Batman had kept his word of Faith seeing Dick again. Batman had made the arrangements for Faith to live in Gotham City with a lady named Dinah Lance. Dinah was a beautiful, blonde woman who was kind enough to take her in. Dinah owns a little florist shop name the Sherwood Florist just underneath her apartment, and Dinah had made it clear that if Faith was going to be living with her, she was going to have to work the weekend shifts at the store. Faith was glad to work the weekends for Dinah, especially since Dinah had given up living independently to having to look after a teen.

The other thing that Batman had done for Faith was enrolling her into the most prodigious school in Gotham- Gotham Academy which was also the school that Dick happens to attend. Although she was enrolled, Faith was still waiting for her acceptance letter from the Dean.

For the short amount of time that Faith has been living with Dinah, Faith has learned that Dinah is a strong, assertive woman who automatically took up the role of being a motherly figure. The two female had bonded over together when redecorating Dinah's spare room for Faith and going on a little shopping spree. With Faith growing up without her mother for half of her life, she found that she enjoyed having another female to bond with and looked after.

Working the flower shop was fairly easy. There wasn't an overwhelming amount of customers, rather a gentle stream of them. The only thing that Faith disliked about working the shop was getting up early enough to water every single plant, other than that it wasn't harder for Faith to manage the register and put together bouquets.

It didn't take long for Faith to figure out that Dinah was Black Canary. When Dinah had come home late one night covered in blood and bruises, she knew something was up. The following night, Faith had kept a close on eye Dinah and her theories about Dinah being a vigilante were confirmed when she saw Black Canary walked into their apartment kitchen removing her mask as she poured herself a glass of water. After that, Faith had pestered Dinah about letting her join on her rounds which Dinah was reluctant to do.

Faith had kept the identity Red X, but with the help of Dinah, she was able to modify the costume. The costume had gone from being a solid black suit to a dark gray suit with the torso being a lighter gray. The gloves were a matching light gray fingerless glove that had a bandage looking effect. Her boots and cape were both black; the inside of the cape, however, was a blood red color which matched the X on her suit and mask, and the boots came up to her calves. The only thing that didn't change was the mask that she wore.

"Dinah," called out Faith as she entered the flower shop with a letter in hand.

Dinah looked over to where the teen was walking down from the stairs that lead to their apartment upstairs. "Is that the letter?"

Faith nodded her head excitedly, the grip on the letter tightened.

"Well, open it! What are you waiting for?"

Needing no further directions, Faith put her finger under the flap, sliding her finger across the envelope, opening it. She reached inside and pulled out a Manila letter reading it out loud.

"Dear Miss Faith Foster, your file has been reviewed by the Gotham Academy Board, and we would like to announce that you have been accepted. All costs are covered by the Wayne Foundation Scholarship. Please stop by the school to pick up your uniform and books before next Monday. Sincerely, Philip Wilcox, Dean of Admission."

When Faith was done reading, she lowered the letter and looked over at Dinah. "Well, I believe a celebratory dinner is in order for tonight. You can pick where we go, Faith."

That's how the two ended up in a small, family owned pizzeria in downtown Gotham. The restaurant was fairly empty for a Friday night, a major of its patrons were probably out drinking at bars or partying. As soon as Faith and Dinah sat down at their usual table, their waiter had glanced over at them and gave them a knowing smile of what they were going to order- a Hawaiian and a chicken alfredo pizza.

The two had easily eaten a major of both pizzas leaving just a couple pieces left. Since neither of them wanted the pizza to go to waste, Faith had offered to go and get a to go box. Sliding out of the booth, Faith made her way to the front counter to ask for a to-go box. After receiving a small cardboard pizza box, Faith walked back to the booth that Dinah was sitting at. On her way back, Faith was obviously distracted because she had run straight into someone causing her to fall down.

"I am so sor- mmph!" A hand covered her mouth stopping Faith from apologizing. Faith's eyes narrowed at the guy, quickly analyzing the man on top of her. Faith quickly brought her arm off of the ground, bending it to throw an elbow at the man, however, it was blocked. The man used his other hand to bring Faith's arm back on to the ground while his other hand remained around her mouth.

