to keep The Batman on his toes and never able to find us. "My little girl wants to blow up her first building. I'm so proud." He let out a cackle.
"I just want to blow something up dad, you know how I get, gotta blow something or someone up, I like the colors and the explosions," I replied quietly before eating a piece of chicken and a bite of rice and pork. His chuckle continued into a full blown laugh. "I even made the bomb myself, you'd be proud dad." I finished up my lunch and threw out the box and the chopsticks. If dad wanted to go after lunch, seeing as it was 1:30pm now, then I'd need to go get my bomb, have dad check it out, and the drive the 3 hours to Maxville. Sounds fun right? Not likely, I'll be driving, doing all the set up and prep, and then actually blowing up the building, it was just a small bank after all.
"Let me check the bomb, got to make sure you didn't screw it up," He muttered as he got up. We walked up to my bedroom; it was in all actuality just an old office, that's what I get for living in an abandoned warehouse, dad can't ever let us live in a normal place. "Hurry up Ace, let's get this show on the road, literally." I nodded and walked up to mu room, the bomb was small easily transportable, and pretty simple in design because I'd be setting it off with a snap of my fingers, I had to keep it hidden so that my powers didn't set it off. Sometimes my powers really sucked, there was a LOT of trouble caused when direct contact with anything that could be charged into a bomb.
"Of course daddy dearest, you'll be happy with the design, it's a simple thing really," I replied quietly as I pulled my jeans back up to where they were supposed to sit, they were a few sizes too big for me, I had lost a little bit of weight bringing me back to 110lb, and my dad wouldn't get me new pants at the moment. I also didn't have the supplies to fix my pants and that's what pissed me off royally, I could fix them myself it was just a matter of having the supplies to do said action. "I'm also leaving MY card NOT yours, MY explosion NOT yours." He chuckled, very darkly this time, as we reached my bedroom; it was at the end of the hall and on the left. I opened the door silently and walked into my room, my dad was hot on my heels, I walked to my bed and pulled a small box out from under it, I pulled on the leather gloves that I had in the box and pulled out my little two pound bomb, that was in my opinion very cute. I handed it to him and he looked it over.
"Very nice design Ace, simple, yet knowing you, very powerful in design. Now where are we going exactly to make your explosion a reality?" He asked as he handed it back to me carefully. "Let's go make a boom shall we? You're driving and prepping." See what did I tell you? I'm driving and prepping, I nodded my head and put the bomb back in the box and grabbed the entire thing before I walked back out into the hallway. Oh did I mention that I didn't have a license and my general mode of transportation is a black and red motorcycle, so we'll probably be taking one of his cars. "We'll be taking my car as your bike won't carry both of us AND your bomb." I nodded as we left the warehouse, now folks can I call it or can I call it.
(A/N: For the sake of this story, Gotham, Maxville, and Metropolis are all relatively close to each other.)
"All right dad, let's get going, we're blowing up a small bank so we'll also get some cash out of the deal," I replied quietly as we walked out to a car, I got in the driver's seat and closed the door to the car. The Joker got in the passenger's seat, I handed him the box that held my bomb. "Now, are you just going with me to supervise me? Or are you actually going to help me with this?" I turned the car on and revved the engine before I sped out onto the street. My father let out a chuckle and smiled at me, he made an aggravated noise.
"A little bit of both, you're perfectly capable of doing this all on your own my darling Ace of Spades," He replied hotly as I sped down the road toward the highway doing about fifty miles an hour in a twenty five zone. "But I'll help you if you need it my little space cadet." I nodded silently and pressed the accelerator a little more, the car rocketed onto the on ramp to the highway toward Maxville. My parents were so trusting that they trusted me to learn how to hotwire cars and drive them around.
-/- An hour and a half later (In Maxville) -\-
"Dad chill would you? The real deals ain't gonna catch us," I groaned as I glared at my dad, who was beginning to worry that he would be caught, he wasn't worried about me just himself and the fact that he couldn't go back to Arkham. I sped down the street toward the bank I had targeted; I was doing about 50mph in a 20mph zone, once I reached the bank I stopped the car and got out after putting my gloves on and grabbing my bomb. "Stay here dad." He nodded and locked the doors with a smile. I walked into the bank, head held high and confidence rearing up, with my jester hat on my head tilted to the left, bomb in hand, and glaring smirk plastered on my semi-painted face that portrayed me as Jacks. "All right, I want the money, NOW!" I produced a bag and pushed it through the teller window, the teller nodded with a scared face as I pulled my bomb out of my pocket. The teller put stacks of cash in my bag and handed it back to me. I smiled darkly and handed the girl my bomb and two cards. I ran out of the bank and snapped my fingers, causing the bomb to start its countdown. I let out a cackle as I left for the car; I was stopped by a hand on my shoulder.
"You need to stop right there kid," A man dressed all in red, white, and blue demanded as a women dressed in a similar fashion dropped to the ground in front of me. I tossed the sack into the car and created a smoke screen and darted away as my dad drove off at a high speed. "Kid you don't have to do this for a living." I charged my hands with energy and stormed out of the alley that I had run into, I threw the bolts of energy at his chest. I DID have to live like this if I wanted to stay living; my father thought everyone and I mean everyone was expendable, so if I wanted to stay alive I DID have to do this for a living, plus well, it was fun as hell.
-/- 20 Minutes later -\-
"You have the option of living with us at our home and going to the school for super powered children, Sky High, or you can choose to not do that, and go to Arkham," The Commander, who I now wanted dead, stated with a hint of annoyance as he stared at me. I smirked at him as I thought about my options, go to a school with other supers and want to hurt or kill all of them, or go to Arkham and possibly not break out? "Choose carefully because there are NO second chances in your choice." I waved him off and continued to think it over. 'I might go to the school and have some fun with all the hero wannabe's.' I thought as I looked at him.
"Well Commander, I think I'll take you up on the offer to go to that school of yours," I replied as I pulled away from his grip with a smirk, he glared down at me, I had been forced to take my face paint off and it had been a bitch to get off without my makeup remover. "I'll just need to get some belongings from home." He looked at me like I was crazy, I just smirked and skipped away, I pulled my cell phone out of my bra and hit speed dial #2. "Dad, it's Jacks, I got caught. I'm going to super school instead of Arkham. Bring some of my stuff to MPA (Meeting Point A), clothes, boots, make-up, ECT. I'll get the drop in an hour throw in some drink too please." He affirmed with a dark chuckle and then the line went dead. "Commander I'll need to pick up some things in about an hour." He nodded with a grimace.
-/- 1 hour later (MPA) (It's around 11 pm) -\-
"Thanks dad, I hope I'll stay insane," I muttered as I took the three bags from my 'father', it was one of his henchmen. I smiled, he always sent someone else if we had to meet at a meeting point, it just wasn't safe for him to meet me out in the open, and it wasn't safe for either of us actually. "See you later." He nodded and ran off quickly. I walked off toward where I had left The Commander, or as I now learned him to be, Mr. Steve Stronghold. I didn't like this man, at all, he pressed buttons I didn't even know that I had, and he's only known me for maybe an hour and twenty minutes. I pulled my pocket knife out and flipping it open and tossing it up and down, catching both blade and handle equally. "Well my dear captor, I have my belongings that will allow me to survive the school year at your home." He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. I smiled at him with my jester smile and followed him to the car. "OOOH! Can I drive Mistah Bossman?"
"No Ace, you're not licensed nor do you have a permit," He was glaring at me as he muttered his reply. I was a perfect mix between my parents, I was crazy, and proud of it, like my father and obnoxious, and devoted, like my mother. I was crafty and sneaky, I can play both sides and apparently I'm deadly. "You get your license or your permit and I'll consider letting you drive the car." I grumbled to myself as I got in the passenger's seat after putting my three large bags in the backseat, no I don't have super strength, I have muscles. Mr. Stronghold got in the driver's seat and started the car. We drove toward the house where I would be staying at for however long I was in school.
"Call me Jacks if you know what's good for you," I growled as I pressed the tip of my knife to the pad of my index finger. I smiled as a small dot of blood that pooled in the small wound. I knew that it wasn't the safest thing for me to do; I kind of get a little crazy when my blood is spilt. I made a deeper stab mark and looked at the blood that escaped, it was slightly darker than the average blood and it was actually the key to my power, my control over energy came from my blood, I know what you're all thinking… every super power comes from their blood, while this is in fact true, think of it this way… your blood is the energy that sustains your body, therefore my blood is the house of my power. Now that you know why I'm going to Sky High, and about my power, would you like to learn more about me as an ACTUAL person? You would? GREAT!
-/- At the Stronghold home (In Ace's Room) -\-
Well here's my story, I'm the child of two villains, or more accurately… one super villain, that isn't super, and one fence hopper. I have three distinct personalities; Ace, Jacks, and The Card Princess. Ace is the… original you could say, she's the one that's innocent, or as innocent as the child of the Joker and Harley Quinn could be, she's the least insane one out of the three of us, she wears normal make up compared to the rest of us. The Card Princess… she's the complete psycho of our little trio, her face paint is wild and she has not one shred of a conscience. She's the source of our power, no clue as to what her real name is, she won't tell Ace or I, says that if she says her name our power goes away, funny thing is… Ace didn't create that personality, I did, and I didn't do it until we were ten and living with dad full time and we've had our power or ability since Ace was three. And me… well, I'm Jacks… I'm the one people deal with the most, Ace created me at around four years old, the first time she killed someone, even though it was an accident, I'm the one who can handle the killing and then not feel more then an twinge of remorse or guilt. I'm the middle ground, Ace created me and I created The Card Princess because there are some things that even I JUST CAN'T handle. I plan on causing as much chaos as possible in that stupid school and they won't be throwing me out anytime soon. Well that's all I'll tell you about Ace and The Card Princess, they may tell you more if they want. What else can I possibly tell you people about myself? I'm seventeen, you already know who my parents are, I'm slightly psycho and I hate most people, and I actually know the difference between right and wrong, I just don't care very much. I have short and spiky black hair that's usually up under my black, red, blue, and purple jester hat. I wear mostly hand modified clothes, with some pieces that I don't modify. I'm more on the punk/Goth in style, I'm a mix of my parents in personality, sometimes one over powers the other and I act more like one then the other. When I get drunk I act more like my dad, when I get hyper I act like my mom. Well enough about me, how about you guys tell me about you.
-/- Elsewhere with another new Sky High student -\-
-/- Lily's P.o.V -\-
"I NEVER want to go back there again daddy," I stated as I wiped tears away from my puffy red eyes, I had cried all the way home from school and I had only just stopped minutes ago. School had been in full swing for a week and my tormenters from my freshman year, the Harpies as I called these three girls, who had crossed the final line today, the sad part is that I was FRIENDS with these girls until high school. "They broke the bracelet that you had made for me, Kandi Williams broke it off my wrist, she broke it off, threw it on the ground and then they ALL took turns stomping on it with their heels!" The plants around the living room started to slowly die, I was experiencing an extreme bout of negativity and this caused the plants to die. "I lost it dad, Williams has a broken arm and a black eye along with a few other bruises." Bruce nodded with a slightly disappointed look on his face. I stormed up to my second story bedroom and threw myself onto my green comforter covered four poster bed, I decorated my room myself, the bed I'm currently lying on is made of a bright maple, the drapes are a lovely forest green, the comforter I'm lying on is emerald green and so are the sheets. My curtains that let in just a hint of light are the exact color of the limes that I frequently grow when I want to make limeade. I curled into my many pillows, which were various shades of green, and sobbed, my grass green wall to wall carpeting only bringing me mild comfort due to its likeness to the actual thing. I pulled the small stones and fragments of broken silver out of my shirt pocket and placed them carefully on my maple bedside table, I had been able to salvage the diamonds and emeralds and a few pieces of silver ivy. I hated using my powers, which is what I did, I used my powers to hold Ruby and Scarlet, Candi's little followers back while I beat her to a pulp. I took out my phone, going through the contacts until I found a single name… Ace. I dialed her number and waited impatiently for her to answer it rang a few times and I couldn't help but think, 'Pick up pick up for the love of all things good Ace you better pick up the phone. The tone that signified the phone being picked up was followed by my darling besties smart alec remark of 'Hola Chicka. What can I do ya for?' I rolled my eyes because she was a tad bit crazy but that was why I loved her. 'Are you in trouble again?'

