++++++ Just a quick note letting you guys all know as of Friday I will be going away for a few days so there will be NO updates from Friday 26th Feb to Tuesday 2nd March. That's factoring in washing and unpacking when we get back as well.

Anyway...I hope you enjoy the chapter.

I do not own ++++++

Sixteen

"Does it hurt?" the doctor asked her.

"A little," Scarlet frowned. She winced when the doctor touched the steam burns on her arm and almost instantly regretted. "Okay a lot." Scarlet had been blasted with a shot full of boiling steam, she'd managed to block most of it but her shield cracked and her entire arm was burnt and blistered. When Scarlet had come to, she was in Connor's arms as he walked through the corridors of Mount Justice.

"So you must be Scarlet Lords?" she asked her. "I'm Doctor Bierezz Palmer, nice to meet you. I apologise for your first meeting when you arrived. I was in Hong Kong on business otherwise you would have awoken to a much calmer environment."

Scarlet raised an eyebrow as the good doctor worked on her arm. She looked around, admiring the holographic environment she was in-a deserted tropical beach complete with the sounds and smells. "Yeah I can see how. This is amazing."

"My honeymoon was on an island in the Caribbean," the Bierezz explained. She picked up something to spray on Scarlet's arm. She watched as the teen tensed up and waited for the cool to set in. "This reminds me of that island." She sat the canister down on the tray and picked up a pair of medical tweezers. "Now I'm going to try and peal the scolded skin off if I can. Otherwise I may have to hit it again-you ready?" she asked.

Scarlet nodded.

"Are you sure you don't want anything for the pain?" Bierezz inquired. "I have something here if you like?"

"I'd rather not," she replied. "Just get it over with."

The doctor sighed and got to work on Scarlet's arm. She had been worried that there would be scaring but as she pealed the first layer of skin away, Bierezz froze. "That's impossible…gangrene should not be setting in at all."

"What on earth are you talking about?" Scarlet gasped, sitting up to look at her arm. There was a section of skin that Bierezz had started to delicately peel away and underneath it was a shade of green. "Holy crap!" Scarlet was in no way a medical doctor but she didn't think that green skin was okay.

The doctor bit her lip and continued to peal the skin away revealing more green underneath. "When Superboy called to tell me you were injured I pulled your file to take a look," Bierezz told her. "Alien DNA?" she asked her.

Scarlet shrugged. "I suppose so-wait do you think that the whole green skin is my alien DNA?" Truthfully she hadn't really given much thought to the whole alien DNA saga-she was more worried about perfect Starla.

"I may have an idea about your parentage," Bierezz told her. "Do you mind if I looked into it further?"

"I guess," Scarlet frowned. "Not that I'm interested. Whoever my father is-he doesn't seem to give two fucks that he's fathered two kids so go for your life."

"When your skin starts to heal, the green should go away," Bierezz smiled. "I'll give you a cream to rub on it twice a day for a week and the skin will come back better than ever. It needs to be bandaged afterwards-we've got green, blue or purple wrappings."

"Do I get a lollypop?" Scarlet teased.

"Cheeky monkey," Bierezz laughed. "If this gets worse in the next forty-eight hours call me on my com and I'll be at Queen manor as quickly as I can." She leant back and put some of the dead skin on a tray. She was concerned about the green tinge to her skin but continued to work away without letting Scarlet know she was worried.

-XXX-

Mary Lee was sitting in her daughter's lounge room with a smile on her face. They were discussing Christening options for her unborn granddaughter and no matter how she tried to drop new names, Starla wasn't having any of it.

"Mum there's been something I need to talk to you about," Starla frowned. She ran her finger along the rim of her glass with a frown on her face. "It's about Sophie."

Mary froze. She hadn't thought about her youngest daughter in years, it was far too painful to even think about her stolen daughter. "When you were nineteen I asked you to never ask me about Sophie ever again. My daughter was taken from me-It's not something I want to know about."

"Why do I have alien DNA?" she asked her mother. Starla watched the blood drain from her mother's face. "I've been thinking about this a lot the past few weeks and I was never sick as a child so I never was in hospital."

Mary gulped. "I guess this was inevitable what with your extracurricular activities…" She sat her tea down on the table. "Your father's name was John. Both you and Sophie's father. I was barren and I could never have kids. Suddenly there he was like some kind of angel. David didn't care-we finally had kids…but…your father showed me a world of endless possibilities but his greatest miracle was you and your sister."

"Who is he mum?" Starla asked her. "Who is our father?"

Mary shook her head. "We can't have that discussion. I promised him. Even to this day I kept that promise. If your League is so special, you'll figure it out on your own."

"There's something else," she sighed.

"What?" Mary asked.

"Sophie is alive," Starla told her.

"Don't do that!" Mary argued. "Your sister is dead! It's the only way I could get by all those years. She's dead!"

Starla shook her head. "Sophie is alive. You met her, mum. Whoever kidnapped her when she was a baby changed her name to Scarlet."

Mary gasped, she clutched her hand to her chest. "What? That skinny girl that you were fostering? That's my Sophie?"

Starla nodded. "Yes. That's Sophie. A DNA test confirmed it."

"Where is she?" Mary sobbed. "Where is my baby girl?"

"In Star City," Starla answered. "There was an incident and she attacked me. She's living with Oliver and Felicity Queen and she doesn't want to meet you."

"I'll be the judge of that!" Mary half huffed, half cried.

Starla reached across the coffee table and shook her head. "Mum…Scarlet's been through a lot. She ran away from her so-called parents when she was thirteen and lived on the streets looking after other street kids. All meta-humans…mum Scarlet is a powerful telepath and telekinetic but she has an ugliness inside her that will overtake her. She's angry, she's hurt and she wants nothing to do with us."

Mary slumped back into the couch. "My baby…my little Sophie…oh my god she's alive…"

Starla nodded. "She's alive, mum…but I don't think she's the little girl you remember anymore."

"So what do I do?" Mary whispered. "The mother in me wants to march to Oliver Queen and demand my daughter back ASAP…why can't I? What's stopping me? She's still my daughter!"

"Scarlet will run," Starla assured her. "She will run and she has the powers to do so…just give her time and I'll approach her again. I promise but you needed to know." She got up and came around the side of the coffee table and sat beside her mother. "Everything will be alright. I promise."

But not even Starla believed that lie.