Synopsis: On the night of her parents’ anniversary, Marinette was shocked to learn that all this time, she had been the long forgotten daughter of an American businessman named Bruce. When she is given the chance to visit him that summer, she learns that she’ll also be spending the summer with his many other children.
Rated T: Language
Ships: Gen
Author’s Note: Hi everyone! It has been a while, and not helped by the fact that I’ve been busy with life stuff. DC Boy and I take time to brainstorm, edit, proofread, and we do it together. We’ve got continuations of ongoing stories coming, plus some other ideas that have been sitting in notes apps and Google Docs for a while now. This community of people who enjoy this crossover have been nothing but kind and supportive, and we appreciate your patience as we return to trying to post fanfic chapters more regularly. - Maribat Girl
Next morning, Marinette walked down to an empty dining room. She awkwardly took a random seat and sat quietly for a few moments; she hoped that the family would join her for breakfast. After about 10 minutes she gave up waiting for them, “Um, Alfred?” she asked in what she assumed to be an empty room. Alfred, almost by magic, appeared before her with breakfast.
“Good morning, Miss Marinette,” he greeted, “Today’s breakfast is an assortment of pastries and a cup of chocolat chaud.”
“Thank you, Alfred, where is everyone?” Marinette asked as she gestured to the empty table.
“Ahem, Master Bruce is a late riser as he is usually up late. Master Dick returned late last night, so he won’t be up until later. Master Jason stayed up into the night reading, so he won’t be down for breakfast either. Master Tim has been awake for over 48 hours and I've made him rest. Miss Cassandra has left early for ballet practice, and Master Damian has fencing practice and would rather not be disturbed,” Alfred recited, his explanations prepared long beforehand.
“Oh,” Marinette muttered, “All right then.”
“You know, every month, we all gather and chip in to help the people of Gotham. Master Dick will be going to local orphanages tomorrow. Why, Master Damian goes to the animal shelters every week. Would you like to follow me to help give food to the homeless?” Alfred offered. Marinette blinked for a moment as she tried to picture Damian, with his usual sour scowl, being surrounded by cute animals.
“That sounds great Alfred, would…would anyone mind?” Marinette asked.
“Not at all,” Alfred said before leaving.
Later, Marinette sat in the back of the limousine with a few baskets beside her, all filled to the brim with sandwiches made by Alfred. Her heart sank the deeper she went into Gotham City. She could never truly get used to the state of the city. “Where are we?” Marinette asked.
“Gotham City’s East End,” Alfred answered, “where most of the unfortunate souls reside.”
The car slowly came to a stop in front of a small alleyway. The entire street grew silent as everyone focused on the car. It wasn’t everyday a luxury car came to this part of Gotham, it attracted all sorts of attention. Alfred got out first and locked the car, and as he walked towards the side to open the door for Marinette, he was accosted by a man.
“Nice ride old man, wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to it.” The man spoke with a malicious glint in his eye.
“Let’s keep this amicable, Gentlemen. Please go away.” Alfred answered monotonously.
One man drew his arm back for a punch, only for Alfred to deliver a swift kick to the groin. The man instantly collapsed and writhed on the floor. Alfred opened the door and Marinette nervously stepped out and watched the man on the floor in worry and pity. She whispered a quick apology to the man. People on the street began to gossip, was this girl the heiress to a crime family? Gossip began to die down as Alfred gave them a stern glare, and people began going about their business.
Alfred quickly collected the baskets, “Miss Marinette, please stay close.” Marinette followed Alfred through the streets until they reached a shanty town filled with children.
Marinette gasped at the ragged children living on the streets and took an unconscious step back. Tears pricked her eyes for a moment as she saw the conditions they lived in, but this was replaced with a determination as she walked up to them and offered a sandwich. The children eyed her suspiciously, the closest one slapped her hand aside. “How stupid do you think we are?!”
Marinette froze at the hostility coming from the children, “But…I…” she stammered.
Another child shouted, “That's how they kidnapped Bob and Bill last week, two people came in dressed as the Mayor's Homeless Outreach Project. They threw Mackey through a window and even killed old man Steve.”
Marinette began to panic as the children of Alleytown began to yell at her. "All right, that's enough," a voice behind her boomed and all the children were silent. Marinette looked back to see Jason standing behind her.
“Jason?” Marinette said in shock, “What are you doing here?”
“I just happen to be around," he said unconvincingly. He turned to the children, “She’s with me,"
“Well well, if it isn’t Jason Todd, what brings you and your friend to Alleytown?” a voice came from nearby. Marinette turned around to see a blonde woman perched on the sill of an open window with one leg crossed over the other.
"Holly," Jason greeted plainly, "Marinette's a friend visiting from Paris. She just wants help out while she's in town." Marinette felt a twinge of shame, did Jason not refer to her as family out of contempt? She looked down at the floor, unable to meet Jason's eyes. "She's one of the good few, trust me."
Marinette looked up tentatively at Jason. She wasn't sure how to react, but here he was vouching for her to strangers. "I brought some food…" she said as she held out a sandwich.
Holly leaped off the window sill and landed in a roll, she strolled towards Marinette and picked up the sandwich offered to her. Marinette seemed a little startled by the ease with which Holly managed to do that. "Well, don't mind if I do," she said as she took a bite. Marinette nervously looked at Holly chewing, all the Alleytown kids stared too, suspicion still in their glares. "Hey, this is good. Come on and have some," she told the kids. In a split second their suspicious glares disappeared and the kids crowded around Marinette for free food.
The children swarmed and overwhelmed Marinette, she frantically gave everyone sandwiches.
They then quickly dispersed back into hiding after taking their portion, Marinette, Jason and Alfred were then left alone. Marinette breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from her brow.
“Would you like a lift home, Master Jason?” Alfred asked as he gestured to the limousine.
“Sure, why not?” Jason shrugged. Alfred got into the driver’s seat and Jason joined Marinette in the back. Marinette sat quietly beside Jason, refusing to make eye contact with him. Instead she preferred to stare at her feet the entire ride home. As the car made its way back to Wayne Manor, there was a deafening silence in the back seat. Marinette felt like her siblings simultaneously wanted nothing to do with her, and yet one of them was nice enough to vouch for her back there.
"What's wrong?" Jason asked bluntly.
“Nothing, I’m fine,” Marinette snapped back.
Jason sighed and crossed his arms, “For the last two days, you looked as if someone kicked your puppy. Didn't think Gotham would make you miserable that quickly.”
“What's it to you?” Marinette asked, almost grumpily.
“Because there's only room in that manor for one miserable person and that's usually Bruce. And it seems like you inherited Bruce’s ability to brood for days too. Now are you going to tell me what's wrong?"
"Did I do something wrong?" Marinette whispered, her voice slightly cracked.
Jason looked at her in confusion. "Do you even think of me as family at all?"
"Is it because I called you a friend back in Alleytown?" Jason asked, Marinette nodded.