"Hey Ace, I need your special brand of help," I replied, taking deep even breaths, not wanting to get out of control again it was never a good thing. I didn't need her coming over here and blowing up at anyone about anything. "Something happened at school today and I really need your help with some people." She began laughing quietly as I finished telling her what I needed to tell her. 'Say no more I'll be over there lickity split,' She replied in a voice that almost made my ear drums bleed, would have too if I wasn't use to it. Wasn't what I wanted to happen but I guess it works for the time being. That girl really would do anything for me and sometimes it wasn't always a good thing either. "Ok you can come over but you'll need to be careful, my dad is home and I'm thinking that I may be grounded soon, and this is going to make me sound like a broken record but I have to tell you any way, please be careful and don't get caught." I replied in a warning tone. 'You know I don't get caught that often right Lily?' Ace retorted through the phone before continuing on. 'I'll be there in about an hour, I got caught by some stupid supers.' I could see her smirking face in my mind and had to laugh but didn't. I thought to myself 'Kind of ironic that she doesn't get caught often but she does get caught when I need her.' "Ace what on earth did you do or I suppose it would be try to do seeing as you got caught and judging by the time frame you gave me I'm guessing you got caught in Maxville of all places." I replied as I sat up in my bed and thought 'I don't think I'm going to like the answer I'm going to get.' Ace came back with a reply that made me question if I had said that last bit out loud, 'You won't like the answer because I got caught by The Commander and Jetstream while trying to rob a bank with my father, he got away, and no telling now Lily.' She continued on with her tale by telling me, 'I may have to jack a car to get there but I WILL get there and you know I will.' I groaned and flopped back onto my bed while saying, "No wonder you got caught Ace, you were with your dad." I was quiet for a moment and heard footsteps coming toward my room, and judging from the sound of them, it was my brother. "Hey Ace I have to let you go your ex is making his way to my room." I muttered as I sat up yet again, you'd think I wanted whiplash.

"Hey Lils how you holding up?" Dick called from outside my door before he knocked on it. "Dad told me what happened and I am so sorry to hear that." I was relieved that it wasn't my father, but on the other hand, I couldn't let Dick know that I was talking to his ex-girlfriend, he would flip a lid and go storming off all over the house. "Are you going to let me in or am I going to talk to you through a door all night?"

'Really he's there, please Lily please keep him there, I have something important to tell that jerk but that's beside the point!' Ace screamed into my ear before mumbling, 'Please Lily please just keep him there because I really do have to talk to him about something very very important.' I sighed and wondered what it could possibly be. "I'll do my best Ace," I muttered as I sat back up in my bed. "But I need to see what Dick want's." I hung up the phone and opened the door to my room. I threw my arms around my brother in a hug.

"Who were you talking to Lily, I know that even you can't hide a phone that fast?" Dick asked as he returned the hug, giving me a tight squeeze. "I'm heading out soon and wanted to know if you wanted to live with me in Maxville, because if you do I'll have to clean out the guest room." He sat on my bed and looked up at me, it didn't surprise me that his spare room was a mess, he wasn't the neatest person in the world. I looked at him and smiled back, perhaps I would be able to surprise Ace by living in the same town as her yet again,.

I ran up to him and tackled him in a bear hug, or as much of one as I could manage, and screamed "YES YES YES!" I was giggling excitedly and my plants were reacting to my positive attitudes. "Hang on, why are you living in Maxville?" I asked as I let him sit up and curled up in his lap like I did until I was 13. I was excited to move in with Dick, after he became NightWing we barely saw each other much anymore.

"Well Lily, I started living in Maxville for a few months now, wanted to get way from Gotham for a while and Maxville has supers that could use some help," Dick replied with a smile before continuing on to say. "I meant to tell you and dad, but never got around to it… hehe… I'm glad that you decided to move in with me." He wrapped an arm around me and squeezed tightly. "So who were you talking to Lily-bells, you never told me who you were talking to on the phone?"

"Oh I was just talking to my bestie," I replied, hoping that he wouldn't get the hint about who it was, being that it was his ex and all. "So when are we going brother of mine?" I went to my closet and grabbed all the suitcases that made up my luggage set. It was made up of various sizes in various shades of green, with the biggest one being made of a dark green fabric.

"About an hour or so little sister of mine, and let me guess, you were talking to one Ace Napier," Dick stated as I was looking around for something that I needed. "Does dad know you still talk to that little failure as a person?" I nodded an affirmative to his question, a scowl on my face at his reference to Ace as a failure of a person. I started packing about two weeks' worth of clothing into one of my bags. "Just to warn you, I want nothing to do with that girl, she's a liar and a harlot." I let out a gasp, nobody had ever spoken to or about Ace that way.

"Don't you EVER speak about Ace that way again Richard Grayson Wayne! She is still my best friend and you WILL NOT speak about her like that in front of me." I replied, trying to keep my powers in check, I didn't want a repeat of earlier today except against my brother. "And can YOU REALLY blame her for lying about who she is especially considering who her parents are?" I was getting irate at the fact that after he broke up with her, he didn't have a nice thing to say about her at all.

"No I'm not mad about the fact that she lied to me about her parents, anyone with those two as parents would lie," Dick retorted, he was getting slightly mad as well but I really didn't care too much. "I'm mad at the fact that she lied to me about her age, she's now 17 and I'm 22, it's illegal, also she lied about giving up crime for me, I even said that I would get dad to help her if she wanted." His statements were short and I could tell he was getting irritated. "She also lied about dating other people while we were dating, and based on that I will speak about her however I choose to speak about her this is also based on the fact that she and I did some things that I'm not really all that proud of." By this time I had almost finished packing all my clothes and had moved on to other things.

"Ok you listen here, for one she NEVER lied about her age, seeing as you NEVER actually asked her for her age," I retorted harshly, I know he's my brother but she's my best friend and it's not really her fault that she's had the life she did. "And for two, she won't give up crime because it's all she's ever known and you can't expect her to change overnight or even over the course of a few months. Plus Dick if she gives it up then her father could KILL her, and three those other guys she 'dated' were her extremely psychotic ex's that wouldn't leave her alone."

"It is whatever it is Lily, I'm no longer dating her nor will I ever date her again," Dick replied as I zipped up my suitcases and did a mental check to make sure that I had everything. "I don't talk to her and I usually don't talk about her, I don't really care if anything happens to her. I don't look for her and I definitely don't try to find her to see how she's doing like I've done with a few of my other girlfriends, she called me the other day saying that it was important, but I let it go." I felt my mouth drop open and wondered what she had to tell him.

"That's not like Ace Dick and you know it," I stated as I grabbed my backpack. "Whatever she had to tell you, it is most likely very important Dick, she NEVER keeps in contact with her ex's, in fact she HATES most of them." I packed up my laptop, sketch pad, pens and pencils, as well as several of my favorite books.

