When Jason first saw her she was falling from the sky. It was just as strange as one would imagine. It was early evening and he was just ducking out of a window, information acquirement successful, getting ready to hit his next target, when he saw a small body falling past the windows of the skyscraper across the street. Hundreds of feet from the ground.

His body went into autopilot, making a mad dash and jump into the open air to catch them. What the hell- His mind didn't even have time to finish the thought "world has kids thrown out of windows" before he got his next big shock. A few feet before they would have collided, the kid changed direction and was suddenly zipping out horizontally before stopping in mid air. He let out a line and caught himself to grapple against the side of the building. It was times like this that he was glad for the full coverage the hood gave him. He was sure his face must look dumb as f*** as he hung there staring.

"Ooooookay…" he said to himself. So, not falling. Flying. These things happened. I guess. His mind was vaguely trying to categorize the kid –mutant, alien, experiment, magic- when she glanced over her shoulder at him. Those eyes. Oh.

Starfire's daughter. Mar'i. Star had sent him plenty of pictures of her when she was a baby. As busy as he kept himself over the years, he still kept in touch with Star and Roy. Enough to know both were happy parents now, if not well enough to have actually met the kids. He wasn't really invited to Batfamily socials, but he knew Starfire was on a mission in Europe. So Dick must be in town. And judging by the way his daughter was floating alone high above traffic and looking very lost, he must be having a conniption fit about now. He didn't have time to work on hacking his way onto the Bat comm line to alert him, because she suddenly took off floating her way uptown.

"Hey kid!" He took after her, jumping up onto the closest ledge and shooting off a line to swing across the street, where he hit another ledge running. She glanced back at him, but didn't say anything and made another turn down a side street. When he made it around the corner, it took him a second to notice her ducking behind a gargoyle. Great. He was chasing a lost kid who didn't know him. Stranger Danger much? And wouldn't it just be even more creeper of him to try to convince the kid he knew her parents and she should come with him? Agh. "Listen kid I'm not gonna hurt you." Yeah. That was sure convincing.

He decided to take off the hood. A blank red face talking at her probably wasn't very friendly. His domino mask would do well enough in case of civilians watching, but having his face on display might put her more at ease. She watched him and her face seemed to settle a bit as she took him in. She didn't look scared. But she didn't look ready to talk to him either.

"You're Mar'i right? Starfire's girl. I used to work with your mom." She didn't answer. He sighed. Well, yeah, he expected about that much. He took the opportunity to fiddle with the comm link to try and get her dad on the line. Barb may have shut him out of the system, but she never made it too hard for him to make his way in. Just in case of emergency. Usually that was if there was a situation dangerous enough that he would suck it up and call for back up, but he figured finding Dick's missing daughter probably counted. It was a weird relationship. Of course that's when the kid decided to slip away again.

"Goddamnit." he mumbled and hooked the hood to his belt as he went after her again. She ascended above the buildings and looked around her again before landing gently on a construction crane working on a high rise. Damn, that was a terrifying image. A small child balancing on a beam hundreds of feet above the city. With no safety line or tether. He knew she could fly, but if anyone looked up and noticed her they'd have a f***ing heart attack. For a second he was feeling pretty close to it himself. He reminded himself to breathe. She looked over at him again before jumping out into the air. F***. She had to stop doing that. He wondered how Dick dealt with this all the time.

He jumped over to her and she looked annoyed before flying further down. Thank the gods. She was about to take a turn towards the city center, and he ran out to get in her way. He was about to yell to her to stay away from the business sector. Who knew what commotion she might cause. Again, she looked annoyed and made a U-turn heading downtown before he could say anything. Well, that was probably the direction she should be going anyway. Bruce's place was that way, which was probably where she was staying. That's when the idea struck him. The kid wasn't scared of him, but she seemed to be playing dodge with him. He could work with that. If the kid wouldn't stay put long enough for him to call Daddy to come get her, he would have to shepard her home.

It worked easy enough for a few blocks, before she found another construction site and decided to play hide and seek. She soared in between shifting mechanics and ducked under swinging beams always keeping right out of reach and giving herself more of a lead with each tiny space she fit through. This mixed with the steadily oncoming twilight bleeding with her dark hair made it harder and harder to keep tabs on her. He tried to keep ahead of her by taking alternative courses, and honestly it helped that she was a kid. Flying, and hero parentage aside, she was still somewhat predictable. Plus he'd been there himself. He remembered his own childhood forays in the city, running from cops and competition on the streets. He knew the tricks. Using your smaller size to slip through where others couldn't, taking quick turns and pauses once out of sight to throw pursuers off, feigning and switching. He also remembered the thrill of it, even when things got hot. The adrenaline. The rush. He heard a manic little laugh from above and caught a glimpse of bright glowing green eyes fly overhead and disappear around another turn. The joy.

He grinned as he landed in front of her and cut her off before she could slip down the scaffolding. She shrieked another little laugh and took off further downtown again. It was almost full dark by now. Her flowing black hair bled with the sky. He wouldn't have been able to see her, if not for those eyes. They glowed and sparkled like little green stars in the night. She kept peeking back at him, and in the glow of her eyes he could see her grinning back at him, manic and utterly adorable with the little gap where she must have recently lost a baby tooth.

When they hit the edge of the city proper she seemed to understand what he had done. She glanced around her and suddenly knew where she was and where they were headed. He kept a motorbike stashed away on the outskirts of town. It was already there for him when they hit the road out of town. He had hit the auto command for it when they got close enough. At that point it was no longer really a chase. More of a race. She soared off directly down the road towards Wayne Manor. It was even darker out here without the city lights. But even if he hadn't known every bit of these roads, he could still follow the glowing little Night Star zooming over the trees. He almost felt like a sailor, following the North Star. Ha.

He let her land first. Even if the game was over, he didn't want to risk her turning around if he cut her off. He kicked the lock to keep the bike upright and folded his arms at her, giving her an amused smirk. "I told ya, kid. I know your parents."

She put her hand on her hips and tilted her head to the side in a stance that was very Starfire when she got pouty. "I know! But Grandpa Bruce said I'm not supposed to talk to you." The fact that she was talking to him right now didn't seem to bother her. He couldn't help but be bemused. And a little taken aback.

"You knew who I was this whole time? Wait- what? Why?"

"Grandpa said you're a bad ifflunece." Great. Of course. He rolled his eyes, but also couldn't help but smile a bit. Flying around alone throughout the city. Fine. Playing keep away through active construction zones. Fine. But saying "I know who you are. Can you call my dad?" Can't do that. Grandpa said no. Child logic. Gotta love it. The adorable mispronunciation was a nice cherry on the sundae of the whole weird night.

"Alfred must have caught us on the security cams by now. Someone is probably racing out here to claim you right now." Speak of the devil. Just then they heard the front door open and running footsteps. Someone called her name. "Aaaand that's my cue. Gotta run kid. Try not to give your dad a heart attack will ya? No crossing the street without an adult." He put the red hood back on and started up the bike again. He was pulling away from the gates when she called back to him.

"Bye Uncle Jay!" He grinned and gave her a wave as he took off.

"See ya around little Nightstar."