"It's something the public isn't ready for yet, it's to protect you. The moment someone finds out, you can kiss goodbye any privacy you have." Marinette nodded slowly as she processed Jason's words. "If it makes you feel any better, you're probably the only normal kid Bruce has," Jason said offhandedly, only to suddenly grimace. He swore internally at the careless remark. Marinette perked up at Jason's comment and looked towards him curiously. "Dick, Tim and I are all orphans. Unlike those two, I grew up on the streets similar to the kids you helped back there. Eventually we were all adopted by Bruce, one way or another. Cass ran away from an abusive home, and Damian’s mom travels around a lot.” he recounted, carefully wording it with half-truths. “And even though Steph has her mom and isn’t adopted, her dad was always in and out of jail."
Tears began to form around Marinette's eyes as she listened closely to her siblings' life stories. By comparison, her mother and father cared for her all her life, she couldn't even begin to comprehend what they have all been through.
Jason sighed and pondered what he could do to calm Marinette down. After a few moments of tolerating Marinette’s crying, he tentatively placed a hand on her head. “Still, you did good. Not many people would reach out to help the children of Alleytown. I’m sure it meant a lot to them.”
“Thanks…”Marinette sniffed. “I just did what I felt was right.”
Jason’s face changed to one of annoyance, though he turned to look outside the window. He groaned internally, at the very least Marinette wasn’t a Robin or a superhero of any kind. He was sure the very first thing she would do would be to jump in front of a bullet out of pure selflessness.
Early the next morning, not long before sunrise, the family sat around Batman. "I have bad news…"
"Well, that's ominous," Nightwing quipped.
"Just get on with it," said Red Robin.
"Marinette has caught the attention of Vicki Vale," Batman admitted, the entire room erupted in groans. "Quiet." Batman ordered. "Alfred and I have discussed it and we decided we should take the initiative. We have agreed to reveal Marinette but on our own terms."
Alfred spoke up, "We hope to cultivate a positive reputation for Miss Marinette and her family in Paris. Who knows what nonsense these tabloids can spew."
"So that's why you suggested to her to give food out yesterday," Red Hood summarised.
Alfred nodded, "Yes, I took photos too.”
“Any suggestions?” Batman asked.
Spoiler rubbed her chin for a few moments, being the only person in the group who actually reads tabloids of her own free will. “Why not a photo shoot? Have her look her best.”
Alfred took out his notebook and began writing. “Not a bad idea. I was considering a debutante ball or a formal introduction at the next gala. Though, she will require etiquette lessons.”
Red Robin raised his hand stiffly, “Will there be an interview?” he asked.
Batman nodded in response, “Yes, Ms. Vale is asking for one.”
“Then I suggest it be pre-recorded then broadcasted, or at the very least a strict script for both Marinette and Vicki to follow,” Alfred suggested.
Nightwing sighed and facepalmed, “I hate the paparazzi,” he groaned. “This is our fault for not being careful. We need to make sure her and her family’s reputation stays intact.”
Red Hood laughed, he grabbed Nightwing by the shoulder and with his free arm waved across the space in front of them “I can see the headlines ‘Gotham's Homewrecker!’” Nightwing elbowed Red Hood in the ribs. “Come on, this is exactly the kind of shit to expect.”
“He’s got a point,” Oracle chimed from the screen, “The Gotham Gazette can be ruthless.”
"Then it's settled, I'll break the news to her later," said Batman.
After another quiet breakfast alone, Marinette quickly went back to her room. She curled up and sat on her bed, her knees against her chest.
"Are you okay?" Tikki asked.
"I want to trust my family, to trust my father and siblings. I want to believe in Dick, Steph and the others. It's just…been hard, especially with what we saw out there."
"Hmm, I understand how you feel. Maybe it is just your father, after all, he did mention most of the others were adopted,” Tikki remarked, “Besides, Dick, Cass and Steph seem nice."
"You might be right Tikki. Who knows, maybe the adoptions were publicity stunts," Marinette said.
There was a knock on her door, Tikki quickly flew into Marinette's sleeve. "May I come in?" asked Bruce from outside. Marinette slapped her hand over her mouth, worried that he heard what she just said. She shakily opened the door slightly to peer out.
Bruce gave her a polite smile, "Good morning, how are you?"
"I'm g-good" she stammered as she opened her door to let him in. Bruce stood inside for a few quiet moments, he ran his hand through his hair nervously. This in turn made Marinette more nervous.
Bruce broke the uncomfortable silence, "It seems, the paparazzi found out about you," Marinette's eyes widened and was about to speak before Bruce interrupted her.
"I've decided that, if we don't have a choice, we need to make sure your introduction is flawless." Marinette quietly nodded as she listened to her father. "Alfred will provide you the details, and he will give you lessons on etiquette. We have a photo shoot planned and you'll be formally introduced during the next gala."
Marinette continued to nod, an awkward silence enveloped the room again. "Just be careful, gossip magazines can be ruthless. This may also affect your family," Burce said ominously.
Marinette didn't respond, she just looked down at the floor. Bruce checked his watch, "I'm sorry, I have an appointment soon. See you later,” Bruce then quickly left the room. He had hoped he conveyed the message to Marinette that all this was for her sake.
Once he was out of earshot, Marinette slumped onto her bed and screamed into her pillow. Tikki flew out and tried to console her. "I can't believe it, that jerk! Now that his secret love child has been revealed he expects me to be the perfect child? All for what? To protect his reputation?!"
She sighed deeply, before turning on her TV, she flipped through the channels, and froze as the news came on screen. “Mr. Wayne! Mr. Wayne!” the reporter yelled as she pushed through the crowd. The cameraman followed the best he could, the camera shook as he pushed past the large group of people gathering. The view slowly came into focus and she saw her father in a fancy suit, scantily clad models on either side, his arms over their shoulders. She didn’t have the energy to be any more shocked, she could only stare at the screen blankly. Watching billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne appear before a large crowd at some party. He was chatty, sociable, flirty, he winked towards the camera with a bright smile. It was as if he was a completely different person in public. Frankly, it made Marinette feel uneasy and reaffirmed her earlier beliefs, Bruce Wayne was someone who valued his reputation above all else. And it made her sick. The interview that followed was vapid and uninteresting, though she was amazed to see her father acting like an absolute airhead. She stared in shock as she watched her father act like a loveable fool for the cameras, she was almost impressed by his acting.
"Why don't you go for a walk, try to clear your mind?" Tikki suggested. Marinette signed and nodded, she got up and left her room.
She wandered the empty halls of Wayne Manor aimlessly. She spent much of her time staring at the floor instead of its architecture. Fear began to slowly creep up as she thought what would happen when word got out, what would happen to her? Her friends? Her parents? Would an angry mob try to burn down the bakery? Just as her anxiety began to spiral she noticed a familiar pair of shiny shoes in front of her. She looked up to see Alfred in a frilly apron dusting a few portraits.
