And here is our next little installment into a fiction about characters I don't own... (that counts as a disclaimer right?)

Ok... story thus far- Reiko is the new kid, she's got power over electricity, but it's different from Static, because his is 1. gained from the bang baby gas, and Reiko's is genetic and 2. Her's is lightning based, and Static's isn't.

Reiko and Richie have got a little thing going on... and beleive me that was unexpected. Richie just kept poking me in the back of the head because he's tired of V-man getting all the girls. Who am I to argue? Then again, I turned him into a blubbering mess around chapter six, so I got my revenge. Now he's about to land a bomb on Reiko about why exactly her powers haven't been working the way they should. It's got something to do with her dad, and our main bad guy, Slade I bet... But Richie isn't telling me all that much.

Without further ado (especially since your all rolling your eyes, and I've got to get back to working on the story) HERE YOU GO!

Reiko's POV

"How can you say this? Why would ChiChi-san do such a thing, I am his daughter!" I shouted.

"I don't know Reiko. All I know is that those charms are doing whatever they can to keep you from controlling your powers. Maybe he intends to use you to power something, or maybe he's making sure that you don't use the powers you inherited. Maybe he's making sure that you're weak enough to be captured. Don't you think it's a bit odd that you've been hounded by Slade, someone who's usually more interested in Robin, and that those bang babies were talking about something working the way they should. If that's true, your powers would have worked, not drained." Richie said.

I backed away from him.

"No, it's not true, it's not possible, ChiChi-san would never do this to me." I said.

Richie put his hand on my arm. "I don't think he's your father, Reiko." He said.

"No!" I said, slapping his hand away. I saw ChiChi-san, standing there. He had heard it all. "ChiChi-san! Gomen nasai!"

"It's alright Reiko." He replied in Japanese.

"I didn't believe." I said.

"But it's true. How very true. Your friend here knows quite a bit. I'll have to make sure I deliver him to Slade as well. Come here Reiko-san" He said.

I couldn't believe this. I backed up, not wanting to believe either of them. I felt Richie tugging on my hand, and I tried to get away. It was a blur, I felt like I was in a dream. I was brought up short, screaming in pain. Someone had a hold of my hair. I spun around and tried to land a kick. Unfortunately, ChiChi-san knew martial arts as well. Both of us were at a disadvantage. I was crying, realizing that many things had begun to make sense, my father's lack of powers, why he always had to make the charms, why I felt like my control slipped through my fingers.

Richie had removed most of the charms I had on one arm. I used the power I had, the small bit of control that I could have, and hit ChiChi-san with enough electricity to start a man's heart. He flew backwards. I fell to my knees, screaming at the sudden pain in my head. Richie was by my side in a moment, getting rid of as many charms as he could. The rings, bracelets, necklace. The headband was hardest, but once we had wrestled it from my head, the pain stopped. He made a choking sound as he was grabbed by ChiChi-san.

"Reiko! Get the hell out of here!" he shouted.

"No! I can't leave you here. You never left my side when I was injured!" I cried out, tears streaming down my face. "I can't leave you now after all this!"

"That doesn't matter now. You have to escape!" He shouted. He pressed a button on his sleeve.

I flew back a few feet, unharmed, and saw Backpack rushing in to help Richie. He shouted at me again, and I ran. I was sobbing as I ran, knowing that I had left Richie to fight the one person I had trusted my entire life, with my life. I realized that my life had been a lie. Nothing was true, except for the memories I had of living around Metropolis. But the lies ChiChi-san had told me. I laughed bitterly through my tears, that I still referred to him as my father.

I spent the night running. I had run from Richie, from the man who had called me his daughter, running out of tears to shed for the death of my life. And I ran from the truth. I crashed into something solid, and fell to the ground. I didn't get back up, too tired to continue running. I was prepared to let whoever it was take me. He reached down and helped me to stand. I cried out in relief, realizing it was Static.

"Is Richie alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, he'll be fine. Your dad roughed him up a bit before he could get Backpack in there to help him." Static said. "But, he's been captured.

