I'm Here to stay.
Chapter two.
Later that night Marinette met up with Chat noir to explain the ...situation.
Marinette or well should I say Lady red soundlessly landed on Eiffel tower right behind Chat noir.
“Chat noir.”
Chat jumped a foot in air, startled and turned to face her with his baton outstretched in his hand.
“I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to you pulling a Batman and appearing out of nowhere.” Chat lowered his baton, his ears flat against his head, but perked up when she giggled.
They were both high enough on the tower that the people down in the streets couldn’t see or hear the heroes.
The air between them was tense and awkward with both of them staring at each other not knowing what to say.
Dame rouge broke the silence by asking “So, I’m guessing you want an explanation for earlier.”
Chat noir nodded “Who is he? How do you know him?”
Marinette hesitated for a second, contemplating just how much she should tell him before sighing and ripping off the proverbial band aid.
“...He’s family.”
Chat gaped, a million questions running through his head and on the tip of his tongue but he swallowed them down and listened patiently.
Figured he’d understand complicated family relationships better than most, given his father’s Hawkmoth, not that he knew that yet.
She turned away from him and faced the cityscape. And she had to agree there, Paris truly did earn the title of City of lights.
“It’s been a while since we last saw each other.” She laughed bitterly, thinking of all those days she spent grieving, not knowing if he was alive or not after news of the coup reached her “I honestly didn’t even know if he was still alive with all the rumours surrounding his ...situation.”
Chat looked pained with her confession, but he held his tongue.
He scooted closer to her almost touching her but still far away enough for her to feel comfortable.
It was quiet again. But she felt the urge to break the silence. And she might as well get it off her chest. It was high time she had this conversation with Chat. She’d been putting it off for too long already and today seemed as perfect as any other day to do this. After all what was one more emotional and slightly straining revelation?
“You probably know this is not the first time I’ve done this whole shtick.” Chat startled when she spoke, not expecting his usually private partner to talk unless necessary, much less about something this private.
He scratched the back of his neck, a nervous tick she observed him doing even behind the mask “Yeah I kinda figured that you weren’t new to the whole ‘fighting freaks’ thing after I saw you wipe the floor with bubbler.”
That got her to smile, even if it was just a small uptick. But Chat seemed to count it as a win.
She sat down on the edge of the tower and he sat right beside her without prompting.
It was silent again. Chat was waiting patiently for her to continue or just stay with her for comfort.
She swallowed heavily before speaking again.
“You know, there are usually only two types of people in our line of work.” Chat turned to look at her questingly at the abrupt change of topic but she resolutely avoided his eyes, staring down at the city below them “People who don masks everyday are usually either Heroes or villains. And until a few years back I was in the wrong side of that war. ” She might have heard Chat gasp, but she wasn’t really processing anything right now. “I only really donned the earrings to try and wipe out some of the red on my ledger.”
She clenched her eyes shut. Even after all these years it’s still hard to think about that time, to accept who she used to be. It’s gotten better after she met Sabine. Tikki and the other kwamis helped tremendously too, but it was still hard.
She felt strong arms wrap around her. It was an incredibly long and taxing day and it had been so long since she last felt this warm and safe that she just couldn’t hold it in any longer.
That night Chat noir saw his partner breakdown for the first time. He just held her as she cried and let loose all her emotions for the first time in a very long time. Even Hawkmoth didn’t risk interrupt them, not when Chat noir cataclysmed every akuma that even dared to come near them.
Bonus*
Chat looks at the time on his baton and winced. She had to agree, school tomorrow was going to be absolute hell.
He turns back to her and bows dramatically “Well M’lady, this cat has got to scat.” His jovial tone could not conceal his worry for her. No amount of acting and modelling classes were going to help him hide his emotions from her.
She waved off his anxiety.
He glanced back at her one last time, concern etched on his face, before he leapt off the tower with his baton in hand.
“Oh wait I forgot! You’re father is Hawkmoth!”
Chat noir’s grip slips and he falls off his baton.
Marinette curses as she unravels her yoyo to catch her frozen partner who was currently falling to his death.
“Damn it! I could’ve used more tact.”
Tikki can’t help but agree through their mental bond.
*******
Hawkmoth and Mayura were defeated last week.
It hit Adrien hard, but he’s doing better now.
Honestly it was wonder he wasn’t akumatised. His emotions were all over the place.
Thank Kwami Hawkmoth was too busy panicking during the ambush to even think about sending out an akuma for Chat Noir.