"Perhaps I'll have you talk to her then," He muttered as something began tapping at the window, I was on the second floor. The tapping continued incessantly at a steady pace and a decent pattern until we both went and looked at the window. "What's that tapping Lily, Lily, what's that tapping?" I walked over to the window and saw Ace throwing pebbles at my window. 'Wow she got here faster than expected.' I thought as I looked again and opened the window to allow Ace to get in. Ace climbed into my room after climbing up to the window. Dick's jaw hit the floor after having seen Ace.

"You might want to close your mouth big brother, unless you're trying to catch flies, I don't think it's working Dick," I stated with a laugh as I looked at him.

"What is she doing here Lily?" Dick demanded as he looked at Ace with a look of distain, he quickly stood up and looked at her with a hard glare. Ace rolled her eyes at him and laughed.

"Sup Dickie boy? Oh and Lily-bells what was it that you needed me to do, you don't often call me in a frantic panicky voice?" Ace asked with a chuckle as she walked up to Dick and closed his mouth. "Oh and for the record Grayson, next time I leave you a message on your phone or your internet pages, GET THE FUCK BACK TO ME DAMNIT!" She screamed that last bit as she smacked him in the face. Now I was really interested in seeing what she had to tell him.

"Well Ace you know that bracelet that my dad had made for me?" I replied as I went to my bed side table and gathered up the few remaining pieces of my bracelet, the few silver ivy pieces and the few diamonds and emeralds that I had managed to save, I showed them to Ace with a look of sadness in my eyes.

"Ok Lily say no more, who's ass am I kicking? You take better care of that bracelet then you do yourself sometimes," Ace asked as she looked at the pieces and then at me. She laughed darkly but quietly as she cracked her knuckles. "Was it that Kandi girl and her slut squad that you told me about a few weeks ago?" Dick got a worried look on his face at the knuckle cracking done by Ace, it usually meant bad things.

"And BINGO was his name-o," I replied as I walked to my dresser and grabbed a small velvet bag, I put the bits of jewelry in the bag very carefully, I didn't want to destroy it any more than it already was. I put the bag in my jewelry box and put the box into my backpack.

"What was it that was so important that you just had to decide to contact me after I told you that I didn't want to catch wind of your existence?" Dick demanded as Ace looked at me, probably formulating a plan to get back at the harpies. "We kind of need to get going and I don't want you hindering our trip at all."

I glared up at my brother before saying, "Stop living up to your namesake, Dick." I finished packing up my backpack.

"I will stop acting like this when she isn't here anymore, now Napier please tell me whatever the heck it was that was so important so that you can leave and then we can leave," he stated sarcastically as he looked at Ace, it was clear that he hated her.

"Well Dicky-boy you remember the last time you and I danced the tango?" Ace asked, Dick nodded as a look of horror crossed his face. "Well I'm quite possible a defective typewriter, and if you don't understand that then maybe it shouldn't have a chance because having a dumbass for a father is never a good thing."

I stood frozen as I watched the pieces of the puzzle fall into place and watched the look on Dick's face. "Ace… don't tell me you're possibly…" I muttered as I looked at her.

"Quite possibly, but I won't be for long if I am," She replied slowly, she was always so reckless so I wasn't entirely surprised, but with Dick, that's what surprised me. "Dicky boy here needs to learn some lessons, but not by me. Your dad has already been tipped off to the fact that Dick has a wick and might have some future complications, he has the chopper ready if my hearing is correct." Ace sat on my bed and waited, the look on Dick's face was priceless as he sputtered out unintelligible dialect.

"I forgot to call my mom and Garth," I muttered smacking my forehead, I always forget things when I get excited.

"Bu... N... Fu... dead," Dick mumbled out slowly then quickly. Ace laughed at him, and I couldn't help but giggle.

"Well Lily that's when you call her up," Ace replied casually as she reclined on my bed. "She loves hearing from you after all." Dick feinted and Ace laughed heartily then held her stomach.

Rolling my eyes I took out my cell phone, "You are so mean to him sometimes," I stated as I began the long process of trying to get in contact with my mother. I used my plants to lift Dick up and onto my bed a safe distance away from Ace.

"Well look at how he treats me, I'm the villain it's perfectly natural for me to be mean to people," She stated as she laid down, still holding her stomach, which because she was so tiny naturally was kind of puffed out but not by much. "And tell her I need to see her again in about a week or tomorrow whichever works for her." I nodded and smiled at Ace.

"I'll tell her but with how long it's taking to get in contact with her she's either in Brazil or Arkham, neither have good cell reception," I said as I waited for my mother to pick up her phone, I only spoke to her maybe once a week if I was lucky, I loved my mom and I missed her.

"Give me a minute and I'll have you on the phone with your momma," She stated as she pulled out her phone and pressed a few buttons and handed it to me. "Here you go, I have her on speed dial she's at home, probably in the bath or something, I called the direct way. No clue why you insist on doing it the hard way." She rubbed her midsection and groaned.

"Well, unlike you, I wasn't raised by villians, so I don't have the same kind of technology and gadgets that you have and with Bane gone…" I started as I took the phone and thought about my godfather who had died trying to protect me, my hand brushing my side where the scar from Killer Croc's tail swipe was. "It's just a little bit harder for me to get in contact with her then it is for you."

"You always have me Lily, who besides you is tighter with that woman?" Ace asked as she rolled onto her side. "She's my Aunty Ivy after all, I just have the direct number and I'll write it down for you in a bit after my body stops trying to kill me for having fun." Ace was groaning as the phone clicked to caller.

"I know Ace but—Hi Mommy," I stated as I heard my mom answer the phone. 'Hi baby girl, how are you?' My mom replied over the phone as I watched Ace kick Dick off the bed before curling into a ball that wouldn't stop whimpering in pain. 'Is Ace with you?' I sat down next to Ace, completely disregarding that Dick was on the floor, and began to rub her back in an attempt to help, before telling her "Yeah she's here with me and she's not doing to good mom." 'Good you keep her with you, I got her emergency kick her father's ass text. Her test was a plus, and I'll be coming to see you soon, how have you been, and stop worrying about Ace. She's a big girl and can take care of herself,' My mother replied as I continued to rub Ace's back, I was nodding to everything that was said. 'Just make sure that you update me on school and everything that you can, how are your powers progressing?' "Oh boy, they are progressing quite well, I kind of um… lost control of them today though," I replied as I continued to rub Ace's back. I told her about my day and what happened with the Harpies at school. I was feeling better now that I was talking to my mom. 'It happens to the best of us honey, you'll learn the in's and out's real quick in the real world,' My mother replied in that motherly voice that I loved so much. 'And as for those Harpies, don't let Ace do anything to them in her present position. I'll handle them sweetie.' Ace had gotten up and was heading back toward the window, probably not wanting to be here when Dick woke up, and I can't say I blame her too much. "Alrighty mommy, when should I expect you, and I'll be living with my brother in Maxville," I stated as Ace climbed out of the window, luckily I was on the second floor but had a porch roof under one of my windows. "I miss you mommy, I wish I could see you more, but it's what everyone chose." I could hear her sigh into the other end of the connection. 'I wish I could see you more too Lily, tell Ace that I'll drop by the Holy Grail to talk to her tomorrow at 3:40 tomorrow morning,' My mom started. 'I love you but I have to go, perhaps one day you'll decide to stay with me instead of him but for now, I love you daughter of mine.' After that the phone clicked and I walked to the window to toss Ace her phone. "Oh Ace she said that she'd meet you at the Holy Grail at 3:40 tomorrow morning," I said to Ace before she nodded and then disappeared out of sight, just as I heard Dick groan back into consciousness. "I love you too mommy," I whispered before turning and helping my brother off the floor and shooting a silent prayer to Bane to watch over everyone in this next chapter of our lives.

(Time skip one week (first day at sky high)) (General P.o.V)

"So… you never did tell me what you were going to be teaching here," Lily was sitting next to her brother in the co-pilot seat of the jet… he was of course in his Nightwing outfit. Lily was wearing a green flowing skirt that had a feathered bottom, I had on strappy flats and a lime green peasant top that had cuff of white lace on each sleeve. My red hair was curled slightly at the ends and I had a forest green head scarf around the top of my hair and it was tied off under it. I had on simple emerald studs and a simple silver chain with a small emerald rose on it.

"Well kiddo, I'm going to be you kids' gym teacher for the harder stuff, something about your regular teacher hurting himself during a workout," Dick replied as he navigated the jet toward the school. "So be ready to go through hell."

"So you're going to be there during power placement… great… so who are some of the other teachers here?" Lily asked as she let out a groan. "Anyone else we may know?" She really wanted to know who were going to be teachers.

"Well maybe… or maybe not. I'll let you find out for yourself, you might be surprised," Dick replied as he chuckled. "No I won't be at power placement, something about the original gym teacher's word being law or something like that. But don't let that worry you Lily, you just be yourself and show them your amazing powers."

"But Dick, that's what I'm worried about… once they see my powers then they'll know who my mother is," Lily started as she thought of all the potential hate that could be thrown her way. "I'm afraid of another group of Harpies springing up at this school."

"Not from what I've heard sis, there's a few other nature users in the world, so I do believe that you won't be the only one," Dick replied as he continued to navigate the jet toward where the school was located. "Now we're almost there, you'll be fine sis, but remember I'll be just as hard on you as I will on the others, possibly even harder because I actually know what you're capable of and so that nobody gets the wrong idea."

