Stardust flexed her hands and watched the purple light of her starbolts dance on the trees in the otherwise dark woods. There was obviously someone in the shadows watching her, or perhaps even stalking her. And if they hadn't gotten the hint that she wasn't going down without a fight, she was about to give them good reason to fear.

"All right, show yourself!" she yelled. "If you're looking for a fight, you've at least come to the right place."

Silence, and no movement. Only a light breeze rustled the leaves on the trees.

Maybe they went away, she thought, letting her starbolts die down, but she did not dare relax. Her mother had trained her too much and too thoroughly for that. So she had to be prepared for anything.

And suddenly, there came an unexpected voice. Deep, British, and almost graceful. "I do not wish to appear to be a threat to you. Please don't be afraid."

Stardust recovered from the shock of the pleasent voice and felt her eyes glow purple. "What? I am not afraid of you. So get out of the shadows and fight me already."

"I do not want to fight you."

Stardust narrowed her glowing eyes. "You will, if you don't at least show yourself."

He laughed gently. "Of course."

Stardust had to force herself to close her mouth when he came from the shadows. He was tall, solid, and had long, light colored hair. She found him quite attractive, but suddenly hurled a starbolts in his direction, but he dodged quickly, obviously surprised at her sudden attack.

"Why don't you just stay away from me?" she growled, the power in her eyes dying down and returning to normal. She wondered why he showed no surprise to her superpowers.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to make you feel threatened. I just wanted to talk to you."

"Well, I can hear you, you know. So start talking."

"How do I know you're not going to attack me again?"

"You can't be sure of that. Just get on with what you want to say."

"I just wanted to know your name."

Stardust bristled. "That's none of your business. And how long have you been stalking me?"

"I am not stalking you-"

"Then why do I get the impression that you are? Just go away, or else."

He ignored her warning and instead, walked in her direction. Stardust's eyes charged up again and she reached down and ripped the rock she had been sitting on out of the ground and hurled it at him. He made no attempt to move, but shot white-hot electricity from his hand, and when it made contact with the rock, he seemed to have control of it. But instead of throwing it back at her, he stopped it from hitting him and let it drop to the ground with a heavy smash.

"There's no need for violence. And forgive me for not introducing myself properly."

"You didn't introduce yourself at all."

"Forgive me," he repeated. Then he bowed at the waist. "I am Rorek."

"Well... I'm Stardust."

To her great surprise and embarrassment, he took her hand kissed it gently. She pulled it away and placed it on her hip. "Are you always so friendly with girls?"

"I was only trying to be polite."

"Of course you were," Stardust said with sarcasm. It didn't seem to make him angry, though.

"I couldn't help but notice that you've been sitting out here for quite a while. You didn't appear to be very happy. Is something wrong?"

"That's not any of your business... whatever you said your name was."

"Rorek-"

"And besides," she continued, "if I want to sit out here all night, I'll do it, and I should be able to do it without being spied on, you know. And that's pretty much what you were doing."

"I am sorry. I just found you quite-" he put his knuckles to his mouth and cleared his throat, "-interesting. Attractive."

Stardust raised an eyebrow. "Really. I thought it was something along those lines. Turns out I was right... as usual."

"I did not mean it that way."

"Then how did you mean it?" He paused, silent for a few moments until he took a breath to speak again. "I could tell you had powers."

She was suddenly alarmed. "How? What made you think that?"

"I don't know, but I could just tell. Though you do not look anything but normal."

"Well what did you expect me to look like?" She flipped her long black hair and turned her back to him.

"I do not know."

She looked at him over her shoulder. "You say that a lot." She expected him to apologize again, but he was silent. "So, where do you come from?"

"London."

"It's kinda funny, you looked like you've been ripped from the pages of a mideavel book or something." She laughed, but he only stared at her.

"I'm not sure how I ended up here. Where am I, by the way?" "You're in California, in the United States. You sure traveled a long way to not know how you got here. What's up with that?"

"Well, it's a-" he stopped in mid-sentence and held up a hand.

"What? What is it?" she said, straining to hear what alarmed him, but everything seemed silent. "I don't hear anything."

"Neither do I." She frowned at him, but he continued. "I feel vibrations in the ground."

Now that he mentioned it, the ground did seem a little unstable. She lifted one foot and looked frantically around the dark trees for any sign of danger. But suddenly, the ground literally opened up beneath them. Rorek backflipped gracefully out of the way and Stardust flew quickly in the air. A mechanical humanoid emerged from the earth, then laid its eyes on Stardust and reached out an extending arm. She dodged, still in the air, and fired off a few starbolts, which harmlessly tore up the ground beside the robot. She turned and flew away, the robot not moving, but it's arm still extending.

"Why is it they always come after me?" she mumbled, then threw five more starbolts into the mechanical hand, but it didn't do much damage. Then it lurched forward and wrapped tightly around her shoulders, dragging her backwards towards the robot's body. Boundless confidence, Stardust thought, summoning her super strength and bursting free from the arm, as it broke into pieces. But another one seemed to grow right out of the robot and was coming after her again. She prepared her starbolts, but a white shield appeared in front of her, and the hand smashed into it. Rorek seemed to somersault out of nowhere, and he landed on the robot's face with a hard kick. It went smashing into the ground.

"So, I guess you're gonna help me fight this thing?" Stardust said.

"If you accept my help, my lady."

She was so stunned at what he had just called her, that she didn't notice another mechanical hand coming at her until it was too late. It latched around her face, and she dug her fingers in, trying to tear it off, but it held tight. She finally blasted through with her eye beams.

"Your powers are quite impressive," Rorek yelled, skipping tree branches.

"Thanks!" she yelled back, throwing a monstrous punch and connecting with the robot's chest, leaving a gaping hole.

White electricity exploded from the ground and blew the robot yards away. Stardust turned and grinned and Rorek, then flew over him, taking his arms as she went. He seemed to know right away what the plan was, and Stardust swung him hard, though never letting go of his arms, and he timed the kick perfectly, smashing the robot again in the chest, and this time it was broken in half.

Stardust dropped Rorek gently to the ground and threw up her fist in victory. "Yes! That was almost too easy though. Thanks for your help."

Rorek bowed again. "My pleasure. Stardust?"

"What?"

"Perhaps I can see you again sometimes." "You're leaving already? But we just defeated-"

"I know, but... I have somewhere I really need to be. I will try to see you again. Perhaps I could speak with your father?"

Stardust frowned. "My father? Why?" She didn't want to mention that Nightwing was her father- nor did she want to mention that she never had anything to do with him.

"I'm sorry, but I must go." He bowed again, and in a plume of white elecricity, he was gone.