Melanie paced back and forth as she stared at the few belongings she was bringing with her to Gotham. Her red shaggy hair, which hadn't been dyed in a month and now began to show her blonde hair at the roots, had been put up into a lose and messy ponytail, strands sticking out in every direction while her short bangs clung to her sweaty forehead.

There was a picture laying on top of her clothes in her open suitcase. It had been torn in half, the missing persons arm draped over Phoebe's shoulder.

She paced some more as sweat trickled down her temple. Phoebe was biting down on her nail, listening to her teeth click together as she bit away at her already short nail. She reached down, picking up the picture and pulled a lighter out from her pocket, not wasting another moment to light the photo up into flames.

She tossed the picture into her fireplace just as her phone started to vibrate in her other pocket. She looked down as she answered the phone.

"Who is it?"

"It's Barry. You're late."

"Says you. You've been late to work nearly every day."  Melanie mumbled, wiping the sweat off of her forehead as she turned to her fireplace. The flame was dying out.

"I'm getting better. Singh said you called him earlier about transferring." Melanie fell quiet with Barry, who eventually let out a long sigh. "You're leaving? Seriously?"

"If you knew why, you'd understand. But I can't tell you Barry."

"Do you not trust me? I mean, I know I told Joe you're the one that took his ice cream from the break room—"

"That's not it, Barry. I trust you. Just... This is a secret for me, myself and I alone." Melanie cut him off with a short laugh, slowly sitting down on her couch. "I'm sorry. I should have warned you. I'm transferring to Gotham City tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?! Gotham? Are you aware of the crime rate there?"

"Which is exactly why I'm moving there. Plenty for me to do. I'll be distracted with the fear of getting mugged to ignore my problems that I'm leaving here."

"That isn't funny, Mel." Barry said firmly, Melanie smirking just a little bit.

"It's kind of funny. But I need to keep packing. I'm stopping by the precinct later to drop off my badge."

"Are you sure you need to transfer? I mean, you're a better CSI than I am, sometimes. And I could go into another coma. We need two CSI's sometimes. If it's serious, I can get Singh to put you in Witness Protection—"

"Jesus Christ I don't need to be babysat but some incompetent cops, Barr. Even if they're my coworkers, they don't know what they're doing." Melanie leaned back on her couch and rubbed her eyes with her free hand, letting out a long sigh. "I'll be fine... I think."

"I think isn't really promising me you'll be safe."

"I'm moving to Gotham City. 'Safe' won't even be found in a dictionary there."

•••

"Are you sure you want to do this, Nyx?" Captain Singh asked as Melanie stood in front of his desk. She was gripping her badge tightly, her knuckles a noticeable white. "You have so much potential here. We could use someone like you working here."

"Central City will always be my home, Captain, but this place isn't for me anymore." Melanie sighed quietly, setting her badge onto Captain Singh's desk. "Gotham is going to give me more chances, not that this place hasn't already but... I've lived here my whole life."

"You're ready for something new, I understand." Captain Singh nodded before sighing softly. He sat up a bit straighter, picking up a file. Melanie's file. "I hope Gotham doesn't treat you like everyone else."

"You and me both." Melanie flashed a quick smile before walking out of the Captain's office, immediately being greeted by Barry Allen.

"So this is it? You're really leaving?" Barry's eyes flashed between Melanie's and the window to Singh's office. She scanned his body as she smelled burning rubber, looking down at his shoes to notice the rims looked like they had been held over a fire. She looked back up to meet Barry's eyes and shrugged, starting to walk. Barry followed, leading her towards the stairs and to his lab.

The two of them had been coworkers for just a little under three years. Melanie was Barry's "mentor" when he first started as CSI. Melanie went abroad a month after Harrison Wells particle accelerator went off, traveling to England for reasons Barry never got to find out. He was, however, extraordinarily pissed that she left him with a bunch of paperwork when he woke up from his coma.

