Wow, this took three hours to write...not as much as two months, but hey...

Disclaimer: I don't own anything mentioned below.

Dick had begun to take many excursions around Jump City, just to get used to the area. It was a nice place. California, of course, was always a nice place, but it seemed as if the very sun smiled down on them every day, corny as it sounded. It was like nothing could go wrong here. At least, compared to Gotham, where everything went wrong. All anyone ever saw on the news was crime, crime, and more crime. Another thing he was sick of.

"Pay?" he heard an angelic voice ask. He turned around to see a redhead exiting a cab. She was absolutely beautiful, but Dick wasn't too dazed. He'd seen many beautiful women in his lifetime. What kept him staring was that she apparently had no idea what was going on.

"Yeah, pay. What'd you think, I was driving you around for fun? This is a taxi, lady. That's ten forty-three, pay up!" grumbled the driver, sticking his hand out the window.

"I apologize, I brought no money. Perhaps--"

The driver was furious. "What'd'you mean, you didn't bring money? What possessed you to get in a cab, then, huh? You've wasted twenty minutes of my time, and if I don't see dough in the next five seconds, I'll--"

"Here." Dick had no idea why he was helping out this girl, but as if on instinct, he'd stuffed his hand into his wallet and come up with a twenty. "Keep the change."

Both the driver and the girl were astonished. "You're Dick Grayson, you are! Wait 'til I tell Linda about this! I met Dick Grayson!"

"And you got on Dick Grayson's nerves," Dick commented coldly. So he wasn't all that unknown in Jump. Great. The driver gulped, speeding off, and he was left with the redhead he knew nothing about.

"Excuse me," she began, and Dick turned to her. "I...do not understand." He wasn't expecting that.

"Huh?" Very polite.

"I am afraid that I do not understand what has just happened. Why is the man angry?"

Dick blinked. "That's a taxi. It's a car you take to places that are too far to walk, if you don't have your own. You have to pay the driver at the end of the trip, though. Are you not from around here or something?" The girl bit her lip, her bright green eyes filled with something he could not quite describe.

"I am not."

"Oh. Is your family around, then? I know a little bit of the city, I could take you where you needed to go." Her eyes widened.

"Oh no, I do not wish to be such a burden! I thank you, for helping me, and hope I am able to pay you back someday."

"Don't worry about it..." She was already gone.

"And you are?" growled Tristan Roth. He did not have time for anyone right now, especially midget men. He had a factory he needed to build up again.

The man who'd just walked into his office shifted, the bandages all over his body wrinkling and stretching again as he made himself comfortable. "I am Dr. Chang, your xenothium specialist. I was in the explosion five weeks ago."

Tristan snorted. "It took you five weeks to get from the outskirts of the city to the middle of it?"

Dr. Chang glared. "I was in the hospital for a time."

"There weren't any survivors."

"The project was illegal. I was not a listed worker, the rescue teams had no reason to search for me."

The man had a point. Tristan scowled with frustration. One lab accident. That was all it took to make him lose his mind. "Why are you here?"

"I managed to survive the accident because there is a small amount of xenothium in my blood, a blessing and a curse, if you will. It caused my growth to stunt, but it also, evidently, mutated my body to be...stronger than most humans. Similarly, the experiment had an excess of xenothium in her blood, after living inside of it for thirteen years. Before I passed out, I saw her escape. She was flying, sir."

"Flying?"

"Yes. She flew. Perhaps the impact of the blast. But even I don't know, and I have studied xenothium all my life. It is unstable and deadly, with properties we do not understand."

"So you're telling me that my experiment is on the loose?"

"Not only that, sir. You see, during the thirteen years we kept her, she was showing signs of regular development. By which I mean, she could possibly pass as a normal human being by action and speech."

"So?"

"So, she will become curious and wonder why the world around her has changed so much. Why everyone seems so much older, why she seems so much older. With this curiousity comes answers. If she recalls any memories of that lab, there is one person she can blame. And she may well have the power to get rid of him. Mr. Roth, you could be in great danger." The CEO raised an eyebrow, thinking it over. Chang was right. "She could possibly be after your blood at this moment. If I'm not mistaken, you have a daughter who knew about this project, yes?"

