S T A R  C I T Y
August 1, 13:35 PDT
ONE  YEAR  LATER

It had been a long year. Since her parents and baby sister, who wasn't even a year old yet, had all been declared legally dead by the SCPD, per a TV broadcast she had caught while walking down the street, Reese had gone to the streets.

It wasn't like there was anywhere else she could go. So, as of right now, what was a nine-year-old Reese Michaels doing?

...trying to pickpocket people in downtown Star City.

What? It's more fun than you might think.

Luckily, today there were a lot of people crowding the sidewalks, so pretending to bump into people in order to lift the hard cash they left loose in their pockets wasn't as difficult as it could've been.

This way, Reese didn't have to resort to digging through abandoned trashcans for her lunch. No, now she'd be able to buy a turkey sandwich or something from one of the outside food stands.

It was the Star City Summer Festival right now, and almost the entire downtown had been turned into one massive street fair.

After buying her turkey sandwich and a bottle of lemon-lime soda with a five-dollar bill she had lifted off a middle-aged woman, Reese sat down lightly on an empty bench, unwrapping the sandwich before taking a big bite out of it.

The vendor had given her a weird look when he saw that a young kid was using her own money to buy something, but he hadn't said anything.

After a minute or two, another person sat down next to her on the bench, and Reese tensed. In the year she had been living by herself, she had learned to be suspicious of people, but this guy seemed like he was harmless.

He was a redhead and looked to be a few years older than her. Fifteen, maybe. He was dressed in a white t-shirt, red-and-black jacket, and blue jeans.

For a moment, he didn't say anything, before he suddenly glanced at Reese from the corner of his eye, raising an eyebrow and smirking.

"Any particular reason a young kid like you has been pickpocketing these nice people for the last hour?" For a split-second, Reese's eyes widened, before she controlled herself and narrowed her eyes.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said firmly, and the guy chuckled.

"I gotta admit, kid, you're a good liar, but you're not the best. I grew up on the streets, I know what pickpocketing looks like,"

For a single second, Reese still sat on the bench next to the redhead, before she suddenly shot up and pushed through the gathered crowd.

"Hey!" she heard the other boy shout behind her, but Reese ignored him, in favor of trying to get away. How could she have been so stupid?

It was about time that someone finally realized what she was doing. Reese wasn't the best pickpocket, she knew that, but she was better than most.

Not good enough, it seemed. Glancing over her shoulder, Reese managed to catch sight of the redhead, and he was following her through the thick crowd.

Pushing herself faster, Reese ducked between two stalls, one a jewelry stand, while the other was another food cart, finally bursting out into a less-crowded backstreet.

She turned around to see if the redhead was still following her but was suddenly bowled over by another person, both of them tumbling to the ground, Reese's head snapping back and hitting the asphalt.

"Ow," she groaned, sitting up, holding the back of her head. But, when Reese looked up, she found herself staring into a pair of ocean eyes that belonged to a boy about her age, with messy black hair.

"I am so sorry," he burst out, as Reese was still rubbing the back of her head, trying to figure out what had just happened. "I wasn't watching where I was going, and then I--hey, it's you!"

His exclamation was with wonderment and shock, and it made Reese blink for a moment before she finally got a good look at whoever it was that ran into her.

There was a sense of familiarity surrounding him as if she had seen him before, but Reese wasn't entirely sure, until the boy cracked a crooked smile at her, and her mouth dropped open.

It was him. The boy from the circus, the one whose family had fallen. He was--

"Dick Grayson," the boy suddenly shot out a hand, and warily, Reese shook it. "So, uh, last time we saw each other I never got your name. What is it?"

"...Reese," she said finally, and the boy, Dick, it seemed (seriously, who names their kid that?), tilted his head to the side.

"So, Reese, is that, uh, short for something? Like, my full name is Richard, but I hate people calling me that, so everyone just calls me Dick instead,"

Reese thought for a moment.

"My mother used to call me Rhysalin when she was going to tell me something important. Everyone normally calls me Reese though,"

Not that she interacted with most people these days, but she was friendly enough with the grocer over on 32nd Street.

"Well, can I call you Rhysalin?" Dick's voice drew Reese from her thoughts, making the brunette glance upward. "It's a pretty name,"

"Thanks?" Reese asked, a split-second before there was a crash, and the redhead from earlier burst from the bushes, startling both of them.

For a moment, he just stared at Reese, before his blue eyes flicked over to Dick, and they widened.

"Hey, you got her!" Reese whipped her head over to look at the black-haired boy next to her, who looked more than a bit confused.

"You two know each other?" she asked, and he shrugged.

"Well, yeah, he's Roy Harper. Lives with Oliver Queen," This time, the redhead, Roy, glanced between Reese and Dick, looking confused.

"Wait, you two know each other?" the two younger kids exchanged a glance, before speaking in unison.

"I was at the circus."

"She was at the circus."

Roy's eyes widened. "Oh," he said simply before Dick glanced over towards Reese again.

"Hey, that night, you were with your family, weren't you? Why are you out here and not with them?"

Reese sat up and sort-of curled into herself, bringing her knees to her chin as she wrapped her arms around herself.

Ever since the fire, she hadn't even gone back to where her home used to be. The entire apartment building had been closed down because of the damages, and the occupants' belongings had been set out on the curb so people would be able to claim their stuff, but Reese couldn't bring herself to see if anything was salvaged from where her home used to be.