"Ah, what brings you here Miss Marinette?" asked Alfred as he worked.
Marinette took a closer look at the portrait, some man who, from what she gathered, passed centuries ago. The entire length of the hall was decorated with portraits of serious looking men. Their stares felt judgmental, as if all her ancestors deemed her unworthy. "Uh, I just wanted to know who the people in all of these portraits are," she said.
"These are portraits of all the heads of the House of Wayne, starting all the way back to 1640 with Nathaniel Wayne," Alfred explained as he walked to the corresponding portrait.
"The Waynes have been here for that long?"
"Indeed, the Waynes have been around since the founding of the old Gotham Town. By the way, has your father told you about your predicament?" Marinette nodded. "Good, first we should focus on your photoshoot and interview. I've arranged an appointment at the tailor's later and asked Miss Cassandra and Miss Stephanie to join us."
"Actually," Marinette interrupted, "I was wondering if maybe I could design my own dress for the event? In fact I did design something for Gabriel Agreste." Marinette thought this might save her from being poked and prodded by a seamstress while everyone argued over what would look best on her.
"Why, that's wonderful" Alfred said with a smile, "we can just get the fabric as well as any tools you may need. Why don't you wait for Miss Cassandra and Miss Stephanie in the living room?"
Alfred opened the door and ushered Marinette into the living room, she froze slightly as she saw Tim sitting on a sofa. He seemed busy as he worked on his laptop. Marinette awkwardly walked in and sat across Tim, on a different sofa. The two sat in silence until Cass and Steph walked in.
"Hiya Marinette," said Steph as she entered while Cass gave her a wave. "Ready to go shopping with us?"
Marinette glanced over at Alfred, who gave her an encouraging nod, before walking towards them. The two girls ushered her out of the room, waving back at Alfred behind them.
Before they walked out, Marinette said, "I was hoping to make my own clothes, I want to be a fashion designer. I even designed something for Agreste Fashion."
"What? no way, what did you design for Gabriel Agreste?" Steph asked excitedly as she sat beside Marinette.
"Sorry, wait, you designed something for Agreste Fashion?" Tim said as he looked up from his laptop.
Marinette nodded, "Yeah, it was for a competition at school. My design was featured on the front page of a magazine," She took out her phone and showed them the photos of her hat in various stages of production along with the front page with Adrien as the model. Everyone crowded around Marinette's phone to take a look at the hat she designed. "I also embroidery my signature into it, as proof of authenticity." She turned her phone upside down and lo and behold the golden etching spelled her name.
Everyone's jaws dropped, as Marinette's name was spelled clearly in the hat. The three of them crowded around her phone screen to get a better look. Marinette was starting to get overwhelmed from their excitement, she took a step back to try to compose herself. Lucky for her, Alfred had stepped in just in time. "Ahem, shall we make our way to the tailor's?"
Tim had decided to join their shopping trip at the last minute, Marinette sat quietly unsure as she hadn't really interacted with him other than mealtimes. Steph and Cass conversed with each other, it was more like Steph doing the talking for both of them.
"So other than fabrics, what else do you need?" Tim asked.
"Um, let's see…" Marinette thought of what she may need, she considered her budget based on the pocket money she brought with her. "Some pencils, a ruler, thread, needle…" she listed.
Tim listened intently, before turning to Alfred. "Alfred, do we have any empty rooms near Marinette's for her to work her dress?"
"Yes, Master Timothy, there is an old unused study near her bedroom," Alfred responded quickly without even taking his eyes off the road.
Shopping at the tailor's became a blur for Marinette, she was introduced to many materials, each with their own pattern. She struggled to decide which to pick as she didn't have inspiration just yet, she was a very long way away from the place in Paris where she used to sit and sketch out her best ideas. Normally her work would be based on the materials available to her, yet this new found freedom of choice made it hard to pick a specific fabric. At Tim's suggestion, they purchased almost all the fabric available at the shop. Tim even offered to pay for it all, much to Marinette's surprise, she tried to stammer a protest that this was too much but she was cut off by the others.
Next came the tools, she asked for a simple set much like hers back home. A needle and some thread, with some basics like pencils and rulers. Just like earlier, Tim had again purchased all the tools needed, an entire sewing machine, a mannequin, tables, chairs, racks and shelves for all the fabric.
After a long and hectic day of selecting everything she needed to make her dress, that and so much more, she sat in her new workshop in awe. Her workshop looked like a professional tailor, in fact even better equipped than the tailor she went to earlier that day. She slowly walked around, examining each and everything in the room, Tikki quietly followed behind her. Marinette reached out to touch a piece of the fabric, vicuña wool, the world’s most expensive fabric. Beside it, a large roll of guanaco, she ran her hands through the roll of the finest wool she had ever seen. But at what cost? Perhaps this was their way of showing their support and helping her, at the same time, it felt like she was cheating her way to the top. It felt like a dream come true, she now had a studio beyond her wildest dreams. But at what cost? She now had to make a dress like her life depended on it.
Synopsis: On the night of her parents’ anniversary, Marinette was shocked to learn that all this time, she had been the long forgotten daughter of an American businessman named Bruce. When she is given the chance to visit him that summer, she learns that she’ll also be spending the summer with his many other children.
Rated T: Language
Ships: Gen
Author’s Note: Sorry it’s been a while, got steamrolled with other life stuff that had to come first. Consider this a return, if you missed us.
“Welcome to Wonderland! Where it’s always time for tea!” a cheerful disembodied voice announced, followed by a manic giggle. Ladybug slowly opened her eyes and looked around her. She was sitting at the end of a long table that never seemed to end. Huddled around her were a group of burly looking men in plastic masks. “No room! No room!” A voice wailed, but Ladybug couldn’t tell where the voice was coming from. As she saw it, the table seemed to go on forever, yet everyone was packed into this one corner.
“Have some wine,” another disembodied voice suggested, Ladybug looked down, but saw no wine, only bread and butter, tea, and her hands cuffed to the table.
Ladybug’s face was suddenly jerked to the side, as the Mad Hatter grabbed her by the chin and tilted her face to get a better look at her. She jerked her chin free, and the Mad Hatter frowned, “Your hair wants…cutting,” he remarked, as he walked around the table.
The room felt like it was swaying, her body felt heavy, she blinked and saw that the Mad Hatter went from circling around the table to standing atop it in front of her. “Have you guessed the riddle yet, dear Alice?” what ‘riddle’ he was talking about, she did not know. She couldn’t give in to whatever was happening around her, she needed to escape and fast. She tried to focus, she tried to fight it as if it was an Akuma, she squeezed her eyes shut, and told herself that it was all a dream.
