Hey guys. Sorry it took me a little longer to get this chapter up. I hope you like it though:) later.


Rie sighed deeply as she slumped down next to Virgil on the couch. "Let me guess, you wanna know why I was at the docks, right?" Virgil nodded in agreement before she continued on. "Okay. Let's see...where do I begin?" Rie paused and took a sip of soda from a half-empty can sitting on the coffee table in front of her. "Well, I was looking for someone."

"Who would you be looking for in a place like that?"

"My brother." Virgil's eyes grew large with a mix of curiosity and concern as she spoke. "His name's Francis Stone..."

Virgil immediately interrupted Rie in mid-sentence. "Whoa, wait a sec…Francis Stone is your bro?!"

"Yeah...do you know him?"

"Sort of. He's a bully at my school that used to beat me up after class all the time." Virgil's words were almost careless as he was still in shock to find out that one of the meanest and most dangerous kids in town was the brother of such a quiet and calm person as Rioko. But maybe she wasn't quite as calm and quiet and he thought.

"That sounds like something Francis would do." Rie snickered.

Virgil could tell by her tone of voice that she was ashamed to think that her own brother beat up the one kid who was actually nice to her. "I'm sure he had his reasons. Anyway, that's beside the point. Why were you looking for him? Did you like lose him or something?"

"I guess you could say that. See, when I was eight, my parents were killed and Francis and I were sent to live with our uncle in Gotham City. Up till then, we always thought our uncle was a neat guy, but we found out much different when we started living with him. He was always getting into some kind of trouble with the law, and I don't think I can even remember a day where he was sober. Over the next few months, our lives had become not much better then a living hell. Our uncle was rarely ever home, Francis was always off fighting in gangs as an escape from our uncles beatings, and I was left to fend for myself and try to get through school."

"Man...what a childhood..." Virgil wanted to say something more encouraging, but the shock still overtook him from speaking.

"Yeah. Anyway, Francis and I ended up running away to a different part of Gotham and tried to start new lives for ourselves. Everything went well for the first few months; Francis and I both were going to school and living fairly well off the money we had stolen from our uncle. Unfortunately, it didn't take too long for Francis's old enemies from his gang-fighting days to catch up with us. After a while, his whole personality started to change. Every night he'd come home with a new injury and a new enemy on our tail." Rie paused, trying to control the heavy emotions building up inside her dark eyes. "I guess...in the end, he did it for me, but I'm still not sure."

"Did what?"

"One night, he came home pretty beat up; in both body, and spirit. I'll never forget the sadness in his eyes as he limped into his room and shut the door. I sat for hours that night; waiting for him to come out of his room. Finally, he did. But not in the way I wanted. He was carrying a backpack full of some of his things and was wearing a jacket; giving me a clue he was leaving. He walked over to me; his eyes were red as if he had been crying and his expression was still sadder then I had ever seen...even more so than that at our own parent's funerals. He gave me a hug and whispered in my ear that he would always love me. Then, the next thing I knew, he was saying goodbye and walking out the door. I remember trying to run after him, but he wouldn't let me. He told me to stay, and that was the last I ever saw of him. Until last night, that is."

"Wow. I...I don't even know what to say. I'm sorry for what's happened to you." Virgil knew, as did Rie, that he had no reason to apologize, but still, he felt as if it was the right thing to say.

Rie smiled slightly as she realized how sincere Virgil was. "So am I. But, what happened, happened. And now all I want to do is find him and become his sister again." Realizing the tears building in her eyes, Rie quickly wiped them away and composed herself from the emotional story. "So...Virgil! There's my story, now what's yours?"

Startled by Rie's surprisingly happy tone of voice, Virgil jumped slightly from his seat. "Umm... well, it's like I told you last night, I really didn't mean to be there. Wade saved my butt a couple of times from your bro and eventually asked me to join his gang. I didn't want to be any part of it since my ma was killed a while back from gang gunfire, but I was afraid of what he'd do if I refused."

"So you joined him."

"Well...not exactly. I didn't say yes...I just said I'd think on it. Anyway, no matter if I was officially one of his gang or not; he still told me to come to the docks. To make a long story short, I went, he gave me a gun, I got scared, threw the gun into the river, and hid behind a pile of crates...you know the rest."

Rie smiled slightly as she took another sip from her soda. "I didn't think you looked like the gangbanger type. You know you're gonna be on Wade's bad-list now though, right?"

"Yeah, I kinda figured that. Thanks to that weird gas though, I don't think I'm gonna have to worry much about him." Virgil shot a small burst of lightening-like electricity from his finger and lifted up a few metal coins on the table.

"So, it did do something to you." Rie said while she watched her change fly around the table.

"You bet it did. Haha...no need for electric outlets with me around!" Virgil set the coins back on the table and recalled his lightening shock. "So, what about you? I'm guessing it did something to you to right?"

Rie smiled and nodded as she ignited her hand in a brilliant flame. "Pryokinetics...the ability to create and control fire. Cool, huh?"

"Cool? That's awesome!"

"That's not all either. Check this out..." Rioko stood from her seat and focused on the memory of the raven she saw outside her window earlier. Within seconds, she was engulfed by the strange black shadow-flame. Virgil leaned back in his seat as the flame rose higher and higher, until finally, it extinguished. Leaving the same black and red raven it had before.

"Rioko? Is that you?" Virgil asked; reaching out to touch one of the birds' magnificent feathers.

In response, Rie fluttered her wings and soon, the bird transformed again into the human form of herself by means of the shadowy flame. "Yep...it's me alright."

"Whoa, that's awesome! How did you do that?"

"I don't really know. All I have to do is think of an animal, and I can change into it."

"Hey, I have an idea!" Virgil stood from his seat and walked over to Rie who was now standing in the kitchen on the other side of the room. "I was thinking of starting a career as a superhero, you know, since there's so many wacked metahumans out there. Why don't you join me? We could be like the most famous duo in Dakota!"

"Superhero, huh? No offense Virgil, but I'm not exactly superhero material. I mean really, if Dakota had its way, I'd probably be in juvy right now."

"Well, think of this as a way to clean your record. Come on Rioko! Please? Hey, just think how much faster you'll be able to find your bro!" Virgil begged consistently knowing that doing something good with her life would probably help Rie with many of the problems she had. "Just try it. You can always stop if you don't like it..."

Realizing that Virgil wasn't about to give up until she agreed, Rie thought of a quick way to turn him down. "I'm sorry Virgil. I barely have enough energy to work through my own life right now; I really don't want to have to worry about anyone else's."

"Are you sure? It could be good for you, you know."

"Yeah, I'm sure Virg. Good luck with that though. I know you'll be good at it."

Virgil sighed heavily in disappointment, but still managed to smile as he tried to understand Rioko's position. "Okay. But if you ever change your mind, here's my phone number." Virgil handed Rie a piece of paper he had taken from his pocket. "If you ever need anything, give me a call."

"Okay. Oh, and Virgil, thanks for coming over. It's been a long time since I've had a friend I've felt like I could trust."

Virgil smiled and began to walk toward the door. "No prob. See ya later Rie."