"I wouldn't have it any other way big brother," She started as she grabbed her green and brown messenger bag and pulled the strap over her head. "Or should I say Mr. NightWing." She chuckled as she fixed her hair one last time in the jet mirror.

"Exactly Ms. Wayne, now get into school, I have to talk to the principal," Dick replied as he landed the jet and grabbed is duffle bag. "I have to get a list of students and my list of classes." 'Please don't let me have Napier, please don't let me have Napier.' He thought as he opened the door to the jet and they both walked off before going their separate ways.

(With Ace.) (General P.o.V)

"Ugh too fucking early, now I have to go deal with a whole bunch of people I will NEVER like or be able to stand being around unless I'm beating their faces in," Ace grumbled as she hit the off button on her alarm that had been going off since about 6:30, it was now 7:00. She pushed the blankets off herself and swung her legs off the bed before getting up. "What to wear today, I think I'll show my true colors, figuratively and literally." She began tearing through the bags of her stuff, looking for clothes that were in her eyes suitable for her first day at a real school. She grabbed a black and red shirt, blue and purple pants, and combat boots that went to just under her knee as well as black and red stripped knee high socks. She quickly changed and grabbed a long light weight trench coat and her side bag that she clipped around her waist before running down the stairs.

"Ace, are you up, you're going to be late," Mrs. Stronghold called up the stairs.

"Yeah I know, that's why I've been down here for a few minutes," Ace replied from the kitchen where she was making herself a cup of coffee. "How exactly do you catch criminals if you couldn't see me walk right past you and sit at the table? I've also had to start drinking coffee, because you people won't let me get my mega monsters that I drink every morning?" Ace looked between Josie and Will, who had both been there for a while longer then Ace. "Well I gotta get going JetBlue, don't want to be late do I." She finished her coffee and dropped the cup into the sink before leaving.

"So mom, do you think little miss villain is ready for Sky High?" He asked as he got up and picked up his dishes and brought them to the sink.

"I don't know hunny, but can you please keep an eye on here Will? Could you please make sure that she doesn't do anything stupid?" Josie asked as she handed Will two paper bags that were filled with sandwiches, juice, and homemade cookies.

"I'll look after her, but I kind of think that she'll be a bully, so I'll be sure to keep the other students safe," Will replied as he took the lunch bags, with no intention of ever giving the bag to Ace. "Do you know what her power is by any chance?"

"I don't really know, perhaps you should wait for power placement and watch her," Josie replied as she walked him to the door. "Now go before you're late hun."

"Thanks for the heads up, I'll be heading out now, see you later mom," Will stated as he headed outside and tried to catch up to Ace. "Ace can you slow down?"

"No chance dipshit, run faster if you ever want to possibly make hero at all," Ace replied angrily, she genuinely despised that boy.

( About 30 minutes later (at sky high))

"Just stay out of my way strongnuts, you stay out of my way and everything will be okay, your heart won't stop because of me," Ace muttered as she stormed up to the school building, completely oblivious to the other students that were around her, her coat flaring out around her with the way she was walking. "Got it Willi-boy?" The slightly frightened boy nodded.

(In the Gym for power placement.)

"Ugh, so you mean to tell me that I now have to show my powers to a whole group of people who grew up with this shit? I HATE THIS PLACE!" Ace screamed after being told by Coach Boomer what power placement was, she was stewing in her own hate and contempt for a man she could easily kill with the snap of her fingers and a touch to his chest. "Whatever." She began scanning the crowd for people that she could consider allies, she hardly had any friends just the people who she grew up with really.

"Well little miss attitude, that's just the way things are here, if you don't like it you are more than welcome to go to your personal alternative," Boomer replied casually and a platform raised out of the ground. "Now let the power placement BEGIN!" He called up the first name, the girl had Bubblegum pink hair that had black tips and was wearing a bright pink shirt with a black tutu style skirt over a pair of black leggings, she also had on electric blue converse high tops. "Name and power bubblegum?"

"Rosa Machin and I'm a pyro, don't piss me off," The girl replied as a smile broke onto her face, Ace suddenly remembered her from a few weeks back, she had met her after the girl had set fire to an old were house. "Now if you could please give me a little room Coach Boomer?" Boomer stepped back a little and everyone watched as Rosa ignited her left hand then her right hand, left arm, right arm, and finally torso. Boomer put her in Hero and she bounced off the platform happily until she got to the bottom where she punched some unlucky kid in the face and walked out.

"I HATE YOU ALL GOT IT!" Ace screamed as just about everyone cowered from coach Boomer and the girl who had just punched someone in the face for no reason. She spotted NightWing and screamed, "ESPECCILLY YOU WING BOY!"

"OK, THAT WILL BE ENOUGH YELLING FROM YOU NAPIER!" Boomer exclaimed as he looked at his clipboard then at the crowd. "You're up girl in non-hippy green with red hair. Lily Wayne right?"

Lily walked up the steps to the platform before replying "Yes sir." She looked completely out of place amongst the group of teenagers especially considering the fact that both she and Ace were 17 and the rest were 14 they were juniors and the rest were freshmen. The poor girl looked uncomfortable, she didn't like showing her powers based solely on principal but would because she knew that Ace would kick her ass if she didn't.

"Wait a minute, I know you," A voice called from the crowd of freshmen, "you're the whore who beat up my cousin last week! What did you do? Get daddy to pay for you to come here?" Ace heard that and saw red, well more red than usual, and Jacks came out full force, a demonic smile graced her angelically painted face.

"OH FUCK NO YOU DID NOT! You listen to me little miss hippy your little hoe bag of a cousin Kandi and her slut squad destroyed my darling besties bracelet and have been tormenting her for years. GET YOUR FUCKING FACTS STRAIGHT BEFORE YOU CALL SOMEONE A WHORE GOT IT?" Ace screamed as she went to find the person who had called Lily a whore, she simply could not deal with people speaking ill about her best friend. "Oh and Lily darling you better actually show your powers or I'll make you, got it?" Her voice was sweet, almost too sweet. She found Layla, the girl who had called out, and smacked her across the face hard enough to leave a red mark, a smile on her face the entire time.

"Yeah, yeah," Lily started before taking a deep breath and slipping off her shoes. "Here goes nothing." She made various plants grow out of nothing at all causing the gym to look like a rainforest, complete with beautiful flowers and towering trees with cascading vines. When she used her powers the she most definitely used her powers.

"HERO ! AND YOU NAPIER, I said no more yelling and detention after school for you, Williams you too. Now next up is little miss loves to yell," Boomer stated as Lily called the plants back with a smile on her face at being put in hero.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah coach loudmouth, I'm coming," She muttered as she jumped onto the platform with the aid of her hand on the platform, this caused a few ooh's and ah's from the other kids, apparently they didn't know who her father and mother were, if they did then they wouldn't be impressed by that. "Ok, let's get one thing straight I will not be held responsible for destruction due to my powers got it?" Boomer nodded with a questioning look on his face. "Dandy-o." She pulled a small rock out of her side bag and held onto it for about three seconds before she tossed it into the air and tossed a smoke pellet down at her feet before she disappeared up to a rafter in the ceiling. The small rock exploded once Ace was safely above it, the blast knocked Boomers hat off.

"Where did you go young lady?" Boomer asked himself as he looked everywhere but where she was, Ace was laughing silently while holding onto a rafter to keep herself on the small support beam she was standing on. It wasn't that she wasn't use to being in this position, she often was, it's just that she couldn't stop laughing.

"Try looking up coach," Lily replied with a slight chuckle as she pointed toward the ceiling where Ace was. 'She always does that when someone wants to see her powers, she'll show them then run, I guess it was the fact of living with her dad so much the whole show up and show off then run bit.

"UP HERE LOUD MOUTH!" Ace called as she looked down at the rest of the students, almost as if she was their judge, jury, and would also be their executioner. She leaned back, still holding on to the beam, before pulling herself back up.

"GET DOWN HERE NAPIER!" Boomer called in anger as he looked up at Ace, who was laughing openly now. Ace chuckled before she let go of the beam and fell back dramatically, she held her arms out straight and free fell the 40+ feet before a puff of smoke appeared around her and she landed on the platform behind Boomer.

"So… coach what track is she in?" Lily asked as Ace crept up behind Boomer, Ace really wanted to hear this, but as Boomer turned toward where she was she stepped behind him and jumped off the platform and walked to Lily, who high fived her.

"Unfortunately I have no choice but to put her in the Hero class," Boomer replied as he ticked a box on his paper, finalizing her station as a HERO class student, and praying to whatever god gym teacher failures prayed to that he would live past the end of the class.

"Oh Coach you should not have said that word," Lily mumbled with a wince as she took a few subtle steps back away from Ace. "And you most definitely did not want to call her that word." 'Three… Two… One…' Lily thought as she took another subtle step away from Ace who was obtaining the harder gaze that make Lily know that Jack's was going to make another appearance.

"OH HELL NO, YOU DID NOT JUST CALL ME THAT HORRID FOUR LETTER WORD!" Ace, or rather Jacks, screamed she was irate with the fact that Boomer would insult her so. "I'M NOT A FUCKING HERO YOU FUCKING IDIOT, IN NO WAY WOULD I EVER BE A HERO. But you are correct in your assumption that I am not a sidekick." Ace jumped back up onto the platform and charged her fingertips up with a gentle current, just enough to do slight skin singeing if one was unclothed. She placed that hand on Boomers chest he jumped as if zapped by a joy buzzer. "Like I said, not a sidekick, but… not a hero. So be grateful I wasn't fully charged up."