But it probably wouldn’t have worked out too well for him either, considering all of Adrien’s emotions were targeted on him.
The fight was short. A quick in and out job with Gabriel venomed, Nathalie knocked out and the butterfly and peacock Miraculous safely tucked in her yoyo all in a matter of few minutes.
It was honestly a little disappointing. Hawkmoth spent so much time in his lair that his fighting skills were atrocious and Nathalie was little help in the battle, what with all her coughing.
They were neutralized so quickly, it was almost embarrassing.
Oh who was she kidding, it was totally embarrassing. For them.
Adrien had broken down when he saw his mother’s body hooked up to life support. She was still alive, if barely.
He broke down again when she told him that Emily Agreste could be saved.
He hugged her tightly, not letting her go even as their timers beeped down and she didn’t have the heart to push him off. So, that led to another awkward conversation where Adrien stared incredulously at his sweet and bubbly classmate who was supposedly an assassin and freaking Ladybug (Ugh she hated that name but the public were adamant to call her that.)
After a few more minutes of awkward staring(on her side) and incredulous(on Adrien’s) he finally nodded his head, apparently coming to a resolution.
“You know this actually explains a lot but also holy shit!”
The tension drained out of her frame and she started giggling, which soon turned into full blown laughter. Never change Chat.
But that was all in the past. Right now Marinette had more pressing issues than to think about some idiot who was in prison.
The media ban and the protective wards around Paris were lifted yesterday.
So now the entire world was in the know about the shitstorm that was Paris this past year. And that included the Justice League, who were all shamelessly persistent on meeting with her and could not take a hint despite the various times she had had to kick them all out of Paris.
She had finally agreed to meetup with them today (I mean there’s only so many times you can portal someone to the middle of the Pacific before giving up.)
But she was weary. Not only about the meeting but also about leaving Paris.
She had managed to dodge the League and their never-ending armies of assassins who were prowling the streets and even somehow in her school. (They were literally everywhere, like damn cockroaches. Everywhere you look you find them and no matter how many you squash, more come to replace them.)
She was leaving Chat alone with a few of the temporary heroes to hold down the fort while she was away.
She trusted them enough to leave Paris in their hands for a few hours, she really did! It was the League that she didn’t trust not to start shit while she was away.
So here she was, standing in front of her assembled heroes on some random Parisian rooftop giving them lecture after lecture on how to keep Paris intact for a few hours and to please call her if shit hit the fan and don’t try to tough it out yourself.
She transformed with Kaalki and turned back to wave one last time.
“Love you guys, be back by 7 and please please don’t let Paris burn down while I’m away.”
“Oh just go already.”
“We’ve got this.”
“Don’t worry so much, I mean what’s the worst that could happen?”
So with the questionable confidence given by her team, she opened a portal to the coordinates Wonder Woman had given her and stepped through hoping this wouldn’t come back to bite her in the butt.
She found herself in the Watchtower and honestly if it wasn’t for her assassin training she would have gaped like an idiot. But she’s not an idiot nor is an incompetent assassin, ex-assassin? So instead she walked up to the founding members of the Justice League looking the epitome of cool professionalism while she died on the inside. (Oh my god these assholes have a base in space!)
So this is what Damian meant when he said there was a surprise for her in the Watchtower. That cheeky little bastard.
Wonder Woman took the lead by kneeling down to one knee and bowing her head down deeply. “Chosen of creation, it is an honour to be in your presence sister.”
She bowed back in respect. “Princess Diana of Themyscira, it is an honour to meet you too.”
The rest of the Justice League did not seem to know what to make of this interaction.
Of the remaining of the trinity, Superman looked awkwardly between them, while Batman stared at her with an unnerving intensity that almost made her break out into a cold sweat. She was not going to get revealed now, and certainly not like this. Damian would never let her live it down.
Putting on her best poker face, she straightened up a cleared her throat, making almost everyone in the room jump. “Shall we start?”
Great. Now it was time to bullshit a room full of Heroes and detectives and make them think she was disclosing actually relevant and confidential information while in fact giving them nothing.
This was going to be fantastic.
*******
The meeting was going fine actually. So far they had discussed the charges against Gabriel and Nathalie, the impacts and repercussions of Hawkmoth’s reign and the effect on the citizens including the rehabilitation efforts taken. All common knowledge in Paris. Not that they seemed to know that.
