My apartment was nothing special. Bruce had insisted on paying for it, but I had managed to bargain him down to half. I had money, but not that much. Still, having my own place was the best choice I had ever made. Living in Dick's and Bruce's shadows had been long overwhelming and often tiring. So, deciding to branch out and live on my own was the breath of fresh air I needed. Don't get me wrong, I love them all, but being at home in mansion with all of the chaos, well it just…It's exhausting day after day.

Granted, Dick and Jason both had their own apartments too, but Jason's was more of a safe house, and he spent most of his time at the mansion nowadays anyways. Anyways, I sped off on my bike to my home, again cutting it too close to the cars around me every now and then, but what was life if not toying with death?

I lived on the edge of Gotham, overlooking Bludhaven. One bike ride over the bridge and I would be in Dick's territory, but this little cusp of Gotham, this special place between hell 1 and hell 2, was all mine. Bruce had pulled back his reign and allowed me the space to work in this area all by myself, unless something or someone brought him back out.

I was grateful for the space, truly. Figuring it out on my own, living on my own, learning to work alone was something I had no idea how much I needed. Like I said, a literal breath of fresh air.

I pulled up to the building, some parts of it looking like it could fall apart at any minute, if any gale of wind was just a tad too strong. Ah, home sweet home. For real. I parked my bike and pulled my legs up the stairs, only waving at Gracie as I passed by, too tired to talk. Patrol last night had left me beyond tired, not to mention the constant throb of the bruises blooming across my back. Alfred had refused to let me leave without a tub of his salve, which I took, because I'd be an idiot if I didn't, for more than one reason.

I flung my bag on the ground, somewhere in my living room, and only took my suit out, moving to put it in the safe in my bedroom. I adjusted it and put back all my gear. I moved into the kitchen, finding a pretty much empty fridge and cabinets to match. Right, I hadn't been shopping in at least a week or two. The thought of having to walk in a grocery store and pick out food exhausted me beyond repair, and I slumped onto the couch. I flipped on the TV and settled myself, not noticing my eyelids start to droop.

I awoke what must have been a few hours later because the room that was once flooded with sunlight was dipped in the remnants of a red hue and an increasing darkness.

"Ah, shit." I mumbled to myself, pulling myself off the couch and drug my non-compliant limbs to the bathroom. The hot water once again graced my muscles and I swear my back sighed in relief when it was hit with the steam and spray of the water. I stepped out and wrapped myself in a towel after some considerable time in the small room. I stared at my reflection in the mirror.

Bruce had made me promise to take the night off and let the rest of the family handle patrol. Dick had told him about the bruising, to which he received one of his own, but he didn't look sorry. Part of me didn't really intend to keep that promise, merely making it so he wouldn't fret and let me go home. Yet, staring at the deep bruises that protruded from my skin made me second guess myself. I poked a few, trying to get a feel for their severity. I only hissed at a few, which made my decision easier. I hastily put on a layer of Alfred's salve and pulled on my suit.

Thankfully, I had rid myself of the cape when I had turned 13, after an incident involving me and a pole, but I had kept the navy color with me. The suit itself was navy, with a crème colored crescent across the middle of my chest, a touch of gold outlining its shape. I placed a domino mask over my eyes and slid my sticks into their respective spots on my back.

For a moment, as I stared at myself in the reflection once more, I thought about what I had promised Bruce. Maybe I should…No, nope. I'm not doing much, I won't get involved unless absolutely necessary, just patrolling.

Before Bruce popped back into my head, I set up my security alarm and moved out the window, stealing up the fire escape to the roof. The wind whipped my hair and a small smile made its way onto my face. The familiar feeling of the unknown and the strong wind to push me along made my heart swell. I pushed myself forwards, running to the ledge, and soon my body was falling through the night. Down, down, down towards to the street, until I shot my line and flung myself up to another building. I repeated this routine a few times, until I found myself a few blocks from home. I could see the glow of the neon lights of Bludhaven from this particular roof, radiating off the gloom and dread that filled Gotham at night.

