S T A R  C I T Y
August 27, 20:00 PDT
FOUR  YEARS  AGO

The young girl crept into the small bedroom, where the walls were painted canary-yellow and small, mural-like clouds adorned them.

On the far side of the room was a baby's crib, a mobile hanging above it, spinning slowly as a soft lullaby rang through the room.

Peering up over the top of the crib, the eight-year-old brunette stared down at her little sister, who was a little more than seven months old, sleeping soundly with a blue security blanket wrapped around her while a white pacifier was inside her mouth, quieting her cries.

Leaning down, the baby's older sister lightly ran her fingers over the small teddy bear plush that her sister held tightly in her tiny fist.

Suddenly, there was the sound of someone lightly clearing their throat behind her, and the brunette spun around, only to see her mother standing in the doorway, a small smile curling her lip as she observed her only two children.

"I believe, baby bird, that it is way past your bedtime," Though her voice was stern, there was a hint of amusement in the older woman's voice.

Either way, it made her oldest daughter pout.

"Mama, can I please stay up a bit longer?" she asked, clasping her hands together, almost begging. "I'll be nine when Christmas comes anyway. Then I can stay up as late as I want. And I want to stay up with Lauren for a bit,"

Lorelai Michaels walked forward and set a hand on her daughter's shoulder, giving the brunette a small smile.

"You're already growing up so fast, baby bird," Lorelai said softly, kneeling down in front of Reese with a soft smile. "But, even magnificent eagles need their beauty sleep,"

Reese, still a bit put-out, grumbled, crossing her arms, but complied with her mother's wishes anyway, lightly pecking her sister's forehead before following the older woman out into the hall of their Star City apartment.

"Do you think I'll see Green Arrow tonight?" Reese whispered as her mother tucked her in, turning to stare out her window at the skyline of Star City.

Lorelai chuckled. "You might," she said quietly, before tugging Reese's light gray quilt up to her chin. "Now," she continued. "Sleep, my magnificent eagle. Tomorrow, you, your sister, and I can go and get some ice-cream, okay?"

"Chocolate Swirl?" Reese mumbled, already falling asleep to the sound of her mother's voice. As it were, Lorelai laughed softly, running her fingers through her daughter's hair.

"Of course,"

Just before Reese finally fell asleep, her brown eyes landed on a framed poster that hung on the opposite wall of her bedroom.

"Do you think that boy's okay?" she asked quietly, burrowing deeper into her blanket as she met her mother's gaze. "The one from the circus,"

Lorelai sighed. Months ago, their family had needed to go across the country to Gotham City for one of Reese's father's "business trips".

The actual work had been done in Washington D.C., but after, before they got on a plane to go back to Star City, Reese's father, Derrick Michaels, had thought it would be a good idea to attend a circus that had been in Gotham the same night.

What a disaster that had been...

Something, it seemed, had gone horribly wrong with the circus' trapeze act, and almost the entire troupe had fallen to their deaths.

The only survivors were a boy, just a little bit older than Reese herself, and who seemed to be his uncle, though it seemed like he was now paralyzed.

Reese had met the boy before, but there hadn't even been enough time to talk for her to get his name before the show started.

After his parents fell, Lorelai's daughter had wanted to comfort the boy, to say that everything was going to be alright, but both Lorelai and Derrick had tugged their children away, not wanting them to see the carnage.

Ever since Reese had been prodding and poking at her parents for information about the boy, to see if he was all right.

Despite their best efforts, though most of it was just to humor Reese, Lorelai and Derrick had found nothing.

At least, that was what they had told their daughter.

Finally, Lorelai spoke. "I'm sure he's fine, baby bird. The people in the circus look after each other, I'm positive someone took him in,"

"Okay..." Reese began softly, nustling into her pillow again. "Goodnight, Mama,"

"Sweet dreams, my srebŭrna ptitsa," With one last kiss against Reese's forehead, Lorelai switched off her oldest daughter's bedroom light, though it was still slightly lit by the nightlight that was plugged into a nearby outlet.

Softly shutting the bedroom door, Lorelai stood in front of it for a moment, leaning her head against the doorframe, before the voice of her husband caught her attention.

"Does she still not remember?" Derrick asked quietly, nursing a mug of coffee inside his hands, his dark blond hair mussed from his frequent habit of running his fingers through it when he was stressed.

Lorelai shook her head. "No, all she cares about are the Graysons, and what happened to their son,"

"Do you know what happened to the youngest?" Derrick asked, but Lorelai only gave him a dry look.

"I told you before, it looks like Bruce Wayne has taken him in. The man, despite his playboy tendencies, is an active philanthropist in Gotham City. He'll be fine,"

"That's not all you're worried about though, is it?" Derrick asked, and Lorelai whipped around, eyes blazing with righteous fury.

"You had no right to put our daughter through what you did!" she whisper-shouted, careful not to let either of her daughters overhear.