"Now Ace, no need to harass the teacher, he's only doing his job," Lily stated as the bell rang signifying the end of the period and the beginning of the lunch hour. Lily wanted to get Ace out of the room before she killed someone, namely Boomer. "Come on, it's lunch time Ace."

"Peace out girl scouts, I have food to not eat," She jumped off the platform again and walked toward Lily before hugging her. "Hey congrats on getting into Hero Lily-bells." Lily hugged Ace back and together they made their way to the door and toward the lunch room.

"Congrats on getting into not sidekick Ace," Lily stated as she pulled a couple pieced of Tupperware that contained a lunch for both her and Ace, she tried to hand one to Ace but she turned it down even though she knew that Lily was an amazing cook, she had eaten some of Lily's cooking before and loved it.

"Thanks but no chika," Ace mumbled as she pushed the dish away. "I'm not hungry, all these hero wannabe's make me sick to my freaking stomach." She let out a laugh that could chill a snowman and I knew that there was almost no talking her into eating.

"Ace you need to eat, you'll never keep your weight stable if you don't eat," Lily muttered trying to give Ace her best Ivy look, Ace always listened to Ivy in substitute of her own mother. "Come on Ace, I made it myself." Lily kept the dish extended in hopes that her friend would take it and begin eating.

"If it's about my condition then don't worry Lily-bells my daddy took care of that," Ace replied as she pushed the container away again, giving Lily the look her father always gave her mother when Harley tried to get him to do something. "I'm genuinely not hungry, I had coffee for breakfast and that always makes me not hungry."

"Fine Ace you win," Lily muttered with a sigh, Ace could be so stubborn sometimes. "Are you okay Ace, you seem a bit different." Lily put the Tupperware away after eating a bit.

"I've never been better Lily, a little bit hallow but never better otherwise," Ace replied as she smiled a wide smile that almost betrayed the fact that on the inside she was slowly dying from wanting to be with her parents again. "Again daddy took care of my problem like three days ago. So how's Dickweed anyway, a little birdy told me that he was going to be teaching here and that you're living with him." She may have been raised by villains but those villains were her parents and she wanted to go back to them oh so badly.

"Dick's doing good, apparently he's going to be one of our gym teachers for the harder stuff," Lily stated as she looked at Ace before taking out the other piece of Tupperware and began eating what she had prepared for herself. "And for the record, I was the one who told you that I was going to be living with him, I told you last week when you came to the house." Ace nodded as she charged one finger up, and tossed the small charge up and catching it, the Strongholds had taken her pocket knife away so she couldn't toss that about anymore.

"I heard my name, do you need something Lily?" Dick asked, popping out of nowhere as he seemed to do regularly. Ace rolled her eyes, she hated how her ex could do that, it always un-nerved her that he would pop up all the time, he always did it at the worst times in Ace's opinion. He had a smug look on his face whenever Ace was around that was generally unlike him.

"Go away Dickie boy, nobody wants you here at the moment," Ace muttered disdainfully as she looked at him and quickly took care of the charge she had created. She also had no intention of serving that detention that she was given, but that was beside the point.

"Ace be nice, I know it's a bit hard sometimes but you need to be nice," Lily stated as she looked between Ace and Dick and back again. "Dick I was just letting Ace know what was going on, why you were a teacher here and such, it was an honest question to ask and you would have no problem if it was asked by someone else." Dick nodded with a blank face, he hated when Lily was right about things concerning Ace.

"Why do you insist on hanging out with people like her Lily?" Dick demanded as he looked at Lily with a look of worry that she was going down the wrong path. "I mean it's bad enough that you talk to villains but do you really have to hang out with them as well?" Ace was shocked that Dick would doubt Lily's ability to pick friends and acquaintances.

"Ok Dick, I get it you hate my fucking guts," Ace stated in her demon like Jack's voice. "We dated, I got knocked up, we broke up, you found out, and I lost it, big fucking deal. If you remember correctly, I told you everything you asked while we were dating." She got up and walked real close to Dick, close enough to whisper something in his ear. "And guess what, I hold the power here, if I went and told Powers what happened, you would be fired faster than my daddy can break out of Arkham. Now I'm going to the gym to blow off some steam." She backed up and walked off toward the door to the lunch room.

"Why do you have to be such a dick to her, Richard?" Lily demanded with a glare at her brother, she crossed her arms and continued to glare at him.

"I'm not being a dick to her Lily," Dick replied with a sigh as he put his hand up to his forehead. "She needs to learn that society doesn't accept people like her, however she won't let anyone but you close enough to teacher her that lesson." Dick rubbed his forehead.

"Oh and what does that say about me huh?" Lily demanded, she was getting angry. "Especially considering who my mother is, I have just as much chance as Ace of ending up in Arkham." Lily hated when Dick pulled this shit about Ace, she knew that her parentage was that of villains, and she loved that Bruce had taken her in and helped her.

"That's not what I meant Lily," Dick began as Lily packed everything up, knowing that lunch hour was almost over. "And you know it, now lunch is almost over you should be getting back to power placement."

"Isn't it just Dick," Lily stated still getting angry. "Think about what you're saying, society doesn't accept people like Ace, how the heck do you think they'd react if it became known who my mother was. How would the world act toward me, would they act the way they act toward Ace?" She took off toward the gym again before she hit Dick, he knew what saying that kind of thing did to her.

"Hey Lily-bells, Dickweed was right though," Ace began as she looked at Lily with a grin, "society accepts you because of Bruce, the entire freaking world knows about who my parents are." She charged her hand up and began throwing the charge between her hands. "Bruce is real good at reforming how people see something."

"That doesn't really matter Ace, you know as well as I do that people don't care how you're raised, they care about your parents," Lily mumbled as she looked at Ace with a small smile. "There's always that chance that I'll end up like the people that hurt people just for fun."

"Lily," Ace began as she looked at Lily with a slight look of worry. "We both know you won't turn out like me, the world respects you and you'd be surprised who knows who your parents are." Boomer came back into the room as did all the freshmen. "But thank you for helping me with him."

"Okay WHINER BABIES," Boomer boomed as he looked around the room, only to see most of the kids trembling in their shoes, "Stronghold you're up." Will was shaking in his shoes and really didn't want to have to show his powers, which he didn't actually have.

"Um… well actually," Will began before leaning over toward Boomer and muttering, "I don't have any powers." Boomer let out a sigh and muttered something about how Stronghold was kidding with him and then he dropped a car out of the ceiling and onto Will. 'How did I miss that?' Ace asked herself as the car landed on Will. Boomer lifted the car off of Stronghold who then muttered, "I don't have super strength." Boomer pressed a button on a remote control that caused Will to go flying. "I can't fly either."

"Well then Stronghold, you are in SIDEKICK! Hippy girl you're up," Boomer stated joyfully as he looked at Will who was getting off the platform and then at Layla who was looking slightly nervous.

"I don't believe in using my powers unless the situation calls for it," Layla stated clearly and loudly, with a snarky smiled plastered on her face. Ace and Lily looked at each other with matching smirks. Ace smiled before disappearing in a puff of smoke and reappearing in the rafters above Layla. Lily looked up and saw Ace and she nodded in approval of what Ace was thinking.

"Well you're in luck then," Boomer began as he looked at Layla. "Because this is the situation and I'm calling for it. Now show me you're powers." Ace shot a small energy at Layla's feet. Layla went flying while screaming at the top of her lungs before she landed on the floor on her ass. "SIDEKICK!" Boomer boomed as he ticked a box on his clipboard.

"Congratulations LOSER!" Ace called as she poofed back next to Lily. "That's good to hear that she won't be in a class with us huh Lily?" Lily nodded as she looked at Ace with a slightly disapproving gaze, but she was ecstatic on the inside.

"Be nice Ace," Lily stated with a sigh but mentally she was cheering that she didn't have to be in a class with Kandi's cousin. Ace stomped off angrily muttering about how Lily never let her have any fun. As she left the room she bumped into somebody.

"Sorry, well not really," Ace muttered as she walked toward the locker assigned to her. "I'm quite visible, I'm dressed head to toe in bright fricken colors, and you should have been watching where you were going and seen me coming. Just be grateful I wasn't fully charged up." She quickly found her locker and opened it.

"Now Jacks, is that anyway to speak to your elders," Slade stated as he followed Ace to her locker. She turned as she recognized the voice and saw exactly who she thought it was.

"Oh hey Slade… WAIT YOU CAN'T BE HERE!" Ace exclaimed as she looked at the man. "Your daughter is in that room I just," Ace whispered as she glared at Slade, "and you know that you aren't supposed to see her until she asked to see you." She opened her locker to find her schedule, slightly wondering how they got her courses already.

"Well yes, but a little birdy told me something interesting," Slade began as I looked over my schedule and smiled at it then frowned at the fact that she didn't have any martial arts classes but noticed that she did have a combat class, "that little birdy told me that she had an incident in her previous high school… plus there's nothing that says I can't see her so long as she doesn't know who I am in correlation to her."

"Very true Slade," Ace began as she looked inside her locker and got slightly saddened by the fact that she didn't have any books. "Very true. Oh and you remember Robin right?" Slade nodded and looked at Ace. "Well… he's here… he's a gym teacher… and he's most of all right behind you."

"You're not to go ANYWHERE near her!" Dick growled as he grabbed Slade around the throat and slammed his head into the lockers, apparently old enemies never quit.

"Oh Robin… will you ever learn?" Slade asked calmly as he pulled Robin's hand away from his throat and dropped it. "When will you learn Robin?" Slade was now looking at Dick and Dick at Slade, apparently Slade didn't notice the new costume.