“Tweedledum, Tweedledee, deal with her,” the disembodied voice commanded, and with a puff of smoke, the two large men from earlier appeared in front of Ladybug. She was biting back the remarks she had about their bright red polka dotted trousers and suspenders, bright yellow shirts, purple bow ties and the flags on their caps. Tweedledum curled his fist and sent a downward punch towards Ladybug, she jumped up and dodged it. As his fist collided with the ground, Ladybug gracefully landed on his shoulder. Tweedledee charged forward to help his cousin and sent a punch towards Ladybug, she in turn jumped aside again. Tweedledee’s fist clashed with Tweedledum’s face, he recoiled from the force and spun around, he collapsed on the floor unmoving. Tweedledee looked at what he had done in shock, before turning towards Ladybug, he was frothing at the mouth with rage. He charged towards her with reckless abandon, she jumped aside, barely escaping his wrath. Like a bull, Tweedledee spun around and charged towards her again.
Ladybug looked around the room, trying to think of how she could escape this illusion, until she remembered the use of the pocket watch that brought her here. A gigantic grandfather clock stood by the corner, the rhythmic ticking heard constantly the entire time she was there. With that in mind, Ladybug jumped in front of the clock and goaded Tweedledee. Predictably he charged towards her, Ladybug launched her yo-yo towards his face, forcing him to close his eyes temporarily. She lassoed his neck, and guided Tweedledee to the clock. He crashed into it and the clock collapsed, rubble and shrapnel launched in all directions. Everything went black, when Ladbug came to, she found herself in some abandoned building. She looked around to see the severely dilapidated state of the room. In the corner lay the two large men unconscious, one had his head stuck inside the grandfather clock.
“No, no no. This is wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, WRONG!” Mad Hatter paced around the room, his hat in his hands. “Is there something wrong with the neurotransmitter? The neural interface?” He turned around and noticed Ladybug regaining consciousness. He placed the hat back on his head and withdrew his pocket watch once more.
Ladybug launched her yo-yo straight towards Mad Hatter, knocking the hat aside. She jumped up and landed right on top of the hat, crushing it.
“Nooo! My hat, my beautiful hat. What have you done?” Mad Hatter cried as he hugged the crumpled hat.
Ladybug sat on the floor, trying to catch her breath. The entire time Mad Hatter continued to cry about his ruined hat, and the will to fight had already left him. Ladybug stared in shock at what she had done. She looked around the room, it was astonishing what she was capable of when she couldn’t simply undo the damage she had caused. She looked back at Mad Hatter, still cradling his damaged hat in his hands. There was no Akuma fluttering out of it, to him, she had simply callously destroyed his hat. When Mad Hatter glanced up at her, there was an unsettling gleam of delight in his eyes. When he started calling her his “Alice”, Ladybug felt the acid of vomit creep up her throat, she felt disgusted with herself. These people needed help, why was she here fighting people who were clearly sick? She felt even more disgusted at her biological father for letting Gotham City fall this far. He had all the wealth in the world, yet this city’s citizens lived on the brink of starvation and sanity. Mad Hatter was obviously unwell, yet nothing had been done to help him. Ladybug pushed herself up and ran to the door, she looked back one more time before leaving.
Ladybug climbed up to a nearby rooftop and continued to ponder what had just happened, and within minutes she heard the sound of sirens come closer. She peered her head off the rooftop to see the GCPD escort Mad Hatter into the back of a police car. She gasped at the extraordinarily high response from the GCPD, SWAT vans littered the area, she counted at least 30 armed police officers…All this just to apprehend one man. She couldn’t take anymore, she launched her yo-yo and swung away.
She made it back to Wayne Manor, and climbed back into her room through the window. “Spots Off,” she groaned and collapsed onto her bed, mentally and physically exhausted. She thought back to the dilapidated state the streets of Gotham were in. Meanwhile, Wayne Manor and Wayne Tower stood tall and proud in stark contrast. Was this what it meant to be a Wayne? Was this her father’s doing? Was this why her father kept his distance from her all these years? Just how much money her father was robbed from the people of Gotham? He is a billionaire after all, who had more money than she could ever imagine. And what of the men she had fought as Ladybug? These weren’t men who were granted magical abilities, nor were they Sentimonsters, the men she had fought tonight were neither. Had she helped the people they were trying to hurt? Or had she simply made things worse? These questions spun in her mind, the world around her felt like a blur. She felt like she was completely and utterly out of her depth and had been too stubborn to realise it until that very moment. Gotham City was a whole different world compared to Paris, that much she knew to be true. It was another thing entirely to see it for herself, her duties back in Paris seemed so much simpler by comparison.
There was a knock on her door, she glanced at the clock and saw that it was 7PM, “Miss Marinette, dinner’s ready,” Alfred announced, Marinette groaned in response. “Miss Marinette, are you all right?” the door opened gently and Alfred peered inside, he noticed Marinette looked visibly disheveled and exhausted. He decided to enter and sit beside Marinette, “Is something the matter?”
“No,” Marinette quickly shook her head, “I’ll be downstairs in just a minute,” she said as she quickly went into the bathroom. Alfred stood there for a moment before she heard the door close.
Dinner was quiet for everyone in Wayne Manor, and everyone noticed that Marinette looked a little more somber than she had when she first arrived. “So, how are you liking Gotham so far?” Stephanie asked Marinette, trying her best to break the uncomfortable silence.
“It’s…” Marinette pondered her answer for a moment, “I guess it’s different from how things are back home.” She quickly shoved a mouthful of food into her mouth and chewed slowly. Everyone could tell that she was avoiding saying anything more on the subject, it didn’t take the world’s greatest detective to figure that much out. No one else really knew what to say to her.
That morning, there had been one close call after another, and it was for the best that she probably didn’t see the argument that Tim, Jason and Damian had shortly after breakfast. Dick left that morning to go take care of an emergency in Bludhaven, but not before breaking up the fight that broke out between them. While he was gone, he needed their help making sure Marinette didn’t stumble upon anything she wasn’t supposed to see. At this rate, they would probably end up killing each other in their attempts to keep Marinette in the dark. Outside her having a much more pleasant upbringing than most of them and an interest in art and fashion design, they hardly knew her. Damian was the least bothered by this, and when he was home, he stayed in his room with his pets for company. Tim and Steph had work to do at Wayne Enterprises, Cass had dance, and that left Jason in charge of keeping an eye on her. If all went well, she could go back to Paris at the end of the summer without incident. Eventually, she spent most of the afternoon in her room, and didn’t reemerge until Alfred had gathered everyone for dinner.
Bruce was probably the most quiet out of all of them that night at dinner, he had barely said a word to her since yesterday. He had busied himself with work that day, telling himself he was letting her settle into life at the manor. When Sabine had called him, she seemed to have moved on completely and made a life for herself. All she said was that Marinette wanted to know the truth about her father, it really was that simple. Outside of the calamity in her home city, one which the local heroes insisted time and time again was being dealt with, she didn’t seem to be in any immediate danger. Dick had tried to convince him to talk to her before he left that morning. The conversation ended with Dick leaving the room, muttering something about her being the one person in this house who isn’t either an orphan or a vigilante in-training. Alfred had been quiet all through dinner, and there was no doubt that Alfred would make a snarky remark about it later when everyone else was out of earshot.