She had artfully dodged every question asking about the Miraculous and where she and the other heroes had gotten theirs and how Hawkmoth had got his slimy hands on not one but two.
Everything was going better than expected, good even. All except for Batman. He did not stop staring at her through out the meeting and asked weird and completely unrelated questions. Even some of the other heroes had started giving him looks. She would have snapped at him much sooner if it wasn’t for Robin, who was seated right behind him making discreet cutting motions with his hand every time she turned to tear Batman a new one.
But honestly enough was enough. This was the twenty-fifth time (yes she counted) she could feel Batman’s unnerving and slightly creepy gaze zero in on her. And formalities be damned, father or not this overgrown furry was onto her and she was not letting it go. He was going down and 6 feet under. Damian would get over it.
She stopped mid sentence and turned to Batman with the sweetest and fakest smile she could muster. “Is there a problem monsieur Batman?”
Her voice was sweet as poison and her smile turned sharp. Batman narrowed his eyes, aware of the game she was playing and refusing to take part in it.
Well it seems he needed a bit more of a push.
“Do you have anything you want to say? I can feel you staring at me.”
Batman narrowed his eyes at her further till they were only white slits, but she just glared right back at him full force.
Meanwhile his brood all had varying responses.
Nightwing looked concerned. RedHood (ugh he has got to ditch that atrocious helmet.) seemed to enjoy the turn of events and looked invested in the drama. Red Robin, who looked forty with that hideous cowl took on discreet defensive stance and Robin looked two twitches away from face palming and sent her ‘what the hell are you doing?’ look.
Well what was she doing? She was getting herself a new punching bag. She needed someone to take out her frustrations on now that Hawkmoth and his minion were no longer viable options, so who better a target than the man who is supposedly your biological father and a right asshole towards your twin. That overgrown furry deserves everything he’s going to get.
And the only person who could maybe intervene and sell her out was not there. Lucky for her that BlackBat was in Shanghai along with Spoiler on a much needed vacation.
The rest of the Justice League looked between the two of them like they were at a tennis match with varying expressions of awe, fear and incredulity.
Marinette ignored all of them. Her glare was set solely on Batman.
A few minutes passed in a standstill and Batman grunted knowing it was his move. He tensed his muscles and visibly grit his teeth
“You’re an assassin.”
Well that was unexpected. She thought he’d say something more along the lines of ‘Who are your parents?’ 'Are you adopted?’ or maybe even ‘You are my daughter.’ Not whatever this is.
She blinked once but showed no other outward expression of shock.
Unfortunately the same could not be said for the rest of the Justice League. The Bats all tensed and fell into defensive stances, all except for Robin who whipped his head around to stare at his father in visibly obvious panic and shock. Wonder Woman and Aquaman both stood up and protested loudly, though one was more vehement in their objection. The rest of the Heroes all broke into various states of chaos after the statement left Batman’s lips.
Marinette meanwhile just crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat. The squeak of her chair was all everyone needed to quiet down and seat their asses back down.
“Ex-assassin and well, so are you and half your brood.”
Batman almost growled out loud and the table creaked from the white knuckle grip he had on it.
The Justice League was apparently made up of colour blind and shameless heroes because everyone looked between them like they were watching an interesting tennis match and not a standoff that could potentially cause bloodshed.
The Bats (Except for Batman, who she was in the middle of a standoff with) were all glancing nervously at Robin, probably expecting him to unsheathe his sword and jump over the table to attack her. But surprising everyone but her, he stayed put.
RedHood was the first to crack, clicking the safety off his gun and pointing it at her. Something she expected considering his temper and less than stellar history with the League.
This caused anther uproar with everyone standing and arguing.
She was the only one seated now, arms crossed and looking almost bored. A stark contrast to the coiled and tensed forms of literally everyone else in the room.
“Why are you here?”
She looked up from examining her nails, giving that Red bucket the most deadpan look she could muster. “You asked me to come here.”
After a few seconds of flustered silence and muffled laughter, RedHood had apparently scrounged up enough of his dignity to ask again “You working for the league?”
She straightened at this, all mirth fading away from her and her eyes sharpening. She uncrossed her arms and leaned forward and the Heroes all tensed in unison. She looked RedHood right in the eye.
“Now why would I go back to a place I fought tooth and nail to get out of?”
“...”
The air was almost electric with how charged it was.
Buzzz
Buzzzz
Buzzzzz
RedHood startled at the sudden noise and shot at her.