Tonight actually seemed relatively quiet, compared to what was normal around here. Or at least it looked like that from up here. I managed to keep most of half of my promise to Bruce. I stopped only a handful of muggings, knocked out a few low life's, and only managed to get punched twice and threatened with a knife once. All in all, a pretty fucking good night.

The night air whipping my face and the feeling of being flung through the air made tonight all the better. I saved a few lives and was flying through the night easily. I flipped a few times, flinging myself to run across rooftops before falling and flying again. The sun had just begun to light the sky when I returned to my own rooftop. I slipped down the fire escape to my window, which was…open? I definitely closed it when I left, which means someone is inside. But my security system? How did they disarm it? My sensor would've alerted me if someone had tripped it…so someone hacked it. Damn it. That's the third time in 5 months.

My heartbeat picked up as I slid the window open wider, but I slowed my breathing. The last thing I needed was to give up my return. I stepped onto my bedroom floor and pulled my sticks into my hands, twirling them as they sat in my twitching fingers. I peered around my bedroom door; all the lights were still off. So, this is an ambush. Who the hell could want anything to do with me? The last person I had tangoed with was Blockbuster, who from police reports, had gotten away when they tried to transport him. But Blockbuster wasn't smart enough to not trip my security nor could he fit through my window. Before that, the last villain who might have a vendetta against me would be Poison Ivy. Dick, Jason, and I had blown up one her master plans to return the world to green, but no, she was locked up. Or at least supposed to be, my brain added to my chagrin.

I couldn't hear anything moving, whoever was in here was being absolutely silent and still. Eery. I moved around my bedroom door, avoiding where I knew the creaky spots in the wood planks would be. I had no idea where the person or thing was standing. They could be right in front of my damn face.

Alright, enough of this. I threw down a smoke bomb and hit the lights at the same time. If, we're gonna dance I wanna see who my partner is. I heard a loud cough, but the smoke covered the figure. I could see their outline, so I chucked a stick at what I gathered their head was, but instead of hearing a satisfying thwack, a hand stuck out and caught it mid-air. Well, shit. This isn't about to be easy.

"Is that any way to greet your brother?" What the hell.

"Jason?"

"The one and only," he coughed a few times before the smoke finally cleared, revealing the Red Hood standing in my living room. His helmet was on the couch behind him, and he just stood there grinning from ear to ear.

"Ya know, you should really upgrade your system. This is the third time I've hacked it in the past 5 months," he threw the stick back and me, and like him, I caught it right in front of my face.

I sighed, "yeah, yeah I know. You come and brag every time." I stiffened for a moment, realizing Jason had A) seen me in uniform and B) probably broke in for that exact reason. And then I remembered this is Jason we're talking about. He takes our national "no snitching" policy very seriously.

He parked himself back on my couch and I leaned up against the wall, "So, wanna tell me why you were out on patrol tonight?" he chuckled.

"C'mon Jason, you know why," I rolled my eyes in response. "Why are you really here?"

He put a hand up to his chest, "What? Your younger brother can't be concerned for your general well-being and safety?" he questioned, a false look of seriousness plastered to his face.

He stayed quiet for another moment, before breaking into a grin, "You're no fun. I am here to check on you, I figured you would be out tonight anyways."

A small smile tugged at my lips, "Jason, you can start telling me the truth whenever you feel like it. I've got time."

He rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders, turning to stare at the blank TV instead. His hair was sweaty from patrol, but more emotions played with his face. He seemed deep in thought, or turmoil.

We sat in silence for a little while longer before he finally broke it, "Are things between you and Dick, okay?" The question honestly startled me.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Faith. We've all noticed it. Maybe I'm the only one who thinks something of it, but something's up." My heart started racing again and I stilled myself. I chose to stare at the floor, feeling Jason's green eyes burning into the top of my head. "Don't forget, we were all raised by Batsy. The whole greatest detective thing, tends to leave a mark," he added.