"Oh Dickie-poo, don't go alerting Lily that he's here," Ace started as she looked over her schedule again noting that she had nothing but easy classes and this caused her to smirked, the only one that made her worry was Martial Arts/Combat 101 because she actually recognized the names of the teachers but was hoping that I was wrong. "We can agree on that at least right Dick?" She walked back to the two males and smacked Dick in the back of the head before pushing Slade toward the other side of the hallway. "Now you…" Ace muttered as she grabbed his shirt and pulled him down to her level, probably not the smartest idea but with who her father was she wasn't exactly always stable in the head. "What the hell are you going to be teaching here?"

"I will be teaching martial arts of course," Slade replied with a smirk behind his mask. "What else did you expect?"

"Well it looks like I have that course combine with Combat 101," Ace muttered as she looked over her course again to see room numbers and teachers to see if she recognized anyone, the only one being her Mythical History teacher one Eric Draven. "I'm surprised that they would let me take combat and martial arts classes with who my parents are. But I'm glad they did because now I can actually shine above just about everyone at one of my classes. Not that their safe curriculum could teach me anything really." She heard the door to the gym opening and quickly turned to look to see who was there.

"Hey guys what's going on?" Lily asked as she walked over to them with a worried look on her face at how tense her brother and Ace were and got slightly worried. "Is everything okay?" She walked to her locker and opened it quickly causing Ace to look in envy as she had to struggle to open hers, and Lily pulls out her schedule and looks it over.

"Nothin' Lil's," Ace replied, immediately regaining her calm cool composure so that Lily would believe that nothing was going on that she need concern herself about. "What you got for classes chika? And do you want to come raid the lunch room with me, I'm starved?" Ace let go of Slade and walked over to Lily who was about 20 lockers down from her.

"You kids have fun now," Slade stated quietly before he walked away quietly and quickly. Lily decided to follow Ace to make sure that nothing got destroyed, after all she knew how Ace got when she was hungry.

"Let's see I have Mad Science, Mythical History, gymnastics, martial arts… HEY!" Lily screamed as Ace took the schedule out of Lily's hands. "Give that back Ace."

"We have Mad Science, Mythical History, Lunch, gym, and martial arts/combat101 together," Ace stated calmly as she looked over both hers and Lily's schedules and huffed at not having more classes with her bestie. "At least we have those together right? I mean it could be worse."

"Oh most definitely, I mean we could have no classes together," Lily replied as she looked at Ace. "I mean we could be going to different schools and never see each other."

"Most definitely Lily, oh most definitely," Ace stated as she made toward the lunch room, she was starved after using her powers, she always was. "Now let's go raid that fridge in the lunch room because I am seriously starved because of power placement, my power is such a good weight loss agent but I get so freaking hungry." She continued walking toward the lunch room without giving Lily back her schedule.

"So Ace, why were you and my brother so tense earlier?" Lily asked as Ace opened the door to the lunch room and they both jumped behind the counter, she leaned against the wall as Ace raided the contents of the fridge.

"Oh nothing Lily-bells, don't worry about it," Ace replied as she looked at the contents of the fridge and grabbed some tacos and spaghetti with meatballs. She started eating the tacos that she had grabbed, she grabbed anywhere between five and seven, she ate them one by one. "N… do… worry Lily." She finished the tacos and began eating the spaghetti and meatballs. "Gods you would think that the Strongnuts would know how to feed a girl properly." She was talking with a full mouth the entire time, obviously chewing and swallowing before speaking most of the time but she usually talked and ate at the same time.

"God do they even feed you over there?" Lily asked as she watched her friend scarf down all the food that she had grabbed. "Because I know I saw Will with two lunches today at lunch." Ace continued to eat from the large bowl of cold pasta and meat.

"Dipshit probably didn't give me mine… they feed me sure but think about how much I eat on a normal basis?" Ace replied as she finished up the pasta and smiled at Lily. "My father use to order take out every night and I could get as much as I wanted. It looks like I have to have a chat with his parents…"

"Ace…." Lily began, using her tone that said 'don't do anything stupid'.

"Lily… my first night there I asked where the take out menus were and I got laughed at," Ace replied as she looked at Lily before looking at the fridge again. "I've broken into their alcohol cabinet every night this week. The father thinks I have an eating disorder." She walked back up to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of milk. "Gotta keep my bones healthy."

"OH HELL NO, Ace you're not staying there anymore!" Lily stated as the last bell of the day rang and she grabbed Ace's hand marching the both of them out of the lunchroom. "Nobody laughs at my best friend and gets away with it."

"I asked why they were laughing, they asked if I had ever had a home cooked meal. I replied once or twice, and the mother gave me a hug and said you poor girl," Ace replied as she chugged the milk and then stopped at the vending machine to grab a soda. "I had her cooking and it was good, but she didn't make nearly enough for everyone."

"Better even than MY cooking?" Lily demanded with fake hurt laced through her voice.

"FUCK no Lily-bells yours is still the best I've had and you know it. But I'm surprised you didn't comment on the drinking aspect I'm not completely sober now most likely, but that's beside the point," Ace replied as she drank her soda slowly. "Now before you say anything about my drinking, remember these guys aren't like Bruce. They think that they can change me by talking to me or ignoring me."

"Well duh… now there is something I simply must tell you," Lily stated as she turned to look at Ace with a smile on her face.

"What you got to tell me Lily-bells, and oh boy am I glad you're not going to berate me for my drinking," Ace replied as she continued to drink her soda, she had gotten a vanilla coke. "Oh boy do I love a good soda."

"Oh trust me Ace, I still don't like your drinking, I've just accepted the fact that there's nothing I can say that will stop you from doing so. And as for what I need to tell you well...when you told me who you were staying with I did some research," Lily stated calmly and clearly as she looked at Ace.

"And… SPIT IT OUT ALREADY LILY YOU'RE KILLLING ME," Ace exclaimed as she took another sip of her soda and leaned against the lockers waiting for her best friend to finish telling her story. If you're going to tell me that they hate villians then I already know that, don't bother telling me that they hate my father especially I know that too, everyone hates him usually, so whatever it is probably won't shock me but I want to hear it."

"Well Ace, I took a leaf out of your book…" Lily began as she looked at Ace, a smirk gracing her face. "I hacked the J.L mainframe and I found out that they, well Jetstream anyway, is related to a certain favorite super of Metropolis." Ace looked up at Lily with a matching smirk and then smiled.

"Oh so good to hear that little miss streamline is related to the Superdouch great to hear?" Ace asked with a chuckle as she finished her soda and looked at Lily with a big smile. "That's not a surprise really."

"Well it certainly explains a lot about his chosen color scheme," Lily replied as she looked at Ace and then leaned against the lockers as well.

"A bit, also explains why he can't do shit about anything in general. Doesn't explain how she doesn't cook enough for a super strong man and a growing super idiot that can barely tie his own shoes," Ace looked at Lily who was still smirking.

"Maybe THAT'S where he got his idiocy?" Lily asked in general.

"Probably I mean they aren't a very smart species those Kryptonians," Ace replied casually, almost as if chats like these were common place between the two, which they were. "I mean Superman originally though that I was a magical being instead of a super being." Ace let out a laugh and continued laughing.

"He thought I was a clone and not her biological child," Lily muttered, neither girl was particularly thrilled to have ever come across in either of their lives.

"They are such a stupid species I mean seriously," Ace replied as she shifted against the set of lockers. "Well best to head back to hell, I'm not serving detention, and I have a bottle of Svedka coconut vodka with a bottle of vanilla coke waiting for me. Want to hang out sometime?"

"I'm not even going to bother to tell you why you shouldn't drink, but yeah, we should hang out...I heard that there's a really good Chinese food place, we could have dinner there sometime," Lily replied as she turned to look at Ace.

"OH YES PLEASE, I'll pay this go round, but if you want I'll cut back on the drinking for tonight," Ace stated as she linked arms with Lily and together they skipped out of the school. "I look like a fool right now though so I will have to change before we go out. I'll meet you at the only Chinese place in town at about 6:30, sound good?"

"Sounds like the perfect plan," Lily replied as the two reached their parting point. "I'll see you then Ace." The two girls went their separate ways, Ace to her bus and Lily to the jet with her brother.

(Half an hour later With Ace)

(Ace's P.o.V)

"I'm going out later Steve, don't bother to try to stop me," I called as I walked into the house. I looked at the Stronghold parents as they looked at me shocked, as if to say no you are not going out. "I really don't want to have to sneak out again so it would just be easier for all of us if you just let me go. I mean I don't sleep anyway, well much that is, so I'm going out tonight for dinner with my best friend Lily Wayne." Josie nodded with a small frown.

"Young lady you are not going out tonight, I found the alcohol in your room, you're not going anywhere," Steve hollered as he looked at me, I glared back. "You need to start acting acceptable to society, stop wearing so much black, stop acting like your parents, we want to help you but you need to want to help yourself." I looked at him like he was crazy, which to me he was, but that was beside the point. I shook my head and looked at the floor.

"No Steve, I'm going to go out, I won't be getting drunk but I will be having fun," I retorted loudly as Will walked into the house. "I will not become acceptable to society, these are my colors just like red, white, and blue are yours, and I will not stop acting like my parents as THEY ARE MY PARENTS, and you may want to help me and say that I have to help myself but I don't want to change because I like the way I am."

"Steve let her go out, she'll be with Wayne's girl it'll be fine she won't get into trouble," Josie spoke up as she handed Will his after school snack, she never made me a snack but whatever I was use to making myself everything I needed for food. "You can go out Ace no problem just be sure to be back before 10:00pm, you do have school tomorrow after all."