Tristan chuckled. "Rachel? She won't tell a soul, I've seen to that." Chang tried not to show any fear.

"Just as well. Under threat of death, she might. But, if you were aware of all the experiment's known weaknesses..." Dr. Chang held up a folder with the words 'PROJECT STAR' stamped across the front. Tristan reached for it, but Chang held it back. "There is one condition."

"I should have known," Mr. Roth snarled. "Maybe I don't want to listen to your imbecilic conditions. I'm in no proven danger as of right now."

"Very well." Chang jumped off the chair, heading towards the doorway. When he reached it, though, he paused. "It is too bad. It was quite a small price to pay, too."

The little man had won. "What do you want?"

"All of your xenothium store."

"Hey, you! Yeah, girl with the red hair! What're you doing out here, you should be in school!" a mustachioed man called.

The last time Kory had seen leaves turning different colors and falling to the ground was right before she had been taken. Everywhere she walked, all she heard was crunch, crunch, crunch. She had heard people call this 'fall.' It was very fitting, it seemed as though the sky itself was falling. It was so amusing, she regularly took walks outside just to see the beautiful colors on her breaks from reading.

She had become a voracious reader, and romance novels were the best. Just like the fairytales she remembered from so long ago, though it seemed like yesterday.

After being in a virtual coma for thirteen years, she was constantly amazed at the wonders of life. Like the leaves turning orange and red and yellow, for instance. She knew, from her reading, that it was because of the chlorophyl that leaves were green, and in the fall and winter they turned brown because there was not enough sun to make chlorophyl. But she remembered, from when she was much, much smaller, that someone had told her a fairy came every August and tapped a tree with her wand, and the leaves changed color on their own. She often found herself staring at a still-green tree, waiting for the magic to happen.

But never before had she been interrupted. The man that had done so was wearing a blue, button-down shirt that had a very shiny golden badge attached to the upper corner. It caught Kory's eye immediately.

"I...am sorry?" she tried. She tore her eyes away from the badge and forced herself to stare at him.

"Don't pull that with me. Trying to get away with playing hookey, now, are ya?" Kory sorely wished for a kind stranger to explain what was going on right now, like a boy had the other day.

"Hookey?" She sounded so stupid.

"Yeah. Skipping school. It's against the law, girl." School...the word rang a bell...

"Oh!" Like kindergarten, where she was supposed to have been enrolled, before her entire mess. "School! I apologize, I was not aware it was mandatory." The man's gaze softened.

"You look like your from some other country. I've seen you around my post, so I figured you weren't on vacation. School's a choice, where you live, is it?" Kory had never lived anywhere but Jump City her entire life, and had no idea what he meant by 'post,' but went along with it.

"Yes it is."

"Alright. I'm guessing ya live around here, and you can see the high school from here, look." He pointed to a large, brown building to the south. "That's it right there. Tell yer parent's to enroll you, and if they have any questions, just ask at the office over there, okay?" Kory's throat clogged up. Another mention of her parents. Still, she nodded. "And if ya have any questions, you can come to that there police station and ask for Sergeant Dave." The man waved goodbye, and Kory waved back. Better go do what he told her. Getting in trouble with the law was not on the top of Kory's to-do list.

A couple of months passed, and things were going pretty great for Dick. His school was the best, everyone thought he was just another new student, and his new friends were amazing people.

Rachel was of course, Rachel. She barely talked, except to exchange insults with Gar sometimes. Still, she was a great help in the beginning of the year, and not only in keeping away fangirls. Gar and Vic decided it would be hilarious to show Dick to his first 'classroom,' the janitor's closet. They even painted over the signs marking the bathroom doors, so Dick wandered into the girl's bathroom by mistake. Fortunately, the girls hadn't been too upset. Rachel, however, had been livid, and the two boys weren't able to see right for days. She was always helping him get to the right places, and dealing with Gar and Vic.