Shortly after everyone had finished eating, Bruce excused himself and quickly left the room. This only seemed to surprise Marinette, as no one else seemed to bat an eye when Alfred cleared their plates.
After dinner, Marinette followed her father, trailing a few metres behind him, as quietly as she could. She hoped to talk to him somewhere secluded. She wanted to talk to him about what she saw earlier today and to ask if he was doing anything to help Gotham’s people. She watched Bruce enter his study, she waited for a few moments before knocking. Nothing, she knocked again. Also nothing, she opened the door and peered in, absolutely nothing. She scratched her head in frustration as she looked around the empty office, was her father actively avoiding her? She slammed the door shut and went back to her room. She stared at the night sky through the window, trying to gather her thoughts. She stood there against her window for some time, watching the gloomy skyline of Gotham city with its iconic police zeppelins patrolling the skies. A bright light appeared that brought her out of her deep thoughts, Marinette’s jaw dropped, it was the Bat Signal.
The Bat Signal lit up the night sky, Commissioner Gordon stood beside it, staring up at the clouds that covered Gotham. "What is it Jim?" a voice spoke close behind him.
"AAAAAAAHHHH, I swear you're going to give me a heart attack." Jim needed a few moments to compose himself.
In the meantime, Batman complemented his work. "Good work apprehending Jervis Tetch."
Jim raised an eyebrow, "Wait, that wasn't one of yours?" Batman raised an eyebrow in response. "Montoya said she saw a costumed vigilante in the area, red with black spots. Thought they were one of yours."
"Hmmm…" Batman pondered.
“I think Montoya’s bodycam caught an image of them, only briefly.” Jim briefly turned away and gestured back towards GCPD HQ. He turned back to see Batman had disappeared, and sighed. “Can’t he ever just take the stairs?” he muttered to himself before shutting off the Bat Signal.
Later that night in the Batcave, Batman sat by the Batcomputer and stared at the footage from Detective Montoya’s bodycam. He pressed pause at the still image of the figure traversing along the rooftops, it was unclear, he couldn’t make out the age or gender of the costumed person. All he could make out was the red costume with black spots. He heard the screech of tires behind him as Red Hood entered the Batcave, Batman was still focused on the new vigilante that had made an appearance in Gotham. “Oracle, do you have any information on our new friend?” Batman asked. He wondered if, much like Stephanie, this was another case of someone becoming a vigilante to take matters into their own hands.
“Not much, the only person who matches the description is Ladybug.”
“Forward the file to me.”
“Already on the way,” she said, “Oh, and Red Hood, if you’re there, what’s this I hear about you leaving Red Robin and Robin behind?”
“They started bickering and I thought I’d better leave them to it,” Red Hood said with a shrug.
“Well from what I’m hearing, their bickering is getting more and more colourful by the second,” she said.
Bruce opened the file on the Batcomputer, a few clear photos of Ladybug and a link to the Ladyblog. He skimmed through the file’s contents until he reached the topic of its users. Most reports reference a black haired female, a few however reference a blonde male, sometimes a blonde female or a brown haired female. “Hmm, safe to assume that Ladybug is a title and not a specific person,” he remarked.
“Yes, I’ve even found reports of Ladybug popping up across history, the earliest dating back to roughly 3000 BC,” Oracle chimed.
“So, the newest Ladybug wielder is in Gotham City,” Bruce mused.
Alfred came down with a tray of snacks and tea for Bruce, his eyes lit up as he saw Red Hood standing beside him.
“Master Jason, it’s good to see you.” he smiled warmly as he walked towards them.
“You too, Alfred.” as he went up to the manor, Alfred frowned slightly when his back was turned. He remembered Jason’s eyes being wide with wonder when he first stepped into Wayne Manor, now as a grown man, he seemed to shrink away from it. Alfred could see that Jason still felt so out of place, ever since his return to the land of the living. He had seen all of Bruce’s wards enter the manor for the first time, seen how, most of them anyway, were in awe of the manor’s grandeur. He had seen some of them leave the nest, so to speak, and all the ways in which they had changed over the years. Even Richard was hardly the same young boy who swung from the chandelier.
Alfred waited until Jason had left and the elevator door closed behind him. He took a letter out of his pocket. “Master Bruce? You have a letter from Miss Vale.”
“Not now,” Batman said, irritated.
“Sir, we have a problem.” Alfred insisted he check the letter.
He removed his cowl and picked up the envelope. The envelope contained photos of him and Marinette at the airport and their ride back to Wayne Manor. He flipped through the photos and saw more photos of Marinette out shopping with Cass and Steph. He continued through the photos furiously until he reached the end, a single note “Who is she? - Love Vicki ;)” Bruce leaned back and groaned.
Jason often felt more comfortable sleeping in his private room at the Iceberg Lounge. It was lonely, but he was left to suffer in silence and battle his own demons. Sure, there was the simple joy of reading to Marinette while she rested her head on his thigh, and his voice would lull her to sleep after a long day at the shop or after finishing a difficult commission. He made the mistake of falling asleep at Marinette’s place once before, it wasn’t one he planned on making again.
Once, Jason had spent many sleepless nights trying to take care of some upstarts encroaching on his territory. He offered to let them join him, provided they played by his rules. Sadly, they refused and that made them troublesome for him to deal with. The thought of running into Batman was enough to make the more skittish goons back out for good, but the rest of them needed some persuading. Jason was cooling his heels in Marinette’s apartment one night, while she was toiling away working on some commissions. She didn’t say anything as Jason drifted off to sleep, this was one of the few times he slept in her apartment. It was one of the few times, and after this time, it was the only time.
The nightmares that haunted him had eventually caught up to him, and Jason couldn’t seem to outrun them this time. He felt the CRACK of the Joker’s crowbar across his face. He heard the ringing in his ears as the timer on the bomb reached zero, and the firey explosion that followed and snuffed him out. He watched himself sink deeper and deeper into the Lazarus Pits, several pairs of eyes watched and waited for him in anticipation. They could not foresee the vengeful killer that would emerge, one who would kill them all with the ease that they had killed many others. Jason felt the waters burning his skin, as flesh and bone knitted back together, as he felt himself being reforged into the man he was today. His cries for help were silenced, all that came out was the desperate gargling of a drowning man. Did he cry out for help? Or was he crying out for someone to put him out of his misery? This time, through the surface, he could just about make out a figure staring down at him. She was reaching towards him, as if she was offering him a way out. While he was underwater it sounded muffled, but it almost sounded like that person was calling his name. Jason tried to swim to the surface, arms scrambling as he tried to reach out and take that person’s hand. Wherever they planned to lead him, it had to be better than here, right? “Jason…” he heard the voice call as he drew closer and closer, “Jason…”
“Jason!” his eyes shot open and he saw Marinette leap back in shock, “Jason?” she asked more tentatively, probably wondering if he was still the person she knew. It took Jason a moment to realise where he was, he looked around the room, he felt the thick futon beneath him, he took a deep breath.