"I'll be back when I'm back Josie, don't worry about me," I replied as I headed toward the stairs, I needed to change clothes and needed to start reading my textbooks, or I would if I had them, I'd get them tomorrow I hoped, I really wanted my textbooks so that I could get ahead of my class that I hated mostly. "I'm going out with my best friend and I'll be fine I can take care of myself, I have been my whole life after all." I walked up to my room; they put me in the attic so that they would hear me trying to leave. But the problem is they think that I won't just sneak out the window.

(With Lily after school (Lily's P.o.V))

"Lily, I thought I told you that I didn't want you hanging out with her." My bonehead of a brother said as we began to fly back to our house that was close to the edges of Maxville.

"Well, Dick, as of right now she's pretty much my ONLY friend and I'm sorry but I'm not going to abandon her just because you think I should." I said as I pulled out the syllabuses from my classes and looked them over to see what exactly it was that I needed for each one.

(With Ace about 5:30 Ace's P.o.V)

"What to wear what to wear?" I asked myself as I looked through my stuff. I grabbed a pair of jeans and a plaid mini-skirt along with a red button up shirt. I looked around for a purple tank top and a pair of sneakers. "Great I have my outfit but now I need to get my jewelry picked out." I quickly changed my outfit and began rooting about for some stuff to wear for jewelry, I pulled out a few rings and a choker as well as some bracelets and bangles. 'A girl's gotta have bling.' I thought as I put on my jewelry and went to my makeup bag and pulled out a makeup removal wipe, I wiped all my makeup off and reapplied my makeup in a normal manner, in other words my Ace makeup. I walked back down stairs and walked out the door, to find my bike a few houses down. 'Thank you dad!' I mentally screamed as I ran to it and turned it on. 'My baby how I've missed you.' I got on my bike and rode to where I remembered the Chinese restaurant to be, and arrived there at about 6:15.

(General P.o.V)

"Well it looks like she beat me hear," Lily stated as she came up on the Paper Lantern. 'It's a good thing that the Paper Lantern is only a couple blocks from my house, as much as I love my brother but I don't want to deal with anymore of Dick's negativity toward Ace.' Lily thought as she saw Ace driving up on her very familiar motorcycle.

"Hey Lily, if you had told me that you were walking I would have picked you up, my daddy dearest dropped my bike off apparently. You ready for dinner?" Ace asked as she parked her bike in a nonobvious spot because she really didn't have a license nor was the bike registered. "Let's go." Ace walked toward Lily.

"I don't really mind the walk Ace, my house is only a few blocks away," Lily replied as the two girls walked toward the restaurant, "and the best part is that where I live now is right next to a park, so I'm quite lucky."

"But you never know what could happen, no clue what type of people are here," Ace stated as the two girls waited in front of the waitress station. "Is this a seat yourself place or something Lily? Real fancy though, I like it."

"Ace I grew up in Gotham and you're telling me to be careful in a sleepy little town like Maxville," Lily replied as a waiter came up to them and bid them follow him to their table. "I think that I can handle a few blocks."

"I know Lily-bells, I did to remember," Ace retorted after they were sat down. "I'm joking with you, we both know you can handle yourself. Now what to have? Ohh… do they have my favorite? And I'll have a Pepsi."

"I'll have a cherry Pepsi," Lily stated with a smile on her face as she shook her face at her friends antics, and looked over the menu.

"No problem ladies, I'll be back with those drinks in a few minutes," The waiter stated as he jotted down their drink orders. "Please look over the menus and I'll be back to take your order when I come back with your drinks."

"Gods is he cute, and wouldn't you know I think that he goes to our school," Ace murmured as she grabbed one of the menus and scanned it. "So… let's look these menus over shall we?" She looks at the menu and scans the dinner combos hoping to find her favorite.

"Yay! They have my favorite!" Lily squealed in excitement as she saw that they had her favorite, sweet and sour pork with pork lo mein. She cheered silently in her head.

"Oh they have mine too," Ace cheered, now she was just hoping that it tasted good. "They have chicken and broccoli with pork fried rice combo plate. Now Lily-bells biggest question of the night, do you want appetizers." Ace looked down at the menu to make sure she wouldn't miss any of them. "They have boneless ribs, egg rolls, crab rangoon, beef and chicken teriyaki, fried wantons, and onion rings."

"Well Ace, let's get some crab rangoon and a small order of egg rolls," Lily replied as she scanned the menu, she didn't want to break Ace's bank even though she did offer to pay.

"Sounds like a plan to me, and would you look at that, that cute waiter is coming back with our drinks," Ace muttered as she put her menu down and waited for the waiter to reach their table.

"Here you are ladies," The waiter stated as he put the drinks in front of each of them and looked at them with a little notebook in his hand. "Did you two have enough time to look over the menus?" Both girls nodded and the waiter nodded. "Very good, what can I get you two?" He took the menus and put them under his arm.

"For appetizers we'd like an order of crab rangoon, as well as an order of egg rolls," Ace replied clearly as she looked up at the waiter, "and for me I'll have the chicken and broccoli with pork fried rice." She looked at the waiter with a smile, glad that she had changed her clothes and was wearing normal makeup.

"I'll have the sweet and sour pork with pork lo mein," Lily stated clearly as the waiter jotted down everything. "Please and thank you."

"Ok ladies that'll be right out for you guys, by the way my name is Warren if you need anything just ask," The waiter, Warren, stated as he finished writing everything down and walks away.

"Oh he is such a hottie Lily, and he does in fact go to school with us," Ace began as she looked at Lily. "And I'm going to see if I can find him tomorrow." She took a small sip from her soda.

"Who knows," Lily replied as she looked at Ace as well. "Perhaps we'll have a class or two with him." She took a sip of her soda as well.

"Oh Lily I can only hope," Ace muttered as she looked around the restaurant, "he's a hottie a legit hottie, his body temperature was about 10 degree above normal."

"I felt it too, I bet his power is fire related," Lily replied as she took another sip of her drink.

"Oh daddy may approve of that, I'll hack the school's website and find out who he is. Oh I can't wait for our meal to get here," Ace stated as she looked at her nails and saw that the black polish was chipping and decided that she would get them painted after supper. "Did any guys catch your eye at school today?" Lily shook her head.

"Not really Ace, but then again the guy I do like is on the other side of the country," Lily replied as she looked at the table and took a sip of her drink.

"I know Lily but maybe he'll move," Ace muttered as she continued to look around the restaurant. "I mean he comes over here a few times a year right? So on one of his trips talk to him, or have your brother do it I mean they were sort of close right?" Ace had the right idea but didn't know the whole story.

"If Dick found out about my crush on Garth, he would kill Garth," Lily replied as she looked at Ace with a serious on her face.

"Probably, and here comes our waiter, and thank gods that he's here because I'm starved," Warren walked up to the table and set down the crab rangoon and the egg rolls, before setting down a plate in front of each girl. "Why thank you Warren." She looked at Warren and smiled again.

"No problem ladies, your meals will be ready soon, please enjoy," Warren replied as he nodded his head and gave the girls a half smile before walking away.

"So what do you need for your classes?" Lily asked as she took a crab rangoon and began to nibble at it.

"Oh you know the usual, binders, notebooks, pens, pencils, paper, a laptop, and a few unusual things," Ace replied as she took a rangoon as well. "I also need a set of gloves but that's a personal choice, all I really need is binders and some of the more unusual things." Ace took a bite out of the rangoon. "What do you need for classes?"

"Well I have all the basics but…" Lily replied as she took out her syllabus for her martial arts class, "what kind of martial arts class requires this kind of stuff?" She handed Ace the paper in hopes that she would be able to make heads or tails of it.

Ace looked at the paper with a look of confusion on her face, there was so much to be confused about, "smoke bombs, tear gas, thought this was a martial arts class? Not combat 101 with my father. Wait... these are all things that my father uses in his combat training which is on my schedule during the same time as your martial arts class and I need the same stuff. You won't believe this Lily." Her phone rang and she opened the text message from her father that read 'Surprise daughter of mine, you have a class with me every day.'

"We're going to be saving our classmates asses every day aren't we?" Lily replied back in question as she looked at Ace, taking small bites of her crab rangoon.

"Yup, just got the text confirming my idea. It is in fact my father's combat class, those kids are fucked royally fucked at that. So after dinner do you want to go get the stuff we'll need for school?" Ace stated as she took an egg roll after having finished her crab rangoon.

"Sounds like a plan to me dear bestie," Lily replied as Warren came back with the two girls plates of food.

"Well ladies, here you go, which one had the chicken again?" Warren asked with a half-smile that said he knew who got which but he wanted to make sure that he had good customer service. Ace raised her hand slightly and Warren put the chicken dish in front of Ace, "that means that you have the sweet and sour pork." The girls smiled up at him. "Now please enjoy your meals."

"Great," Ace replied as she picked up her fork and began eating. "I know of a great store where we can get everything we'll need." Lily smiled at Ace. "And I'm going to check out his schedule as well. Hope to have at least one class with him. and You may want to watch out for my dad's class as well, he's not that fond of you since you live with the Batman."

"Don't worry too much about that, but I will be careful," Lily replied as she picked up her fork and began eating as well. "Anything I should know about Slade though? I mean you and my brother looked mighty nervous and tense."

"What no... nothing at all Lily, he just stopped by to let me know that he was going to be teaching at the school, combat tactics or something. Dandy, my father is teaching combat 101 and Slade is teaching some other class related to combat," Ace muttered as she continued to eat. "I'm worried for the school, if my dad's there that means my mom is too." Ace looked genuinely worried about the fact that her father and mother would be at the school she went to and was worried that they may cause some problems.

