ACCEPTANCE

Oliver queen was officially having a bad day. First, Dinah had to have a fight with him about Roy. Then, Roy had to walk out of his place with all his belongings. Going solo huh, Oliver thought, that idiot is gonna get himself killed and now Bruce Wayne aka Batman had to call him at fucking 4:30 in the morning. I mean seriously does this guy ever sleep, Oliver thought begrudgingly as he entered the zeta tube to go to bat cave.

"You are late" bats called in mechanical voice.

"Only fifteen minutes, come on bats, even my high school teachers were less strict than you besides what's up. To be honest, today, I am not in a mood of having late night love chats with you anyway" Oliver said.

Batman didn't answer him. Instead he turned towards his holographic computer and brought up the picture of a young girl about 15 years of age. The girl possesses Asian features with the stormy gray eyes giving her face a sharp appearance. The most striking feature of the girl was her long blond hair in high pony tail. The girl looks combustible and volatile that much he knew just by looking at her.

"Artemis crook, age15 years, daughter of sports master and huntress, excellent in archery and fairly good in hand to hand combat, trained from the age of six by sports master and Lady Shiva, currently living with her ex-con paraplegic mother in downtown of Gotham" Batman explained.

"And you are telling me this because…." Arrow asked somewhat impatiently. He didn't understand where bat was going with it.

"The girl has been doing the hero work for a while now. Had quite a repute in downtown. She is also the same girl who saved kid flash live in the last mission. I want you to mentor her. The girl is perfect for the team. The team could use an archer in their rank." Bruce said in one breath.

Oliver was too shocked to comprehend this. "You want me to do what" he nearly shouted at the batman.

"Mentor the girl. The team needs an archer. The girl is quite right for the job. Since, Roy has clearly refused our offer I don't see any harm in it" Batman explained, "Besides the girl is trained by shadows we could use that to our advantage."

Even thinking about having a new protégé is making him sick right now. Oliver could sense the upcoming headache. He sighed and said, "So let me get this straight, there is this girl who is not only trained by shadows but also is the daughter of the well-known hired murderer in the Gotham and you not only want me to mentor her but you are also thinking about putting her on the team. Isn't it a bit cliché for you as the most paranoid man that has ever walked on Earth."

"Her family relations are irrelevant" Bruce said sternly. "I trust her. She has been unwillingly following her father's footstep for the last two years. But she is a good person I can vouch for that. She has provided me with some valuable information during her time with the shadows and now has openly defied the shadows by putting on the hero costume."

"Still if you trust her that much why don't you teach her? She is from Gotham after all." Oliver said repulsively.

"Her specialty is archery, making you the most appropriate person to teach her." Bruce said emphasizing on every word.

"Really bats after seeing how well I mentored Roy, you still want me to mentor someone else. You know what I am done with all this sidekick business. I literally can't put up with the teenager's crap anymore." Oliver replied harshly.

"Roy made his own choices, you cannot blame yourself for that" Bruce said, "you are a good person Olive, she could learn a lot from you. The girl clearly has some trust issues and your easy going nature can help her overcome those. You will be a positive influence on her"

"Come on, so you want me to keep her on the straight path. If that is what you need why don't send her to rehab" Oliver said frustratingly. Bruce tried to intimidate him with his glare but Oliver held his gaze.

"Fine, If you don't feel like tutoring her that is okay, Black Canary will take care of that, I only need you to act as her uncle as an excuse for her induction to the team. If you want to keep your civilian life isolated that is your choice too. But don't despise her on behalf of Roy. Give her a chance."

"There is no getting away from you bats, isn't it?" Oliver thought, leave the bats to beat you up with the logical arguments.

"Fine I will do it but don't expect me to treat her as my niece" Oliver said while rubbing his eyes, "and if you don't mind I would like to have a little sleep before I officially fly to Gotham and came to your office tomorrow as the CEO of Queen industries. Why do you have to be so stubborn Bruce, you could have just inaugurated the orphanage yourself and saved me the trouble".

"Queen's and Wayne industries collaboration is beneficial for both of us. Besides you are getting the award of best humanitarian , I think that is more than a good reason to be in Gotham" Bruce said.

To say Artemis crook was agitated would be an understatement. She had to miss her bus today. There had to be a rush here today since some billionaire was coming downtown for inauguration of an orphanage. The police had to stop all the bystanders and she had to have stuck among them.

She was getting late for school and she had a history test due today. Sir. Somerfield is going to kill her, she thought.

Across the road, she could see a blond man wearing black suit giving some impressive speech about his work and by the look on the faces of audience, they were totally enjoying it. Why the media and so many people have gathered here was beyond her. To her it was a waste of time. Not that she was against the social work; she just hated the fact that people uses the disguise of social work to get fame and attention.