I bent down and removed the last of the charms from around my ankles, and the one from my belt. I didn't want him to see the emotion welling up in my eyes. A moment later, I looked at Static, Virgil, and felt something I never had before. I was sure that my powers were thanking me for releasing them to be what they should. I was beginning to see memories, of something before, they weren't clear, and seemed to be that of another person almost. I looked at Virgil, knowing that even without the charms, my powers could fly from my control, since I had little to begin with as it was. I could do some serious damage.

"Will you help me?" I asked him. He just looked at me.

"I don't think that I'm the one you should be asking for help." He said.

I looked at him as tears of frustration welled up in my eyes. I felt heat in my cheeks as my anger fought my control over my power. I moved my hand, and with but a thought I snatched out of his pocket, the little folded up piece of metal he flew on. The electricity flowed around it, and I threw it at his feet, hearing his gasp of surprise, and the sound metal makes when it shakes.

"You don't understand anything!" I screamed at him. "You, you had a chance to be normal once! But me, I was born this way!" I screamed in frustration and turned away, running. I didn't care where I went, as long as I ran. My emotions were too much, I would either burn out, or hurt someone.

"Hello Princess. It seems I finally get the chance to have you all to myself. It's so wonderful to finally meet you in person."

I jumped back, and tried to run away. I couldn't, whoever it was had a vise like grip on my arm. I spun around, and used my most powerful kick, one that would have disabled most men. With it, I used my powers of lightning. He caught my foot, Slade, and twisted. I screamed, feeling as if my foot were breaking. Then he punched me, and I flew into a wall. I gasped as I struggled to stand. I couldn't put weight on my foot, and knew that I wouldn't last too much longer in this fight.

"Your Highness better calm down. It's rude to engage in combat with someone who holds the life of the one person you really care about in the palm of his trigger happy hand." Slade said, grabbing my hair and yanking my head so I was looking into his eyes.

"What have you done with Richie?" I spat.

"Nothing, yet. You better agree to come with me, quietly Princess, or I won't hesitate to make him suffer." Slade said.

"What the hell are you talking about? I'm no princess." I said.

"But you are. Did you ever wonder why when you look at the stars, you feel so far away? Why your 'father' never had any powers? He did tell you a half truth. There are tribes in Japan that are elemental, but they are descendants of the people from your planet, the power a mere trickle in their blood. And never did your kind mingle with the people of earth. Your kind ruled the planet. Until your mother sent you away with a man she thought she could trust. And now, I'm going to take you home. And then I will destroy it, and take your place as ruler." Slade said.

With that, he punched me. I didn't remember anything for a while after that. When I began to wake up, I first felt the split lip, and the blood that was dried there. Then I felt sore and as if there was a fire racing through my veins, starting at my foot. I couldn't remember why I would be in such pain. I couldn't smell anything but oil, and dirt. Sound came next, a body close to mine, breathing slowly. Sight returned next, a dim room. I couldn't move, I was shackled to the floor. I could barely make out Richie's form next to me. I hoped that he was alright. My healing factor was already making the split lip seal up. My foot would be alright in a few hours, it had to realign itself with the way the bone was supposed to be, and then heal the fracture there.

"Reiko, are you alright?" Richie whispered.

"I'm better than I have been in the past. Are you alright Richie?" I whispered back.

"I'm fine. Your father…" Richie started.

"That man is NOT my father." I hissed.

"He's gone. He packed up all his stuff and left town quickly. Your stuff is still there, a bit of a mess, but otherwise, intact. Virgil's dad is calling authorities." Richie said. I laughed bitterly.

"Of course they won't catch him. He'll slip right through their fingers." I said.

"We've got more important things to worry about." Richie said. I nodded.

I reached my hand out as far as I could, and he did the same. We could barely touch one another's fingertips. I began running things through my mind, trying to think of a way to escape. I knew kujiri kuri wouldn't work on Slade. His mind was too powerful for that, and he would just turn around and make it do more harm to me than I would be able to do to him. My foot still throbbed in pain from my earlier attempt at attacking him.