She was unfazed just deflecting the bullet with her wrist cuffs. The same could not be said for the rest of the heroes as they all violently flinched.
Buzzz
Buzzzz
Buzzzzz
Her yoyo was ringing, she picked it up, checked the caller ID and promptly cursed the universe and everyone in it to the high heavens.
“Oh for fucks sake Chat I’ve been gone for an hour!”
“Heyyy M’lady.” There were sounds of fighting in background oh and someone was screaming too.
“So I know you told us to keep Paris in one piece while you were gone and Paris is still intact- Hey!” A katana missed taking off his head by an inch. “But ces assassins stupides popped out of nowhere and started attacking. But thankfully their blades didn’t pierce our suits not for their lack of trying.” he muttered the last part quietly but she still caught it and narrowed her eyes further. Then there was a banshee screech and Abeille wailed ‘My hair!’ and everyone within a 40 mile radius who weren’t completely tone deaf winced at the volume. “Anyway bug we’ve pushed the assassins off the roof, we’ve tied them up and we threw them in the bin.” He ducked as ninja star whizzed right past his head. “but they *whack* keep *whack* coming *whack* back *whack* Like maudits cafards!” A huge explosion ringed out and everyone was thrown off “Anyway we’ve totally got everything under control but- watch the tail! But um it would be great if you could come back. Like right now. And- Wait no no no no not again! ” Another explosion ringed out and the call cut.
Silence.
It was completely silent for the first time in forever in the Watchtower.
She snapped her yoyo shut with a resounding click that echoed around the room.
She took a deep breath and looked up to face the other heroes, giving them a smile so sweet and fake it put American candy to shame.
“Well as you can see, duty calls.”
The entire Justice League stared at her in incredulous disbelief. And there was something satisfactory in watching the world’s mightiest heroes gape at her in complete speechlessness.
She opened another portal, forever grateful for the ‘use your power more than once’ power up potion, and waved at the heroes cheekily “Au revoir!” before jumping into the portal and leaving a gaggle of sputtering heroes behind her.
*****
The Justice League was in utter chaos.
Utter and complete chaos.
Damian was almost surprised by the amount mayhem his sister caused, but trouble always did follow after her like a lost puppy.
And while what she did was stupid.
And moronic.
And would definitely come back to bite her later.
He was mostly proud of her.
It was no easy feat to throw off his father. And it had been a long time since he had seen the Justice League this off balance.
He quickly wiped the smirk off his face. It would not help anyone if he got caught now. Marinette was not ready to meet father and he honestly can’t blame her. She hated mother and was right to do so, mother is a quote ‘piece of work’ and undeserving of Ukthi. But Marinette had also vowed to hate whomever their father was because anyone who Talia al Ghul decided was worthy of her and the al Ghul name was probably also a right nasty piece.
She lost most of her hostility once she discovered that the ever elusive ‘father’ was the Batman, but she was still suspicious. And he cannot blame her. While the League of assassins was horrifying and gruesome to him and was no place for a child to be anywhere near there, but Marinette had it much much worse. While he was the heir to the demon’s head and treated like royalty, she was the competition, a spare, a disgrace and most of all she was a girl.
Crash
He flinched slightly at the abrupt reminder that he was currently stuck in middle of the what would appropriately be termed a shitstorm.
Wonder Woman was having what Grayson called ‘an existential crisis’ and found it acceptable to throw her chair across the room.
Todd was staring at his hands in horror and was also having an existential crisis for shooting at a child. Tch Marinette is not just a child and she is more than capable of dodging a mere bullet.
Superman was holding Wonder Woman down and rest of the League were divided into two groups loudly arguing whether not Ladybug was working for Ra’s al Ghul.
But so far the most concerning was father. He was quiet, alarmingly so. And he had not spoken a word to anyone since Ukthi had made her dramatic exit. He was brooding and that spelled trouble for everyone involved.
Finally father stood up and the chair screeched loudly, silencing the argument. The eyes of the entire Justice League were on him, but he payed them no mind “We’re leaving.” Grayson started to protest “NOW.” He stormed out of the room with the rest of the pretenders following behind him dejectedly and leaving behind a room of gaping faces.
Hmm. Maybe dramatic exits were an inherited trait. He’s going to have to look into that. Mother also had a flair for the dramatics and it would certainly do no good if he was the odd one out.
