A/N: Hmm, I don't have much to say about this chapter other than I am terribly sorry about how much shorter it is than previous chapters. I've never had the best luck starting a story so these beginning chapters are a struggle to get through.

Oh, and there is some Bruce/Anastasia bonding. I know you guys came for the Dick/Anastasia love, but I'm trying to establish a relationship between her and Bruce because, deep down, the two of them are a lot alike.

I hope you guys enjoy the chapter. Reviews are, of course, appreciated and loved and you get a virtual cookie for leaving me one. [:


Resurrection
The Decision

Throughout her entire life, her grandfather, Nikolai Azarov, had reminded her to never be ashamed of who she was as a person. Your individual journey is unique to you and you alone, he would explain practically every single time they could see each other. It is because of this that you should never be ashamed of your life or yourself.And she tried to cling to those words harder than ever because she had never been more ashamed to be the person known as Anastasia Azarova than right now.

After the initial scarring of her classmate, said classmate's so-called friends were even more relentless when it came to reminding Anastasia that she did not belong in their school. Before, she could brush them off with ease, but their taunting was starting to get dirtier, starting to crawl under her skin more. And while the week had been full of petty taunting, Ra's al Ghul and his deal weighed heavily on her mind.

But what sent her over the edge, what had her sobbing hot tears in the pouring rain while in front of Wayne Tower, was when someone from her neighborhood suggested her to their boss in need of a last-minute babysitter. Everything had gone fine considering the children she had been watching were spoiled rotten and she had to remind herself she was getting paid and couldn't strangle the demon spawns.

When the mother of said children returned and escorted Anastasia outside, twenty dollars was shoved into her hands and the door had begun to shut while the woman was wiping her hand that she touched Anastasia with off. Biting her tongue and pushing the disgust down, the teenager pleaded for the woman to give her a ride back to her home or to get a cab for her since her cell phone had died hours ago. The woman shook her head, murmuring something about the bus and to leave before her neighbors saw the poor girl at the front door.

Anastasia was sure that she had hit rock bottom–or was damn near close to doing so, at least. The entire week had just been giving her more incentive to join Ra's al Ghul because this city was full of scum, at both the top and bottom of the ladder. Was she that desperate, though, to join a criminal and commit murder? Did it bother her that much to the point that she would help this man take the lives of people?

The pouring rain did nothing but intensify her mood and she stared up at the night skies in hopelessness. There was nothing left for her to strive for without Karina and she felt nothing but a sense of being lost.

"You're going to get sick if you keep standing there like that." She glanced out of the corner of her eye and saw the one and only Bruce Wayne standing next to her. "A girl your age should not be alone at this time of night." He moved the umbrella over her head and frowned. "And neither should you be upset. Come with me and I'll take you to your home, Miss Azarova."

The teenager blinked in confusion and opened her mouth to ask him a question, but he had started walking forward toward the street where his car was waiting. Dashing forward, she quickly slid into the sleek car that was being held open for her by the dark-haired man.

"How do you know my name?" Anastasia asked when he slid behind the wheel a few moments later. "Oh. Dick showed you a picture of me or something, right?" A nod was her reply. "Well, you don't have to give the poor girl a ride home, okay? You don't want to be in the Narrows right now."

"And I should allow a teenager to be walking in the rain in the Narrows at this time of night?" With a frown stretching across his face, the billionaire shook his head. "If something happened to you I couldn't forgive myself and neither could Dick."

The anger that she had been suppressing started rising up. "Even if you weren't pretending to care and if something would've actually happened to me, you would never hear about it considering no one cares about some poor girl from the Narrows." Images of her sister flashed through her head and she wiped at her stinging eyes. "Especially not the one percent," she murmured in afterthought.

"I can assure you that I care about what happens to you."

"Another reason it might be called the one percent is because only one percent of you care about the rest of the world." Anastasia whispered. "I should've known that you were like Dick and I'm sorry about getting all pissy. It…it's just been a really bad day."

The two of them rode in silence for a short time before he spoke. "Your apology is accepted. And being surrounded by them most of the time, I can understand where the distrust you have for the one percentcomes from."

Anastasia stared down at the bill she had been clutching onto. "I spent hours all the way out here to watch the children of some couple and get paid less than what some of the people in my neighborhood give me just to get kicked out onto the street with no possible way to get home." She leaned her head back against the seat. "And all week I had to deal with some concerned students who don't like their school being littered with the trash of Gotham."