She had been working at Central City's lead CSI for a little over two years before Barry came around. When he got struck by lightning the night of the particle accelerator explosion, Melanie was taking a taxi home. She didn't make it home that night, seeing as Joe had called her the moment the paramedics showed up to take Barry to the hospital.

Since then, she's helped with meta-humans and the everyday criminal. She discovered Harrison Wells wasn't Harrison Wells before anybody else. Even discovered he wasn't paralyzed when she was visiting Barry in the hospital. Of course, she kept that discovery to herself. If Harrison Wells wasn't who he said he was, then obviously he was dangerous. And Melanie liked breathing.

"Yep." Melanie sighed, avoiding the stairs and heading towards the elevator. Barry frowned at her, following closely behind. "And there isn't a single thing you can do about it." She pressed the button to the elevator.

"You won't even let us throw you a going away party?" Barry complained as Melanie's brows raised and she looked around the precinct.

"Barry, none of these people know me. Why would they throw a going away party for someone that's barely spoken to them about anything other than work?" Barry scratched the back of his neck and looked around, shrugging.

"Moral support?" Barry pouted and Melanie let out a small sigh, her shoulders dropping.

"As much as I have enjoyed working with you the last few years, Barr, this place isn't for me anymore." The elevator doors slid open and Melanie walked in. She turned around to face Barry and gave him a reassuring smile. "If I ever need you, I know you'll be there..."

As the doors started to close, Melanie smirked. "In a Flash." The last thing she saw before her own reflection was Barry's eyes widening bigger than she had ever seen before.

Her smile dropped quickly after.

•••

Melanie flipped open the blinds to her window on the plane. In the distance, she could see the tall buildings of Central City fade away into a large, open field of nothing. The woman next to her stood up, her purse smacking Melanie as she set it down.

Melanie turned with a lm annoyed look, turning up to face the woman with a glare. The woman paid her no attention as her husband got up from his seat and let his wife squeeze into the tiny alley of the plane. Melanie continued to watch the woman quietly as she walked towards the back of the plane and to the bathroom.

After a few moments, Melanie rummaged through her own bag and pulled out a book, skimming through the pages until she found her book mark and continued to read. She held it close to her face and leaned against the wall of the plane, fixing her headphones as soft piano music drowned out the noise of quiet chattering and turbulence.

The woman came back after a few minutes, looking fairly ill as she plopped down next to Phoebe. She glanced to the woman with another bothered glare before returning to her book.

"I told you, Henry. We should have taken the damn car." The woman complained as she rummaged through her purse. Her house keys jangled loudly in her bag, causing a few people to send her annoyed glances before she pulled out a pill bottle. The bottle rattled like a baby toy as she attempted to open it, Melanie slowly looking over as it had become louder than her piano music.

"Why didn't you take the damn bottle with you to the bathroom? People are staring." The woman's husband complained and his wife rolled her eyes obnoxiously, turning to him.

"You want everyone to assume I'm taking drugs?"

"Medication is drugs, Bee." The husband grumbled, going back to reading on his tablet as the woman threw her head back to take a pill. Melanie glanced to the bottle, reading the label.

"Dramamine. Motion sickness." Melanie thought to herself and glanced to the woman again. There was a small scar on her hairline that ended at the bottom of her ear, and was possibly years old. She assumed it was the reason she got motion sick.

The woman noticed the staring and turned to Melanie, who looked back to her book quickly. "Staring isn't very nice, you know."

"Neither is hitting someone with your purse." She grumbled, and the woman scoffed, turning to her husband, who was too deep into reading his book. The woman shook her head.

"Unbelievable."

•••

Melanie lifted her suitcase off of the baggage carousel, lifting the handle up and dragged it along behind her. She walked up to a map in the middle of the building and stared for a moment, simply to stare at herself in the dim reflection so she could fix her appearance.

After a moment, Melanie started to head out of the airport, haling a taxi and made her way to her new apartment, which wasn't a long walk from the Gotham Police Department. Thankfully, the place she had gotten was partially furnished and in somewhat appealing condition... Except for the fifteen-year old oven that desperately needed to be replaced.