The guy leaned his head down beside Faith's ear and spoke quietly to her causing Faith to shudder when she first felt his breath hitting against the edges of her neck. "You're going to come along with us, Faith. You have cost the League a bit of a problem, and they don't appreciate that."

"Oh, hurry it up, Shrike," came another voice from above the two. "It won't be long before the blonde noticed that Faith hasn't come back yet."

Shrike quickly got up off of Faith before pulling her up, still keeping his hand around her mouth and the other had gone to the back of jeans to pull out a small handgun which was immediately pressed against Faith's back. The other voice had turned out to be a face that Faith had recognized- Cheshire.

Faith was trying to quickly devise a plan. She couldn't exactly call out to Dinah without risking a bullet shot at her. Faith could easily get out of Shrike's hold, but she wouldn't be fast enough to defend Cheshire from attacking her if she got loose. Faith knew that by now Dinah would've probably be getting worried because it doesn't take anyone five minutes to go get a damn pizza box.

"Faith?"

Faith tried to twist her head in the direction of where Dinah was still sitting, however, the feeling of the gun being pressed tighter to her back kept her silent. Faith heard the sound of chairs crashing behind them and the familiar sound of flesh hitting flesh, but with Shrike's tight hold on her, Faith couldn't turn around to see what was going on. Faith and Shrike were out of the pizzeria by the time Dinah let out her Canary Cry causing the small restaurant to shake and the windows to shatter.

By now, Faith was being pulled by Shrike as he led her away leaving Cheshire behind to deal with the blonde vigilante. A black, unlicensed vehicle pulled up with the door beside them allowing Shrike to roughly shove Faith into the car. Once they were both inside, the car quickly spread off.

The first thing Faith did as soon as the door closed behind Shrike was that she punched him the face. Shrike retaliated by shooting Faith in the arm with a gun. "I wouldn't do that again, Faith. I got plenty of bullets left in here."

The car ride was tense, filled with a deadly silence as Shrike kept his gun aimed at Faith. The windows were tinted to a point where Faith couldn't make out the street lamps outside. Faith's arm had stopped bleeding a few minutes back, but she couldn't do anything about the bullet that was lodged in her arm. Luckily, Faith was wearing a dark colored shirt that night, and you couldn't see where the blood from her arm had stained it.

The car slowed to a halt, and Shrike got out of the car first before waving to Faith with his gun to follow his action. The building was obviously no longer used for its original purpose. Faith could make out the faded out letters on the building that read office. Office for what? Faith didn't know, but she was certain it was now an office for the League.

When she had first joined the League a few months back their headquarters were elsewhere since the League would relocate every couple of months. This building compared to where she was inducted was a lot smaller.

As soon as Faith and Shrike walked through the front door, they were met with the sight of League members everywhere. A couple of them had glanced over to where Faith had walked through and a glare was quickly pointed at Faith. Faith quickly realized that she may not be able to get out of this situation. Faith came to a stop in front of a door. She had a feeling she knew who was behind those doors, and she knew that the outcome of this wasn't going to be good.

Shrike reached his hand out from behind Faith and opened before pushing her in first. The force of being pushed in caused Faith to land on the ground. She pushed herself up quickly when she heard the sound of footsteps walking towards her.

"I do not appreciate it when my assassins change their allegiance on me," spoke a smooth voice from the shadows. Faith narrowed her eyes at the direction she heard the voice coming from who revealed to be Ra's al Ghul. "I normally do not do this, but you have great potential, Faith. So, I'm going to give you the option to either join the League again and these last few months will be forgotten, or if you can hold your own against one of my assassins, I'll consider to let you go."

Both options were bad.

Faith was pretty sure that Ra's wasn't going to wait all day for an answer. If Faith rejoins the League not only is she disappointing Batman but also Dinah who had graciously taken her in. If she doesn't accept Ra's offer then she would have to face an assassin of his choice- probably someone with skills far greater than her own. If by some lucky chance that Faith defeats her opponent, Ra's will considered to let her go.

Faith opened her mouth ready to tell Ra's her decision when something flew through the air and embedded itself into the man's shoulder. Ra's stumbled back a bit before reaching up to his shoulder, pulling the projectile out.

"Robin."

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word count: 1810

A/N: Merry Christmas, guys!