Karen, too. She kept her boyfriend semi-under control, as much as you can keep a guy three times your size and with three times your muscle under control. She treated them to regular shopping sprees, by which he meant, she went shopping and made everyone else tag-along and hold her bags if they weren't doing anything.

He and Vic were becoming fast friends, despite the pranks and jokes. Dick quickly learned that he would really have to work up to his best to upstage Vic in football. The guy was a maniac on the field. No one could throw as far, or as accurately, no one could kick as hard, and no one could run as fast as Vic. Dick was planning to beat that.

Gar was a different story. He was like the little brother Dick had never had, always the instigator. Every minute of Gar's was spent thinking up ways to make people trip, scream, jump, or otherwise cause them mild discomfort in a humorous manner. At least, every minute that wasn't spent bringing home wounded animals.

Living at the Dayton's was a far cry from Wayne Manor. The house was of average size, but it stank to high heaven. Rita Dayton, Gar's foster mother, did the best she could, but there were always animal droppings and dirty gym socks and month-old sandwiches everywhere. Gar was a nightmare to live with. Still, Dick helped as much as possible, and the house was actually starting to look less like a zoo. It came from living with two neat freaks, he had said.

No one ever questioned Gar's animal obsession, though, so Dick didn't either. It was only natural. Gar really had a way with all those critters. They never ran away from him like they did Dick, and Gar always seemed to know what was wrong with them and how to fix it. Dick even suggested that he buy a bunch of cages, so the animals could rest in there. His own little hospital...that kept the floor clean.

Dick had met a few more people at school, but these four were his best friends. He'd looked around for the girl who didn't know what a taxi was, but she hadn't been there. Probably on vacation. She looked like she was from out of the country, even in California you can't get tanned like that. It's too bad...she was really pretty. He pushed her out of his mind, and it was working for him so far.

Instead, he focused on his life right now. It was better than he could have imagined. He'd never been this close to a group of people before. It would be really nice, except...

"Dick, we need to get you a girl," Vic noted.

"'S okay, I don't really think--"

"Come on, man. Gar has Rae, and I've got Karen. You've gotta be feeling left out."

"No, I'm fine, really--"

"But you broke up with what's-her-face," Gar added.

"It's Babs, and that doesn't matter, I--"

"Maybe that one over there, she looks--" They never found out what Vic thought she looked like, because with one glance from Karen, he shut his mouth.

"Look, you guys, I don't want this right now. I really don't want this."

Gar frowned. "High school guy. No relationship. Nope, not adding up. Unless you want to go join the Glee Club over there." He pointed behind him to a bunch of sniggering, snorting nerds.

"Uh...no. What I mean is, why do you think I dated Babs? She was just a friend! I didn't want all those stupid, golddigging, fake, Barbie-dolled--"

"We get the point, Dick," Rachel interrupted.

"Yeah," said Dick, slumping back down into his seat. He hadn't realized how passionate he'd gotten. "Sorry."

The bell for class rang, and that was the end of that.

She jumped from roof to roof, heading quickly and silently to her destination. Apparently, there was a rich family over on the east side that she hadn't visited yet.

She'd begun to control her powers, and even discover new ones. Her 'star-bolts,' as she liked to call them, after her new name, came to life exactly when she wanted them, and she could even throw them, only after they left her hands, they were out of control. She learned that, at her rare moments of happiness, she could actually hover. During her alone time, she practiced and practiced, getting better and better. There wasn't a safe in Jump City that was safe now.

No pun intended.

Still, she was coping with the fact that she was a mutant. A freak. If anyone found out, who knew what would happen to her. Not what would happen to Star-fire, but her. The real her. It was a fact too horrible to consider.

Finally ending up about thirty feet above and twenty feet across from her destination, she jumped down into the alley as nimbly as a cat. The family lived in the apartment right across the street from the alley she was in right now. All she had to do was--

"Don't move," came a rasping, surly voice. She spun around quickly. A drunken, filthy man came out of the shadows right behind her, grabbed her, and pointed a revolver at her temple.

Sorry for the POV switching, again. I just really want to get on with the story, so I put all the filler stuff in this chapter.