Melanie took her time unpacking, making sure she had everything she needed before she had to go shopping. Maybe that was something she was going to put off for a while to avoid interacting with anyone she didn't work with. But there was also a gym down the street, and she had already got herself a membership there, so she couldn't avoid society forever.

"Shit." Melanie mumbled to herself, taking out a dog food bowl. Another thing she had been putting off. Her shoulders slumped as she held the red bowl, the faded letters barely making out the name "Kaida." Melanie set the bowl down and dug through the rest of the box, pulling out a bubble wrapped item.

She stared at it for a while before standing up and walking towards her new fireplace. Carefully, Melanie unwrapped the urn of Kaida and set it down, staring at it for a long time before sighing heavily.

As Melanie backed away, she slipped, crashing into her box and creating a noise almost loud enough to cancel out the sound of traffic below her. "Mother fucker!" She shouted, gripping her arm and looked down at it. There was a large scrape from where a picture frame had sliced her arm.

"Dammit." She looked inside the box, hoping the only thing damaged was herself, and sighed in relief when it was. She stood up, looking around to realize she hadn't unpacked her bandages yet, and forgot which box she put them in. "For gods sa—"

A knock on her door cut Melanie off quickly, turning in confusion. "Everything okay in there?" A young man's voice sounded from behind the door. Melanie approached it slowly, peering through the peep hole. The man was standing off to the side but she could still see he had a short amount of facial hair, and his buzzcut was growing out. His brown eyes were flickering all around the hallway and he had one hand on his hips. The other was carrying a bag of groceries.

"Red peppers, a steak, cereal, looks like a movie is in there. Chicken in a Biscuit." Melanie examined the bag for a while before the man cleared his throat.

"I uh... Was just coming home and heard a crash. Thought I would—" Melanie opened the door and the man jumped back, his brows raising.

"Check to see if everything's okay. Uh... I'm a cop." The man pulled out his badge quickly. Boone. "Sterling Boone. GCPD I live right there. You must be my new neighbor." Sterling glanced down to see blood on Melanie's arm, turning to get a closer look. "You okay?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine. Just need to get my bandages." Melanie nodded quickly and Sterling pointed towards his apartment.

"Well uhm... It looks like you're still unpacking. Probably haven't gotten to the first aid yet?" Melanie wanted to nod her head and tell him she had found her bandaids and Neosporin, but that picture frame was unclean, and her arm was starting to sting.

She leaned against the doorframe and smiled tightly, shaking her head. "No. I haven't." She answered shortly. Sterling stood there for a moment before gesturing to his apartment again.

"I have some pretty big bandages. I'm known for getting injured a lot. Come on, I can patch you up."

"I'm fine, thank you—"

"Seriously, ma'am. You look like you busted your ass. It'll only take a second." Sterling insisted. Melanie stared at him for a moment before sighing, dropping her arm from the door and followed him to his apartment. "I promise I'm not a murderer."

"Since you're a cop, I would hope not." Melanie answered quietly and Sterling chuckled in amusement, pulling out his keys.

Melanie looked at the keychains, noticing there was a photo of a little girl, and she cleared her throat. "You have a daughter." She blurted out. Sterling paused and looked at Melanie, then down at his keychain.

"Yeah, yeah... I don't see her much." He replied, unlocking his apartment. "Her mothers a bitch that likes to lie in court and screw me over." He went to open his door, only for it to jam. "Son of a bitch. One second, this door needed to be replaced months ago."

Sterling lifted the doorknob and slammed his shoulder into it, forcing the door to freak open loudly. "You might wake up to that in the middle of the night. It's why the last neighbor left."

"I'm sure it is." Melanie hummed, cracking a smile as she walked into Sterlings apartment. She held her arm again as she noticed a doormat, not wanting to get her blood on it.

Melanie glanced around the apartment. There were childish drawings pinned to the fridge and one had been out in a frame and hanged in the wall. She stared at it for a moment as Sterling walked away, most likely towards the bathroom. "My daughter, Katy, she's got a knack for drawing. Took that from me, I think. I went to a uh.. An art school when I was a kid but I always wanted to be a cop."