It may have only been four months, but it was no telling how soon it would be before Reese's now-enhanced senses showed themselves. Or her other abilities.

"It was the only way to ensure that the project was a success," Derrick tried to reason with his wife, but Lorelai was not having it.

"It was the only way to ensure you kept your job," she shot back, and Derrick heaved a sigh.

"That's not true, Lorelai, and you know it," he said wearily. "If I hadn't injected Reese with the serum when I did, then he would have gotten his hands on the formula, and no one wanted that,"

Lorelai, despite her maternal anger at what her husband had done to their daughter, had to admit that he had a point.

Her husband's...well, now-former coworker was ambitious to the point where it bordered on dangerous, and to avoid any future debilitations, Derrick had fired him.

"So, he's gone?" Lorelai asked, hugging herself, and Derrick nodded, getting up and walking over to his wife, pressing his lips to her forehead in a sign of love, protection, and promise.

"He's gone," he echoed firmly. "Mark Desmond will never work at Cadmus Labs again. We're free from him,"

-----

When Reese awoke again, it was to find her bedroom filled with choking gray smoke. It felt like she was stuck inside an oven, and an orangish light shone from behind her door.

"Mama?" she cried out, coughing a bit. "Mama! Daddy!" Reese went to open her door but jerked her hand back when it burned her.

Spinning around, the eight-year-old looked for some way out, when her eyes finally landed on her window. Running over, the small girl pulled the small latch to the side, and pushed the window up, letting cool night air filter in.

"Help!" she shouted, alerting the people gathered below. "Help, I can't get out!"

Coughing sounded from behind her, and Reese turned in time to see her father stumble into her bedroom, hacking, his face covered with soot.

"Daddy?" Reese whispered, and Derrick Michaels gave a small smile to his oldest daughter. "Daddy, what's going on?"

"You need to run, my magnificent eagle," he said hoarsely, setting his hands on Reese's shoulders. "You need to spread your wings and fly. You must live,"

With that, and before Reese was able to ask whatever it was that her father meant, Derrick had already jerked forward, effectively pushing the small form of his daughter out of her bedroom window of their ninth-floor apartment.

Reese screamed as she fell towards the ground, dark hair whipping around her face.

But, before she was able to be splattered into a pancake on the sidewalk, someone grabbed her, straight out of the air, and Reese was yanked to the side, eventually being set down gently on the side of the street.

Looking upward, the eight-year-old girl was surprised to find herself face-to-face with the protector of Star City himself.

Green Arrow.

"Are you okay?" the older man asked, and the young girl gave a shaky nod before her eyes widened.

"You have to save my family, Mr. Green Arrow," Reese burst out. "My parents, and my baby sister, they're trapped up there!"

She pointed up to the apartment, which was now practically engulfed in flames. But, before Green Arrow was able to do anything, there was a loud 'boom', before a cloud of fire erupted from the building.

Green Arrow had shielded her when the explosion had happened, but now Reese poked her head out around the man's arm, staring, stricken, up at what used to be her home.

Now, it was gone...along with her family.

Without really knowing what she was doing, Reese screamed again, only this time, the scream was different.

Layers upon layers of frequencies, all laced over each other in such a way that it created a decibel wave that blew out every single window on the block.

It also caught Green Arrow straight in the crossfire, throwing the man back a good hundred feet, and also making him slam into a police car, denting the door. He lay there, stunned for a moment, before groaning in pain.

Meanwhile, Reese suddenly covered her mouth with her hands, extinguishing the sonic scream before anyone else was able to get hurt.

All of the police officers, civilians, and firefighters who had been gathered on the street now stared at the young girl, shock written all over their faces.

And, if Reese was able to look deeper, she would have also seen fear.

"I-I'm sorry," she whispered, not wanting to speak any louder, for fear of the scream happening again. "I-I d-didn't mean to h-hurt you,"

"Hey, kid," Green Arrow said quietly, pulling himself up. "It's okay. We're not going to hurt you,"

But, Reese only shook her head sharply, her hair whipping around in such a way that it made it hard for her to see for a moment.

She had hurt Star City's protector, its hero. She was dangerous. She didn't even know what was happening to her.

Skittering away, Reese saw Green Arrow's mask, where his eyes should be, widen, a split second before she turned and ran, ignoring Green Arrow's protests behind her.

It seemed like her years of playing hide-and-seek with her mom and dad finally paid off because Reese finally managed to lose Green Arrow by tucking herself between two stacks of abandoned cardboard boxes.

She couldn't go home now. She had no home to go to.

Her parents, her baby sister, there was no way they survived that explosion.

Her parents were both only children, and Reese's grandparents had all died before she was born.

She was alone.

-----

I promise the rest of this won't be as depressing. Just, you know, sad, angsty backstory. The usual.

Next chapter, Reese meets Roy, and he brought along a friend.