“How long was I out for?” he asked, his voice sounded groggy.
“I came home and saw that you were asleep, I didn’t want to wake you so I just kept working on my commission. Suddenly, you…”she trailed off, she was at his side and her eyes were wide with concern. “Did something happen to you?” she asked softly.
Jason rubbed the bridge of his nose, her concern was touching, but telling her all that he had been through would have her running for the hills. He wouldn’t blame her if she did. Jason looked into her sad eyes wishing he could tell her, tell someone all that he had been through. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and he held her hand close to him. “For many years in Paris,” she began, “there was someone who was always on the hunt for people who were feeling angry, scared, and heartbroken.” Jason had seen some files on what was happening in Paris back when he was Robin, but he wasn’t about to tell her that. The Justice League was repeatedly told to stay out of it, and no one knew why at the time. Marinette was used to seeing people being turned into literal, rampaging monsters because someone wanted to harness the power of those emotions for their own ends. This ongoing calamity only stopped just before he returned to Gotham, but from what he gathered, the people of Paris haven’t been the same since. “If something happened to you before, you know you can always tell me about it, okay?” she said encouragingly.
When he did manage to get it together, he gave her a weak smile and told her, “It was just a bad dream Pixie, don’t worry about it.” Jason hoped that calling her by the nickname he had for her would get her to change the subject. He wanted to tell her, but that would mean telling her everything, and he wasn’t sure if she was ready for that.
“Do you give nicknames to everyone you meet?” Marinette asked with a sigh, followed by a smile shortly after.
“Not to every girl I meet, if that’s what you’re wondering,” he joked. He got to his feet and looked around the tiny kitchen for something to eat, he could still see the slightly concerned look on her face. Once she’d even asked about the white streak in his hair, and he simply shrugged and said it just grew out like that. The fact that he could lie to her so easily turned his stomach, he convinced himself that he was doing it to protect her. Having been raised by Batman, having grown up alongside Dick and Barbara, most of the people he knew were already vigilantes themselves. They understood that their identities had to be kept separate in order to protect people, especially those close to them. Right now, the guilt of lying to someone who was close to him was starting to weigh on him.
So from that night on, he made a note to never fall asleep in Marinette’s apartment, no matter how nice and warm it felt. Sadly, it meant spending his mornings in his room in the Iceberg Lounge. More recently, he had been spending time in his bunker, researching Ladybug and trying to figure out what the hell she was doing in Gotham. She hadn’t been seen in her home city of Paris for about 5 years, and there haven’t been any sightings of her anywhere else. Why was she snooping around one of his warehouses? What did she hope to find in Gotham City? Nothing added up. He hadn’t seen her since that night. If she came here to join up with some other heroes, literally anyone else would have jumped at the chance to take her under their wing.
Marinette started her morning like many others, she woke up to find Jason had already left, she wasn’t entirely sure if he got any sleep the entire night. He told her that he worked at the Iceberg Lounge, and that was the reason why he left early in the morning. Between working at the shop and doing her commissions, Marinette never really had the chance to see the place for herself. It was a quiet day at the shop today, as she strummed her fingers on the counter. Very few customers came in, but a certain crime lord didn’t come knocking on her door either. She was worried he’d show up asking if she knew anything about Ladybug and what she was doing at the warehouse that night. As the hours ticked by, she was by herself and only had Tikki for company. Marinette was alone with her thoughts for the most part, and found herself thinking back to one of the few times she found Jason asleep in her apartment.
At first, when she returned to her apartment that night and found him sleeping, she let him sleep. This was because for a moment, he looked completely at peace. Sure, there was a softness to him underneath the veneer of bravado and sarcasm, and she had a feeling that she was one of the few who knew about it. When she saw him sleeping, he looked almost vulnerable, and Marinette had no intention of ruining this moment. So, she tried to work quietly, so as not to wake him. The tapping of her sewing machine seemed a lot louder than usual at that moment, and she kept glancing over to see if she had accidentally woken him. Later in the night, he had begun to stir in his sleep. Marinette didn’t move, she pulled away from the sewing machine to see if that was interrupting his sleep. After a long moment, it only got worse from there. His once peaceful expression was gone, he furrowed his eyebrows and gritted his teeth. He began violently tossing and turning on the futon, and Marinette was immediately alarmed. Tikki emerged from her usual hiding spot, pulling at Marinette’s sleeve to get her attention. “Marinette…” Marinette looked down at Kwami, hoping they had an explanation for what was happening. “Do you feel it? Do you sense the magic in this very room getting stronger and stronger?” Marinette knew Tikki was right, but it didn’t have anything to do with what was happening in front of her, did it?
Jason had begun hissing in pain, and Marinette knew she couldn’t continue to watch in horror. It made her heart sink to see someone she cared about in this much pain, but she had to be brave if she was going to help him. “Jason…” she tried to call out to him, she inched closer and closer towards him, reaching out to gently touch him. He was still twitching slightly as she inched closer still. “Jason…” she tried again, his head shook but he didn’t wake. “Jason!” she finally called, hoping that would make him snap out of whatever nightmare he was having. His eyes shot open and Marinette leapt back in shock, his soft aquamarine eyes were now a bright green. She didn’t want to say anything at that moment, she was too stunned. As he woke up from his nightmare and got his barings, they started to fade back into the colour she knew and loved. Marinette tried to ask him what happened, but to no avail, he just brushed it aside as a bad dream. Marinette had her share of bad dreams, mostly from her time as Ladybug. In those dreams she had been unable to save people from their demise. That said, her nightmares didn’t make her eyes do that.
She loved Jason, but there was a part of him that he seemed to keep secret even from her. One time she saw him shirtless, and although she was a little embarrassed at first, her curiosity surpassed her embarrassment as she saw several scars along his body. He flinched slightly when she reached out to touch them. Naturally, she wondered what happened to him in order for him to get these scars. He simply said that he got in a lot of fights as a kid and well into his teens, and all Marinette could wonder was, with who? Even the most rough and tumble kids didn’t have quite this many scars, but again, Marinette didn’t push the subject.
“Is something wrong?” Tikki asked, and Marinette glanced down at Tikki, who was sitting in her lap and looking up at her. The Kwami tried to stay out of sight from the customers, but today was slow enough that no one would notice them as long as they weren’t in the shop window. Jason would tell her the truth about his scars and his nightmares when he was ready. After all, Marinette hadn’t told him that she was once the Parisian hero, Ladybug.
“It’s nothing,” but before Marinette could say anything more, the bell above the door chimed and Jason entered the shop. Tikki dove into her pocket and Marinette leaned forward on the counter, “What can I do for you today?” she asked cheerfully.