"He sure opens up fast." Melanie thought to herself as she continued to scan the apartment. There was a glass case against the wall, with more photos of Sterling and Katy. There was a gymnastics trophy for the little girl and a Medal of Valor.

Sterling walked up to Melanie, holding a large bandaid. "Got that a few months ago. Didn't think I would since everyone here is risking their lives, but I guess since I wound up in the hospital on life support, I deserve a trophy." His non-rhotic accent accentuated for a moment and Sterling paused, clearing his throat. "Anyways, I got that bandaid. Why don't you run your arm under the sink? I got one of those filtered ones so it's actually good water."

Melanie hummed in amusement and took the bandaid from Sterling. She walked over to the kitchen, where a wooden cutting board was stained with vegetable juice and an unclean knife sat on-top.

As Melanie started cleaning her wound, Sterling leaned against the counter, continuing to talk. "I started making myself dinner when I forgot that I actually needed food in order to cook. I left around the time you probably showed up. What'd you do to your arm, anyways?"

"Fell on a picture frame." Melanie answered, grabbing a paper towel and dried off her wound. It wasn't as bad as the blood made it look, but she bled easily. It was a fairly small cut.

"Maybe I should get you a smaller bandaid?" Sterling raised a brow and Melanie shook her head.

"I'll be fine, thanks." She slapped the bandaid on quickly, looking at Sterling. "I'm Melanie. The new CSI and detective for GCPD."

"You're Nyx? I heard Captain Gordon talking about finally hiring a new CSI since out last one got booted. Didn't think it would take us a year."

"You didn't have a CSI for a year?" Melanie frowned, and Sterling rasped out a strange noise.

"Well, we did have this one guy, Harvey, not Harvey Dent. But he's a better cop than he is a CSI. I'm a detective so I'm sorta in the playing field of CSI, but it's not my thing." Sterling leaned back and crossed his arms as he talked, shrugging as Melanie nodded.

"Well. Now you guys have a professional." Sterling smiled a bit and nodded. "Thanks again, but I need to get back to unpacking."

"Right, right. You start at GCPD tomorrow, don't you?" Sterling asked as he walked her towards the door. Melanie nodded. "Well, then I guess I should warn you: You'll probably be partnered with Grayson. And he's a total dick. Not actually though, he's pretty nice... Kind of." Sterling let out a short laugh and shook his head. Melanie frowned in confusion as Sterling let out an amused sigh. "You'll get the joke tomorrow. Anyways, it was nice meeting you, and you owe me a bandaid."

"Seriously?"

"Like I said. I get injured a lot. Those bandaids disappear like socks in a washing machine." Melanie let out a quiet laugh, to which Sterling smiled victoriously. "I'll see you tomorrow, Melanie."

"Yeah. See you tomorrow.." Sterling opened the door for Melanie, shutting it as she walked out. There was a small smile on her face as she thought for a moment before shaking her head, still smiling as she returned to her own apartment.

Melanie slowly came to a stop in the middle of her living room, rolling her sleeve back up. She peeled the bandaid off, eyes widening in surprise as she watched the cut on her arm slowly close itself back together.

"Oh, fuck me."

Dick Grayson fic Dick Grayson fic Dick Grayson fic Dick Grayson fic Dick Grayson fic Dick Grayson fic Dick Grayson fic Dick Grayson fic Dick Grayson fic Dick Grayson fic —

Anyways I'm hoping I don't lose interest in this story due to the fact I spent three days trying to perfect the first three entries. (into, prologue chapter one y'know the whole beginning.) and I very much enjoyed writing this first chapter.

if it wasn't obvious already, there's going to be a lot of "blah blah blah" since Melanie (originally named phoebe but i wanted a cuter nickname than Feebs [sorry to all the phoebe's i just shamed]) is very observant so we actually get to see how her brain operates ... kind of.

anyways welcome to chapter one :)