"They died...didn't they?" Dick's voice was soft, if not more than understanding, and it made Reese glance up at the boy, meeting his ocean eyes with her own brown ones.

"House fire," she said simply. Roy made a thinking noise before his eyes widened.

"Wait..." the redhead began. "You're that girl that Green Arrow saved last year! You're the one with the sonic scream!"

"Sonic scream?" Dick echoed. "You mean like Black Canary?"

Reese shook her head. "I'm not Black Canary,"

The blond superheroine had shown up in Star City earlier that year, and for all of two seconds, after Reese realized that woman had the same sort of 'powers' that Reese herself did, she debated asking the woman for help but ultimately refrained.

She'd probably just do the same thing everyone else did when they found out she was some sort of freak with a scream that was able to deafen a person with one blast. Reese didn't need people's pity. She had enough of that herself.

"But you do have a sonic scream, don't you?" Roy asked, raising an eyebrow, but Reese shook her head.

"No, you must be thinking of someone else. I've heard of Canary, sure, but I don't have anything in common with her,"

Roy and Dick both still looked skeptical, but they didn't press her, and Reese then slipped one of the wallets she had palmed today out of her jacket pocket. Hmm, seventy-five dollars even. That'll buy lunch for a week or so.

"Whose wallet is that?" Roy suddenly asked again, and Reese glanced up at him, shrugging.

"Some random guy's," she answered, tossing the small leather pocketbook towards the two other boys, and Dick caught it straight out of the air. "Not that big of a deal,"

" 'not that big of a deal', she says," Roy mumbled before Dick suddenly jabbed his elbow into his ribs, practically shoving the wallet into the redhead's face.

Roy's eyebrows practically flew up and off his head when he saw the ID on the inside of the wallet. Reese narrowed her eyes.

"We have to go," the redhead said simply, grabbing Reese's jacket sleeve and dragging her behind him.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. "What do you think you're doing? Let me go!"

"Unless you want Brick to come after you for palming his wallet, you'll come with me,"

"You can't make me do anything!" Reese retorted as Dick looked between both of them, eyes wide. Seriously, those two had known each other for all of five minutes and they were already bickering like siblings.

"I can, and I will," Roy retorted, eyes flashing. "You're too young to be living out on the streets by yourself, especially when Brick's hunting you down. Come on, I know you're lying to us about the sonic scream, so we're taking you to Green Arrow. He'll be able to help,"

"What?" Reese screeched again, and this time, a nearby streetlight cracked. Dick's eyes flicked over to it for a moment, before he turned back to Reese and Roy. "I can't go to Green Arrow! I-I hurt him last time, he won't want to see me,"

"Ha!" Roy exclaimed, pointing a finger in Reese's face. "So you admit you screamed at Green Arrow?"

"I never said that!" Reese retorted, and Dick quickly tried to defuse the situation before things got out of hand.

"Uh, guys? Maybe we should--"

"But, you admit that you hurt Green Arrow?"

"Guys--"

"I didn't mean to! It was an accident!"

"I think it--"

"You do know that he wasn't really hurt by your sonic scream, right?" Roy said finally, and Reese paused, eyes wide.

"What?" she asked, and Roy nodded.

"Yep, totally unharmed. I mean, his ears were ringing for a few days after, but all in all, he was fine. Reese, he would've helped you. Green Arrow's a member of the Justice League, they know how to deal with people with a superpower. They could've helped you,"

"I don't need any help," Reese said adamantly, stepping back again. "I don't want any. I've lived on my own long enough. People, when they discover that I have powers, they think I'm a freak, an abomination. Some have called me worse,"

"Yeah, well, those people are jerks," Roy said almost before Reese had finished her confession, but then he narrowed his eyes. "--Wait. Powers? As in, like, more than one?"

Reese sighed. If Roy knew Green Arrow, and the Justice would really be able to help, she figured it was probably time to come clean.

"I-I think I also have enhanced senses," she said quietly. "I mean, I can see really well in the dark, better than most people, and my hearing has always been really good. I can hear your heartbeats right now,"

She then glanced over at Dick, who had tensed, somewhere during their conversation. "Yours is really fast,"

Despite it, Roy smirked towards the younger boy, and Dick promptly kicked him in the shin. After a moment, Reese continued.

"I've been able to tell now when people are lying, and honestly, I don't know what's going on with me," she spoke honestly, before moving her hair out of the way, showing Dick and Roy the metallic silver streak that was on the underside of her dark, chocolate brown hair. "This also showed up about six months ago. I like it, so I didn't cut it out,"

"It's pretty," Dick spoke up suddenly, and Reese and Roy both turned to stare at him. Despite it, Reese felt her face flush.

"Thanks," she said softly, before turning to Roy again and abruptly changing the subject. "Are you sure Green Arrow will be able to help?" Roy shrugged, and Reese narrowed her eyes. "Wait, how do you even know Green Arrow?"

"Can't you tell?" Dick asked, stepping up to walk beside Reese as the three of them made their way down the street. "He's Speedy,"

"Hmph," Roy huffed as Reese's head snapped over to look at the older boy. "Way to keep our identities secret, Robin,"

-----

Happy New Year, everybody! We're finally done with the two-part prologue, and next is Independence Day...finally.

Also, just to be clear, Reese is a year younger than Dick, and her birthday's on Christmas Eve, so in Season 1 she'll be 12-13, Invasion 18, Outsiders 20-21, etc.

And, Dinah's homeschooling her because Black Canary is such a mom and I love her.