Jason propped himself against the door, and gave her a warm smile. “I was wondering if you planned on doing anything later?” he asked, there was something charming about this sight before her. Marinette stood up and went over to the rack to straighten out some blazers that were perfectly fine minutes ago. He wasn’t going to let her live it down if just being around him was all it took to make her blush.
“Slow day today, why do you ask?” she turned back to him and smiled, hopefully her face didn’t look quite so red.
“So I was thinking,” Jason leaned over the counter just as Marinette sat back down behind it, and he was just close enough that the tips of their noses almost touched “there’s a French restaurant in a nicer part of Gotham, if you’re feeling a little homesick.” Jason smiled, but Marinette cocked an eyebrow. True, she hadn’t really explored that much of Gotham, but this came out of blue. She wondered if there was any particular reason he was suggesting this. He pulled back slightly, “Figured you could use a night-off, every night for this past week, you come straight home from running this place to work on commissions.”
Marinette knew he wasn’t entirely wrong, he didn’t know that the night before, she was on the hunt for a source of magic that seemed to hang over the city. However, explaining that would not only give away her big secret, it would also prove his point that she seemed to be working around the clock. “I close the shop at 7pm, can you come by then?” Marinette suggested, Jason smiled and Marinette cursed that charming, mischievous smile every time it made her heart race.
“So it’s a date.” Indeed it was, as he stepped out of the shop. Marinette sat there for a long moment to calm her racing pulse, before getting up and walking into the back room. There were some spare clothes that she stored there for herself, in case she got splashed by a puddle on her way to work, or in case she forgot to bring a raincoat. Hanging from a hanger was a simple black and white dress that she had recently cleaned and hung up in the back room. It was simple, yet elegant enough to wear somewhere nice.
Ships: Jason Todd/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe (side ship),
Contains: OC children
Chapter 1 - Chapter 3
Chapter 2
Ayla Lahiffe née Césaire sat outside a café, with her laptop on the table and an espresso beside her. Their daughter was at home with Nino, who was usually home at this time. She loved her family dearly, but she needed to get this article done without any distractions. She didn’t know how Marinette managed three kids, when one was already a handful for her. As she typed away, working hard on her next news article, a dark shadow loomed over her.
“Alya Lahiffe?” asked the man.
Alya looked up to see a tall man, dressed in a suit under a trench coat. He had a bush moustache and wore aviator sunglasses. She tensed slightly at the stranger standing over her, everything about the man screamed ‘suspicious’. She unconsciously reached for the Fox Miraculous around her neck, “Yes? Who are you?”
“I’m Matches Malone, I want you to tell me everything you know about Ladybug,” Matches said in a deep hoarse voice. Alya froze, Ladybug had retired years ago. Though Marinette was still the Guardian of the Miraculous, that was mainly to keep the Kwami out of the wrong hands.
“Oh, I-I don’t know all that much, Ladybug disappeared a few years ago,” Alya said as her eyes darted around, looking for any impromptu weapon if the need arose.
“Yes, but you still are the writer of Ladyblog,” Matches pressed on.
“I’ve already written everything I know on that blog, just read it, I have nothing else to share,” Alya explained, she paused for a moment and smiled weakly, “Though it probably hasn’t been updated for some time, so sorry if the layout is a little clunky.”
Matches stared at Alya for a few tense moments, “Thank you for your time, Mrs. Lahiffe,” he said before leaving.
Alya breathed a sigh of relief, but it was short lived, she needed to warn Marinette of this possible threat to her and her family. She reached for her phone briefly, before changing her mind, any message sent to Marinette could be tracked. Instead she called Nino and told him she was going to be home late, she said something came up and that she’ll tell him all about it later. Alya slammed her laptop shut and packed it back into her bag, she rushed to Marinette’s bakery to warn her.
On a nearby rooftop, Terry ripped off the fake moustache and sunglasses. “Well that went well,” he commented sarcastically.
“You blew it,” Bruce said bluntly.
“Hey, you told me to dress up as the shadiest man imaginable, I looked like a serial killer,” Terry argued as he changed into his Batsuit.
Bruce ignored Terry’s complaints, “Just follow her, she may lead us to Ladybug.”
Terry grunted as he donned his mask, he activated his invisibility cloak and followed Alya.
Marinette had taken her children to the park, they all sat together at a bench. Little Louis cooed curiously from the pram as she gently rocked it back and forth. Emma was deep into her book and Hugo was busy sketching a statue of Ladybug.
Marinette tried to hide her embarrassment from the life-like statue of her alter ego; she hadn't become Ladybug for over a decade, not since she got pregnant with Emma. She still held onto the role of Guardian, but she had no intention of handing it down to her children. For one thing, it would devastate them and her whole family if she suddenly lost all her memories. She rose to the occasion and became a hero when Paris needed one the most, she also didn’t want to put her children through the same stress and anxiety that she endured.
Marinette heard a very familiar crackling noise, almost like the sound of someone landing or running on a tiled roof. She looked up…but didn't see anyone on the rooftop. She brushed this off as paranoia, and went back to watching her children beside her.
Another few minutes go by, and out of the corner of her eye, she noticed someone a couple of benches over. The man wore a pair of sunglasses and was looking towards her, she couldn't help but feel as if the figure was staring at her. She glanced around her to see if there was anything particularly interesting in his field of vision. There was nothing of note, she had no idea what else he could be staring at. She turned back to see the man had begun feeding pigeons.
"Let's head home kids," Marinette told her children, she still watched the person as they kept feeding pigeons. Emma slotted her bookmark into her book and Hugo frowned in disappointment at his half finished sketch, before putting his sketchbook back in his bag. As the family left the park, a pair of eyes watched them from a distance on a rooftop. After all, none could escape the watchful eyes of The Demon's Head.
Marinette returned to the bakery to see a distraught Alya by the counter. "Alya what are you doing here?"
"Auntie Alya!" The children cheered.
"Good to see you too.” Alya crouched down to greet them, before giving them an apologetic smile, “Sorry I'm in a hurry and I need to tell your mother something important.” Marinette noticed the seriousness in Alya's voice, and ushered her children upstairs with Jason.
Jason pulled Marinette aside, “Something wrong?” he muttered.
“I guess I’ll find out soon enough,” she gave her husband a kiss on the cheek before handing Louis to him. The three of them went upstairs, leaving Marinette and Alya alone to talk. Once they were alone, Alya said "Someone's looking for Ladybug, some man approached me, demanding to know everything."
Marinette paled, did this person know their secret Identities? Were they looking for the Kwami? "Do they know about…us?"
Alya shook her head, "No, he approached me because of Ladyblog."
A brief, tense silence filled the room. "Thank you for telling me." Marinette placed a hand on Alya's shoulder.
“Please, be careful,” Alya begged.
“I will be,” she said as she set about closing up the bakery for the night.