"Now isn't that cute. The Princess has found a friend. Did you know that your people choose their mates early in life? I'd say about your age actually." Slade said, kneeling down and grabbing my face.

"What's he talking about Reiko?" Richie asked.

"What, she hasn't told you? My my, this IS interesting. Especially seeing as you two are so close." Slade said, letting my face go.

"I didn't know any of this. I still don't think it's true, you bastard." I said.

"But you do know." Slade said. "And your memories, they should have started coming back as soon as you removed the headpiece."

"Those weren't dreams?" I whispered.

"No, Princess. Your family has a long memory. And a long infancy. You have no idea just how old you are Princess. Living on earth has shortened it, but only slightly. Reiko is from a planet far away from here. She's a princess from a long line of Queens and Kings. Like your pal Starfire, she has special abilities and strengths. Once they reach adulthood, they are welcomed into the royal family through a ceremony. They rule the entire planet. It was peaceful up until about fifteen years ago. Then the High Princess was taken from her rooms in the palace. How thrilled your family will be to see you returned. But they will fall under MY rule." Slade said. He stood up and began to mess with a computer of some sort.

"I can't let him do this. If he's right, those are MY people. I can't let them suffer under his malignant mind. He would be the worst ruler ever. I can remember, like a communal memory. Or something like that. We had someone come to us once before, offer to marry my sister. In a trial of his ability to rule, many were killed, including some of my siblings. I became next in line. Then, everything is hazy for a little bit. But it was so long ago." I said.

"We'll stop him Reiko. I won't let him hurt you, or your people, or I'll die trying." Richie said.

"No, this isn't your fight." I said.

"It is, because I care about you. I would do anything just to see you smiling." He said. I shook my head.

"I'm an alien Richie. How could you think the same way about me?" I asked softly.

"Because, it doesn't matter where you come from. It's who you are. And you are the most amazing person I know." Richie said.

I touched his fingers again, feeling tears on my face. Slade returned a little while later, grabbing the shackles that held me to the floor, and dragging me to a crate. After attaching the end to a loop in the crate, he went back, bringing Richie in a moment later. We were moving within moments, and I knew that we were leaving. I was slammed against Richie, and the crate was knocked over, and I thought my arms were going to be ripped out of their sockets. Soon the violence was over and we were swung back to where we were before.

"Now Princess, your going to give me the coordinates of your home planet." Slade said. He dragged me out of the crate, Richie yelling protests.

He dropped me on the floor, and I could see nothing but space. It was moving quickly. I was amazed at the stars, and how familiar some of them seemed to me. I felt something grip my neck, I cried out, trying to squirm away. Slade grabbed my arm and squeezed.

"Keep fighting, and I'll break every bone in your body. Give me those coordinates." He hissed.

"I don't remember them! I was an infant when they took me." I gasped out.

"You're lying. I know those coordinates are in there. And you know them. You will tell me." He growled.

"No! Those are my people, I won't betray them!" I cried out as he twisted my arm behind my back harder.

"They aren't your people; they haven't been since you began growing up on earth. Your heart doesn't belong there. It belongs with that scrawny kid back in the crate. If you want that kid to stick around a while longer, I suggest you give me what I want." Slade whispered in my ear.

He twisted my arm behind my back painfully. I cried out, trying to get away. I thought of Richie, and Virgil, and what they would do, should they be faced with something like this. I knew that Richie would love to go on breathing, but not at the extent of an entire planet's people.

"Why would they give the coordinates of a planet to an infant? No child can fly a space ship, let alone a car." I said, clenching my teeth.

"The same reason a child is taught to memorize there telephone number Reiko." Slade replied. He laughed.

And thus ends this chapter... I told you it had to deal with Chichi-san and Slade! There were a few bits in there where she conversed in Japanese with her 'father' but I didn't write it in Japanese because romaji bugs me. If it's not in hiragana I can't read it well... and anyway. Thats it till I can get a bit further in my outlining of the story.