Things had been kinda off with Dick lately. Sometimes things were fine, normal even, but recently there had been a lot of tension between the two of us. It didn't go unnoticed, but I had just elected to ignore it, and was kind of hoping everyone else would too.

I put a half smile on my face, "J, everything's fine. I mean that one patrol put everyone on edge," he stiffened but continued to stare at me. "Dick and I…Well, you know how Dick gets. And you know how I am. Sometimes, we just fight. It's been happening since we were kids."

And that was true. Dick and I…got along most of the time, but a lot of our arguments were explosive. Alfred said it was because I was stubborn and defensive and because Dick was protective and stubborn. We saw eye to eye on a lot of stuff, but we varied in methods, and often tried too hard to protect everyone from everything. Dick felt like we were all his responsibility, but he was also mine. Someone had to protect him from himself.

"Well, I know that. I've been living with the both of you for the longest," he added a half-hearted chuckle before his face darkened again. "This morning, though, seemed like something else was going on," he said slowly, studying my reaction.

I sighed and ran a hand through tangled brown hair, "Yeah…this morning."

*The Previous Morning*

"Dick, what the hell are you going on about? It's my apartment! I live there, not here. Don't start acting like I can't take care of myself all of the sudden. I mean, hell, I haven't lived here in a year and a half!" My voice was finally starting to match Dick's intensity. I had tried to remain calm while he came in and bitched about who knows what, but well, that never goes well.

"Funny," he yanked up the bottom of my shirt and flung an accusing finger at my ribs, now an angry purple and green, "those don't exactly speak to taking care of yourself."

I slapped his hand away and yanked down the hem, "Those don't mean anything, Dick! It was patrol! What were you expecting? For Blockbuster to hand me a lollipop and send me off?"

"Are you joking? You could have avoided those! You weren't looking out for yourself." He flung his arms up, throwing disdain into each word.

Yeah, cause I was looking out for your dumbass. "Don't start that shit with me." I spoke quietly, daring him to try and fight with me. My eyes bore into his, which stared back with something deep and angry. Every ounce of my body wanted to shake with rage, but I stuffed it down, down, down.

"Why not, Faith?! Why can't you admit you can't take care of yourself?" He stepped forward, bringing his face closer to mine.

I stared daggers at him and poked a finger into his chest, "Last I checked, I don't need you babysitting me. You're barely older than me and have barely been doing this longer than me. I. Don't. Need. Your. Protection." Each word was punctuated with a poke into his chest.

"Yeah? And how am I supposed to trust you not to get yourself nearly killed again, huh?" I had turned my back and moved to finish putting the last few shirts into my bag. "Or get tranq-ed again?" Motherfu-

I slung the bag over my shoulder without looking at him, "Fuck you, Dick." I slammed the door behind me and stepped into the hall.

"You can't be trusted!" he yelled from inside the room. Ouch. I'm so out of here. I gripped my bag on my shoulder and stomped my way downstairs. I pushed air in and out of my nose, trying not to lose it before I could get on my bike. I plastered a smile to my face as I stepped into the kitchen, pretending the rest of them couldn't hear my screaming match with Dick.

"Alright guys, I'll see you later." I ruffled Tim's hair and placed my hand on Damian's head, only to be met with a flick to my side.

Bruce approached me cautiously, I continued with the façade. "Are you sure you don't want to stay another day or two?"

"Yeah, Brucie. I've gotta get back sooner rather than later." I looked up at him, praying he wouldn't ask any questions.

He studied me in silence for a while before sighing in resignation, "Alright. Just remember what we talked about with patrol, okay?"

I tapped my head with a finger, "Yep, got it. It's all up here." I turned and walked out the door, bounding down the steps to my bike.

I turned the ignition and made my way down the driveway, ignoring the face I saw watching from the window. Soon enough, the manor was barely visible behind me, and I was speeding through Gotham. I screamed my frustration into the wind and pushed the rest down to let out on some criminal later.