*******
Being dramatic was definitely hereditary and a necessary trait if you want to be an Al Ghul much less an Al Ghul Wayne. Because then why else would Marinette open a portal right above the random warehouse the assassins decided would be an acceptable place to start a war and drop down onto the battle field like an avenging angel from the sky and knock out a horde of assassins from the impact of her descent alone.
Obviously, it was for no other reason than to sate her inner drama queen and to smirk at the gaping faces of her team.
It was like something out of a movie. Every single person, heroes and villains alike stopped to stare at her with conflicting emotions on their faces. But alas this wasn’t a movie but real life so the moment was broken by Chat being thrown off the roof.
“CHAT!”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“I’M OK!”
The fight resumed as normal. But instead of being in a standstill, the Miraculous team now had the upper hand.
Now to get the League out of Paris once and for all, or at least keep them out for a month at most. They’d have to burn the Lazarus pit along with Ra’s al Ghul if they wanted to rid them of the world forever. And oh did they want to do that.
She started the incantation for the spell while kicking an assassin’s kneecaps out, before tripping another assassin into the one running towards her.
She took out a dagger from her pocket and started carving out symbols on the rooftop but stopped to stab the assassin that was stupid enough to attack her right in the gut before taking it out and throwing it at the one trying to sneak up her from behind.
She took out another dagger and continued carving and simultaneously kicking ass.
The spell was almost over. She just needed a few more things now.
“I NEED THE THUMB OF A MINION!”
A pause, before there was a screech and a bloodied thumb landed smack dab in the centre of her carvings. Then Ryuku landed right in front of her covered in blood that was hopefully (probably) not her own.
“Thanks Ryu!”
Ryuko curtly nodded at her and smirked, before calling on wind dragon and picking up half the assassins on roof and dropping them in the trash.
Now for the hardest ingredient to find. The blood of someone who has fallen from grace. As if hearing her thoughts, an assassin was thrown on the carving with a murderous Queen bee not far behind, screaming obscenities that should not be told anywhere near a child.
“tu es con! I will tear you limb by limb and slowly and painfully kill you for what you have done.” Her once beautiful golden locks were now something akin to a flaming dumpster fire with chunks of hair missing and a few strands literally on fire.
She gaped at Abeille for a good few seconds before an idea from hell popped into her head and she smirked evilly.
This was perfect. She wouldn’t find anyone else fallen farther from grace than this, well except Gabriel Agreste, but she’d have to go all the way to Penitentiaire Inrichting Vught to get his blood.
While Chloé was on her warpath, Marinette discreetly or not so discreetly grabbed the heiress's hand and cut her finger with her magical dagger deep enough for her blood drip onto the carvings. All the while the girl in question was still too lost in her rage to even notice.
As she said the last part of the incantation Magic crackled and the wind blew violently around her. And now for the last part, the blood of the spell caster. She took her magic dagger and cut a line straight along her palm and squeezed her fist, watching as blood dripped down her palm. When the first drop of her blood dripped onto the carvings the wind stooped the and the carvings lit up red before turning blue.
All the assassins froze, be it mid fight or mid getting their asses handed to them before vanishing in a puff of smoke.
Shame it was right as Abeille was about to pounce on her prey.
While it was fortunate for everyone else that the assassins were sent back to where they came from, it was unfortunate for her cause now Abeille’s murderous gaze zeroed in on her for stopping her from exacting revenge.
Marinette raised her arms in surrender slowly backing away from the furious and slightly homicidal girl.
“Bee, Bee I can fix this.”
Chloé was not appeased nor did she stop her warpath.
Chat noir, her ever loyal partner sacrificed himself yet again for her by tackling Chloé before she could pounce and scratch her eyes out. Chat was now subjected to the blunt of Chloe’s rage and judging by the fear in his eyes, he knew that too.
Carapace reached out to help his best bud but Rena held him back muttering something about it being too late now.
And she was right. Chat gave himself up to the devil for her and she won’t let his sacrifice be in vain. She would fix this and save him.
She straightened, determination brimming in her stance. Her eyes glowed a brief red and she slammed her hand on the ground, discharging waves of magic that fixed all the damage caused by the battle including Abeille’s disastrous hair.
Satisfied with having saved Chat’s life and barred the League from even setting foot in Paris for the next month or so, she yawned.
“Everyone head back to base and someone debrief me. I’m long over due for my nap.”
No one even tried to argue with her, it was a miracle if she even slept at all and everyone wanted know what happened with the Justice League.