"It must be hard to rise up from where you are and be pushed at every step of the way." The car stopped at a red light and she mumbled directions to him, wondering how she had lost track of time. "And with just as much trouble from home." She sent him a quizzical look and he seemed to be glowering at the window. "The rain washed away the makeup on your face." He explained.

"I only have four more years here." She whispered weakly.

"This is something you shouldn't have to go through."

"And then I get shipped into the foster care system and all that I've been working for will shoot straight down the drain. And," the car had stopped and she stared out of the window at the apartment complex, "this place has memories that I'm just not ready to let go of yet."

While Anastasia was opening the door of the car, she looked over her shoulder into the piercing blue gaze of the Wayne. "If you ever need a safe place to go, you can call Dick or myself. Our home is open to you, Anastasia."

"Thank you, Mister Wayne. Promise me something?" He nodded. "Please never change the way how you are. It gives me hope that not everyone in this city is completely forsaken."


"Someone should fire the janitors around here. The keep missing the same piece of trash." A particularly nasty jock snarled while moving to stand in front of Anastasia who had just been trying to get past the group to get to class. "What happened to the girl that was shoving people against lockers? Did you loose your bite?"

"No. A predator doesn't bite into dead meat." She retorted with a snarl.

There was a gasp from behind the football player and his girlfriend–so Anastasia assumed–pushed past him to stand in front of her. "Did you just threaten my boyfriend? You can get out of being punished because your sister diedfor so long. I will make sure you get thrown out of this school for good–"

"It was not a threat. A threat would include there being another human being that is in danger of being harmed or murdered. The two of you are not human, not even trash. You are both nothing. A predator does not chase after nothing." Her nose tilted into the air the slightest bit. "Now, if you both don't mind to kindly move the fuck out of my way that would be greatly appreciated."

The surrounding area cleared for her and she walked to her first period with pride in herself. As she was stepping through the door, someone grabbed her shoulder and she looked over her shoulder and smiled at her only friend.

"How was your weekend, Dick?"

"Uneventful other than the fact that Bruce told me about a certain encounter he had with a certain someone." Dick commented while the two of them walked to the back of the classroom.

It was then that Anastasia noticed her best friend had arrived earlier to class than he usually did. "You're surprisingly early today. What's up with that?"

"Alfred decided the possibility of me being late was more serious than having to deal with me in the morning." She noted how a pink tint rose in his cheeks and she gave him a look, but shrugged and took a seat at her desk. "I did happen to see you standing up to the king and queen."

"There is only so much the caged animal can take before it snaps back."

"That was eerily cryptic and depressing."

"I do try."

Just as the teacher was walking into the classroom, once again Anastasia had to note that Dick had opened his mouth to say something to her, but he opted to close his mouth instead and let a frown stretch across his face. She thought about asking him what was wrong, but then she decided it would probably be best to let it go instead.


"A kid in the neighborhood is thinking about getting in the game." Anastasia lied smoothly while she and her dark-haired friend walked outside, waiting for their ride to the Wayne mansion where they would have to work on a project together. "Their mom wants me to talk to them. What do you think I should do?"

Dick glanced over at her with an expression of incredulousness. "Please don't tell me you're really asking me this. Do you want that kid to go to jail–or worse, die?"

"The world isn't nice to good people. Only the strongest survive and being on the dark side gives you strength."

"No. It doesn't." The two of them had stopped at the edge of the street and a car pulled up to the curb. "The bad guys think they have strength, but they don't. It's people like you that have all the strength–including the strength to push through."

Anastasia locked gazes with him and then she shook her head with a sad sigh. "I wish I could be as naïve as you, Dick. Where I come from, we all know that the world is not so black and white."


In the middle of the night, Anastasia found her way back to the warehouse that had given her two paths of life to pick from. When she arrived there, the same man who had offered her created said paths, Ra's al Ghul, stood in the middle of the warehouse and stared her down as she walked in front of him. When her gaze roamed around the room, she noticed that there was a large group of–what appeared to be–ninja surrounding the two of them.

"I accept your deal."

And then a satisfied smirk stretched across his face, breaking the solemn expression.

"Excellent."