Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans.

It has been two weeks since Ava showed up at the tower. I had to get her strong enough for the journey to get Starfire because she was so skinny when she arrived. She gained some weight and she kept telling me how grateful she was to get a nice home cooked meal and a bed of her own to sleep in. I wondered how her and her family survives in…well whatever they were kept in. I decided to ask Ava more about the place she was kept in most of her life and what it was like to get more of an idea of what I was going to face when I get to Starfire.

"It is very uncomfortable." She started. "My mommy and siblings are all stuck in a room together at night. It is basically made of cement I believe. We all have to share one blanket. It's very cold in the winter. It's dark but we have one candle. We get one piece of bread each for dinner. It is not enough to stop the pain of hunger in my tummy. My mommy usually split up her bread and gave it to me and my siblings. As I just said, my tummy always was empty, but of course I thought for the longest time it was normal." She paused. I could see her hold back the tears, but she continued. "During the day was scary. My father takes my mommy and…he abuses her. My mommy never told me exactly what he does, but she sometimes came back really hurt. She told the rest of us not to worry, but I sure did. I had an older brother. He would have been eight years old. But he's "no longer with us" is how my mommy puts it. My father worked him to death. He was only six years old. My mommy sent me to come get you because I was working for my father. She was scared that I would be like my brother, Aaron." I immediately gave her a hug. She cried into my shoulder. This was too much for a mere seven year old to go through.

"You're okay now." I said to her. She looked up at me.

"I know I am now. But it's so hard to believe." Ava said.

"I know." I replied. Ava explained to me how she got to the tower when she had been in Germany. She said,

"My mommy wrote that note before I left to come here. I was supposed to help my father empty out one of his very old…umm…places…"

"Lair." I said to help her out.

"Yes, lair." Ava replied. "I was supposed to help him clean out his lair. We were at the airport so no one was suspicious of a random airplane flying in the sky. My father put on a disguise and we pretty much looked like everyone else there. We were supposed to go to somewhere in South America. I purposely hid in the girl's bathroom, just like my mommy told me to." I smiled at the thought. Starfire is a smart girl-er-woman. Ava continued, "I then waited for the airport people to call a flight to…I forget the name of it, but it was somewhere in this state. I had to sneak onto the airplane. That was tricky. But I managed. I guess my mommy forgot how secure they make those places. Anyway, what I did was go through the big metal detectors. When they stopped me to ask for my…ummm…"

"Boarding pass."

"Yeah, that. I began to cry and say that I got lost and my mommy was already on the plane and they already had my boarding pass. They asked for my name. I saw one of the boarding passes sticking out from all the others. To my luck, it said the girl was eight years old and her name was Elsie. She believed my act and let me onto the plane. When I got to wherever the plane landed, I hitch-hiked all the way here to Jump City. The tower was easy to find." I laughed at that. Who wouldn't notice a giant T shaped building?

"That sounds like quite a dangerous adventure." I said. I couldn't believe a seven year old could do this all by herself.

"It was." Ava said. "But I'm happy that I got here."

"I'm happy you got here too, Ava." I said. I saw so much of Starfire in this one little girl. She didn't have her hair, but she had her bone structure, her eyes, and her smile. I couldn't get over the fact that this was also Slade's daughter, though.

I began to train Ava in martial arts to help her defend herself. She was stronger than most girls her age, despite the fact that she had been in poor living conditions her whole life. I figured it was because she was half Tameranean. She doesn't have powers like Starfire though. I could honestly say this girl was gifted. She was able to do many different defense moves and fought well. I assumed martial arts came to her naturally.

A week later, I decided that we couldn't wait any longer. We had to get Starfire out of there along with her kids. And I had to get rid of Slade once and for all.

I realize nothing exciting happened in this chapter. It's leading up to more exciting things. I felt I had to add this chapter to show how Ava and her family had been living. So, please review and tell me what you thought! Thanks :D