She looked around for a way out but couldn't find any. So, she decided to take the aerial route. She found the nearest building, climbed over the wall and then to roof. She hardly should have reached the third roof when two men standing above the rooftop got her attention. Huh looks like I am not the only one with the liking of an aerial route, she thought.

Artemis instantly recognized one of them, it was Ethan. Artemis used to know him. He was one of the apprentices of lady Shiva and also has been the right hand of her father time to time. That meant the Triaid is onto something. Before Artemis could make any other hypothesis, Ethan brought out the sniper gun from his bag pack and starts adjusting it on the slope of the roof top while the second man ran across the other rooftop and brought out his own gun.

Artemis instantly recognized what was happening and started running towards the closest assassin who happens to be Ethan. She covered her face with her scarf. She didn't have her bow but she did have her cross bow. She took it out and aimed towards the second sniper across the roof and let the electroding arrow fly towards him. Ethan shot towards the person he was aiming for. Artemis prayed that he missed the shot. Without waiting for the arrow to hit its mark, she successively let two exploding arrow fly towards the Ethan's roof to get the attention of the assassin.

"I am very glad that my dear friend Bruce Wayne provided me this excellent opportunity to be of some help again" Oliver said during his speech in the ceremony. "To be honest I don't think I deserve this award"

Show off, Bruce thought while smirking. Out of the corner of his eye, Bruce detected some movement on the roof.

"You deserve…" Oliver's speech was cut off by the sound of a gunshot and by brutal tackle from the Bruce. While lying sprawled on the stage, he quickly saw a man standing over the roof with a sniper gun in his hands. The assassin quickly adjusted his gun again and was once more aiming towards him. He was cut off by the two arrows embedding near him and exploding on impact. For some time, all Oliver could saw was smoke but when it get a little clear, he could easily make out an outline of a teenager fighting against the assassin. He looks towards the Bruce to decide the possible course of action but was disappointing to find that he was nowhere to be found. I hate it when he does that, Oliver thought.

Artemis was having a hard time keeping up with the assassin. He was fast, she would give him that. She tried to end the fight by sweeping his legs out of him but he jumped at the exact time and brought down the barrel of his gun hard on her leg. Before Artemis could recover, he spun his gun and aimed it towards her head. Artemis had to back flip to dodge the bullet to her head which provided assassin the distance and time to aim again. He used the advantage and shot the girl, the bullet embedded itself in her shoulder making her go stumbling down the steep roof. Artemis breath was knocked out of her and her vision was getting blurry with each passing second. Shit! I am screwed. That freaking billionaire owes me, Artemis thought. The last thing she saw was the assassin aiming his gun towards her before passing out.

Oliver saw the girl getting shot. Before the assassin could end the teen, batman appeared behind him and threw him off his shoulder, ending the fight in three to five well directed punches. Oliver released the breath he was holding and waited for the scene to unfold itself. Bats quickly tied the assassin and took off with the unconscious girl. The moment later his bodyguards rushed him towards his bullet proof car and advised him to get out of here to which he gladly agreed. "So much for having the security more than a president" Oliver thought on his way to Bruce Wayne.

Not even in the slightest Oliver would have thought that his first meeting with his new protégé will be in the medical unit of the bat cave. When he arrived at the bat cave, Bruce asked for his help right away. They removed her tank top. Bats started working on pulling out the bullet from her shoulder while he readied the bandages to stop the flow of blood. The wound was quite nasty as she has been shot from very close distance. The moment bat pulled out the bullet he wrapped her shoulder in a tight gauze. The flow of blood stopped but still the girl's breathing was not even. Bruce picked the injection from the nearby table and took the blood sample of the unconscious teen and started working on computer again.

"Why isn't her breathing rate becoming normal?" Oliver asked concernedly to batman. Before he could reply, the girl started convulsing. Oliver had to use all his strength to keep the girl static.

After doing something on computer, he ran towards the cabinet and bought out some injection.

"The bullet was laced with poison", he explained while administrating the injection.

After one or two minutes, the girl's breathing became normal and both Bruce and Oliver released the breath of relief. After making sure that the girl is okay and there could be no possible threat to her life, Bruce left to deal with the media leaving him alone with the unconscious girl.

While sitting near the teen, he first time actually observed the teen. The girl was looking like an angel with all her hair spread out on the operating table. Her facial features seem relaxed which suddenly provided him some strange comfort. He was just relishing that odd comfort when her left arm caught his attention. There was a scar in the shape of shadows insignia carved into her upper arm probably with the knife. Oliver began to closely inspect the girl and found many scars, burn marks and welt marks covering her back. Scars do look old that is a relief, Oliver thought.

Oliver sighed and again settled on the nearby chair. Looks like she didn't have the best of childhood. The girl is already been through hell really doesn't need the attitude from him. Oliver thought and decided to give this girl a chance. Looks like I have a new sidekick. He grunted and rubbed his hands over his face hoping that this better not be a mistake.