"Oh YAY! Aunty Harley might be there?" Lily asked in excitement, she did love a visit from Harley.

"Yup wherever my dad goes so does my mom," Ace started as she picked up a piece of chicken with her fork and ate it. "So just for the record, that class is fucked with a capital FUCK."

"Oh I have a feeling that this school year is going to be interesting," Lily replied with a chuckle as she took a bite out of her pork. Ace nodded in agreement.

"Well yes it is, and to think we're only Juniors so if it keeps up like this we may be the top in our class. Now this is amazing food, I'm definitely coming here more often. And I want to get you some new clothes while we're out," Ace stated as she continued eating. "Now I'm going to see when we leave if they have a takeout menu."

"Hang on, what's wrong with my clothes?" Lily demanded quietly, almost visibly hurt as she frowned in confusion. She looked at her peasant skirt and blouse and tried to figure out why Ace wanted to change how she dressed.

"Nothing Lily, I just wanted to spruce it up a bit, more colors besides green, nature is full of more than green, and all those colors are equally beautiful and represented by your power," Ace replied as she looked at Lily and continued to eat her food, which she found delicious. "Plus if gives me an excuse to stay out later, they want me home by 10:00 but I don't want to be there yet. It also will make you stand out from Layla."

"Ok… after dinner we'll head over to the mall, can your bike fit two?" Lily asked cautiously, knowing that Ace loved her bike as much as she herself loved her bracelet.

"YAY!" Ace exclaimed as both girls continued eating. "Girls night out. I want to have the full experience, nails, hair, everything. Gonna be fun." Ace was getting excited, she really wanted to get her nails and hair done, she was tired of the basic black that she had ever since she chopped her hair from mid-back with blue, red, and purple streaks that got chopped out when she cut it into a pixie-cut.

(After dinner about 7:45p.m.)

"Oi Ace, how is it that you find these places?" Lily asked as she and Ace looked through the racks of stuff looking for what they needed for class with the Joker and Slade. "I mean seriously who shops in places like this besides your father?"

"What places do you mean, the store is called Combat Gear Here," Ace replied as she entered the isle labeled smoke bombs. "Plus it's in the mall so it was an easy find." She put a few boxes of smoke bombs in her basket as well as a few bags of smoke pellets, she used those for her smoky disappearances.

"I don't know really, I guess I never really paid attention to too many shops in the mall, most people wouldn't come into a store like this," Lily replied as she grabbed all the stuff from the isle that she would need. "I usually go to the book store directly from the door."

"I know Lily, these are the types of places I grew up shopping in," Ace replied as she grabbed a few more boxes of smoke bombs and then moved onto the next isle and grabbed some of the other things on her list. "After this I vote we go to the clothing stores, than other places like the nail salon and hair place, I want to put streaks in my hair like I had when I was younger, the blue, red, and purple."

"Sounds like a rockin' plan to me Ace," Lily replied as the time began flying by, the girls spent the entire night laughing and having a great time.

"Off to the clothing store, then to the salon," Ace stated as the girls headed toward the cashier to pay for their stuff. After both girls paid for their supplies they left for the clothing store. "Oh and when we go to the salon what do you want to get done, if anything?" They walked toward the shop Lily usually got her clothes from, because Ace didn't want to pull Lily out of her comfort zone too far.

"I'm thinking of getting some little vines on my fingers, that will look like they all lead up to one or two flowers on my pinky and thumb nails," Lily replied as she led Ace toward the shop she usually bought her clothes in, finding the sign was rather easy, it was a beautiful sign. "And this shop is where I usually get my clothes."

"Ok no going straight to the green and the long and flowy is out, I'm breaking you from your zone," Ace stated as she pulled Lily toward the blue's and began scanning the clothes to find bits that would mix in with what she already had as well as be able to make new outfits out of the new items as well.

"Fine Ace, but nothing too revealing, I know how you dress sometimes and I don't want to do that," Lily replied as she looked at some of the things that Ace had taken a closer look at.

"No guarantee's Lily-bells, but I think you'll like it," Ace stated as she continued to look at clothes, "now no green Lily, you go on ahead to the changing rooms and I'll bring you some clothes."

"Sounds like a plan, I'll meet you in the changing area," Lily replied as she took off toward the changing room she usually used.

"Yes please Lily-bells," Ace stated as she looked at Lily's back as she walked toward the changing rooms. "I'll bring the clothes to you and please come out in them so that I can see too." Lily nodded as she smirked. Ace grabbed a sky blue top that had a wraparound style that tied off on the side, a blue knee-length skirt that had a feathered hem, where the shortest one was barely two inches above her knee and the longest was something like six inches below her knee. She also grabbed a few other things. "Here you go Lily." Ace walked to the changing room and handed her the clothes over the top of the door before going off to go get more clothes.

"How does it look Ace?" Lily asked as she came out in the sky blue wrap top and the earthy brown skirt that flowed just the right amount to be reminiscent of her current style but broke away enough to be a completely new style. Ace nodded as Lily twirled around showing Ace the entire outfit, Ace would surprise her with some accessories that would bring her outfits both old and new into something spectacular even though they already were.

"Oh most definitely you Lily, I love how the skirt looks on you it flows the way you like but isn't floor length and the top is in the same style that you usually wear but not the same fit or color, it reflects all the wonderful colors of nature that you love so much," Ace replied as she looked the entire outfit over from top to bottom. "There you go Lily, go try those on." Ace handed her more clothes and watched her walk back into the changing room. "And now to look for me." She began to scan the room for clothes that would fit in with her own style.

(About 45 minutes later)

(Ace's P.o.V)

"So do you like your new outfits Lily?" I asked as we grabbed our bags after paying for our purchases. We then walked toward the salon on the other end of the mall. "I'm surprised that I found some stuff for myself." Lily was smiling brighter then I had seen her smile for a while so I knew that she liked her outfits.

"I love them Ace, thank you for helping me find them, I never would have picked most of these," Lily replied casually as they walked slowly it was about 8:15 and the mall closed at 11, they had plenty of time. "So what are you getting done at the salon?" 'Oh boy, the school's going to be surprised to see me tomorrow, and the Strongholds will be surprised tonight, I'm going all out.' I thought to myself as we continued walking, about half a minute away from the salon, that was named 'The Lair'.

"No problem Lily-bells, and I'm getting hair extensions to make my hair a little longer then shoulder length, then getting blue, red, and purple streaks in it," I replied as I looked at her and smiled, "and for my nails I'm getting acrylics that are painted black and then the tips I'm going to have a small band of both red and blue on each nail." Lily nodded with a smile, I was always crazy when it came to my looks. "I'm kind of regretting chopping my hair while I was dating your brother. I had more freedom when I had longer hair."

"I told you not to cut it, you took a pair of scissors to a ponytail," Lily stated with a smirk, she had in fact told me not to chop my hair, but Dick liked short haired girls so I became a short haired girl, stupidest thing I ever did. "But you didn't listen to me and you chopped your hair taking all the color with it and now you regret it." I nodded and hung my head at the fact that I hadn't listened to her.

"What can we help you ladies with?" The ladies at The Lair asked as we approached the front desk, the salon was empty except for one girl who looked like the girl from school today Rosa and I wondered why but then remembered that it was late and a school night.

"Well ladies I'll be having both hair and nail treatments, and she'll be having her nails done," I replied as we came to a stop in front of the podium. The ladies nodded, one bid me to follow her to a style chair while the other pulled Lily toward the nail portion of the salon. "I'll be getting hair extensions to my shoulders and then streaks of blue, purple, and red throughout all of it." The lady nodded, and I saw that her name was Amaya and the other was Anya. "Thank you Amaya." She nodded as she put the cape around my neck.

"No problem miss, now let's get this started," Amaya states sweetly as she brushed my hair and then began the process of doing the extensions.

(About 35 minutes later)

"Ok now we'll do the coloring," Amaya stated as she set about getting the needed colors. As she did the color in my hair I could see my old self coming back. Lily came over and showed me how the girl had done her nails, they were very beautiful, a base of pale pink with dark green vines and leaves on each finger and small intricate white lilies, I was very impressed and couldn't wait to get mine done.

"Those are gorgeous Lily-bells," I stated as I looked at the amazing details. "You guys do amazing work, I think I found my new favorite salon." Amaya nodded and smiled brightly as she started putting the foils in my hair for the blue streaks, then the red, then the purple. She motioned me to get up and then motioned me to go toward the nail salon portion.

"I'll be doing your nails while your hair sets, now what can I do for you?" Anya asked as she motioned me to sit in front of her bench.

"I would like acrylics, with a base color of black and at the tips I would like both a blue and red streak on the tips, sort of like a French tip but instead of white I want blue and red," I replied as I looked at her, she nodded and began to work on the acrylics which only took maybe 10 minutes, she then began doing the black part which again took about five or six minutes, after that had set she did the tips. "Thank you so much Anya, I love them."

"Thank you now you can go back over to Amaya," Anya stated as she helped me get up and helped me walk back to the style chair. Amaya began taking the foils out of my hair and then walked me over to the sink and helped me sit down before she rinsed my hair out, then she blew it out.

"Thank you ladies you do amazing work, and Rosa don't think that I don't know your secret," I stated as I paid the ladies and looked at Rosa who was sitting in a chair that was at the complete opposite end of the salon that mine was. "I'll see you at school Rosa." She nodded with a slight look of fear on her face.