Batman stood on a rooftop across the street, watching the entire interaction between the two women. “The Jason & Marinette Boulangerie Patisserie, looks like we know where to strike next,” he muttered as he watched Alya leave the shop, still looking over her shoulder for someone who could be watching her. A silence passed as Batman watched the bakery and waited. He saw the lights on the second floor turn on, and through a window he saw a small boy looking out at the city streets. The boy took out a pencil and a piece of paper and started drawing on it. Moments later a tall man came to the window and the boy began jumping up and down with glee. The man smiled and gently patted the kid on the head as the kid beamed up at him. Terry noticed that Bruce was being awfully quiet on his end, “Everything okay?” he asked tentatively.
“I’m fine,” Bruce replied in a gruff voice. Terry looked at the sign and just about pieced together what made him go quiet. Terry had heard of Jason, the former Robin who was killed, briefly came back as one of Gotham’s most infamous crime lords, and who later on just disappeared one day. No one had heard from him, people searched high and low and couldn’t find him anywhere. Everyone came to the conclusion that he had died a second time, probably killed by a rival crime lord. Maybe just seeing the name written in pretty calligraphy reminded Bruce of him. Though Bruce would never say anything about the guy himself, Dick, Barbara and Tim had been the ones to fill him in on the stories about him. Hours ticked past, eventually, the dark-haired woman who was closing up downstairs came to the upstairs window. She had a more guarded look on her face as she surveyed the view outside, before closing the curtains. More hours went by as Batman waited for all the lights to turn off, before he made his move. Somewhere in that building was their next lead on where to find Ladybug, and a lead on who or where the Guardian could be.
It was probably a good thing that Emma stayed up late to finish reading, because she could have sworn she heard a bell ring and the sound of a door closing. No, it couldn’t be, she had to be hearing things. She kept hearing noises coming from…downstairs. She glanced down at her book, sadly the thrilling tale of heroes taking on a tarasque would have to wait. She closed her book and leapt out of bed, hurrying to her brother’s bed on the other side of the room.
“Hugo, wake up,” Emma whispered harshly as she shook her brother awake. Hugo hazily looked up at his sister, his eyes squinting to see in the darkness.
“What is it?” Hugo groaned sleepily, wanting nothing more than to go back to the peaceful sleep he was having.
“Do you hear that?” Emma held up a finger and Hugo tried to listen for whatever could be bothering Emma.
“Maybe Louis needs a diaper changed,” Hugo yawned, Emma shook him once more.
“No, because Louis would have woken everyone up with his crying by now,” she whispered, “someone is downstairs. Let’s go see who it is.”
“Are you crazy?” Hugo’s unforgiving imagination conjured all kinds of beings who went bump in the night and what they did to little boys like him. Before he could stop his sister from walking right into the lion’s den, she had already made it to the door, and was carefully checking the hallway to see if there was anyone there.
Batman looked around the Bakery, checking behind the counter and inside the kitchen. There was nothing here, and he’d probably have better luck with the apartment upstairs. Before he could even contemplate how to get inside, he heard footsteps and whispers coming from the steps. Batman stood still as a teenage girl emerged from the stairwell leading upstairs, the young boy he saw in the window followed behind her. Batman stood utterly still, though the cloaking device usually worked, someone might still notice the way the world bent and warped around him to shroud him. Failing that, they might hear his footsteps, he might make a noise and alert them. As the teenage girl looked around the room, Batman slowly inched backwards, slowly moving his feet as she narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
“It’s probably nothing, Emma,” the little boy reassured her, taking refuge behind the counter. Whereas the girl, presumably named Emma, took out a rolling pin, and wielded it like a club. When her gaze landed on the spot where Batman stood, it seemed to cut right through him. She squinted at him for a long moment as Batman held his breath and didn’t move a muscle. Finally, she turned around and took her rolling pin behind the counter, but he needed to wait for her to give up the search. She glanced back at the spot where he stood, as he continued to slowly step to the side. The girl went into the back room and Batman breathed a sigh of relief as eagle-eyed Emma was out of sight. If he could check upstairs, maybe he’ll be able to find something connecting the woman who lived here to the Guardian. Before he could even touch the steps leading upstairs to find out, Emma was back with a paper bag of flour that she hurled in his direction. If this kid suspected that there was an invisible person in the room before, there was no mistaking it now.
A clouding mist of flour covered Batman from head to toe, rendering his invisibility cloak useless.
She lunged for him, she didn’t even grab the rolling pin at that point, she just started punching him. “Stop it, I don’t want to fight you,” he tried to gently push the kid off, but she didn’t let up. The boy stayed hidden behind the counter, watching from his safe vantage point.
Jason was woken from his sleep by Louis’ cries, after a few seconds, he pulled himself up and lifted the crying baby out from his crib. As he quickly changed Louis’ diaper with the ease of someone who had done this many times before, he heard loud noises coming from downstairs. As Louis calmed down, he tilted his head in confusion. Jason held Louis close to him as he went downstairs to see what was making all that noise, he had a feeling he wasn’t going to like what he saw when he went down there.
Jason came down and turned on the light to see Hugo hiding behind the counter in fear, flour spilled everywhere, and Emma punching a certain intruder who had broken in. “What are YOU doing here?” Jason growled as he saw Batman standing in the bakery, a snarl on his face. Emma turned around to see her father towering over all of them and a shiver ran up her spine, she had never seen him this angry before. Her hands fell to her sides, she was too stunned to move. Emma could have sworn her father’s eyes glowed green, she stumbled back as she looked up at her father in fear. Jason noticed the fearful look on his daughter’s face, what's worse is that she seemed more afraid of him than the intruder. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, “Emma…” when he opened his eyes again, the green glow had hopefully subsided along with his anger. Emma was taking tentative steps towards him, “Take your brothers upstairs…” he ordered as he gently passed little Louis to Emma. She gently held the baby, grabbed Hugo’s hand, and they all made their way up the stairs.
Jason turned back to face Batman and cracked his knuckles, “Don’t make me ask again asshole, what are you doing here?”
Batman shrugged arrogantly, “Look buddy, I don't want to hurt you-” he was interrupted with a thunderous knee to his stomach. He lurched forward in pain, only to be on the receiving end of a punch to the face. Alarms rang in his ears from the force, another punch sent him flying back. He crashed on the kitchen counter, his arm tried to keep him upright. He hadn’t felt a punch like that since he encountered venom patches. Jason turned on the bread oven and slammed Batman’s face towards the mouth of the oven, he could feel the heat of the flames through his mask. After a few seconds, Jason picked Batman up by the collar and held him in a headlock.
“Who the fuck are you and why are you dressed as Batman?” Jason demanded as he applied pressure on Batman’s head.
“I am Batman,” Terry groaned.
“Bullshit, you’re just some punk in hockey pants playing dress up.”
Meanwhile, Emma, Hugo and Louis burst into their parents’ room. Emma put Louis back in his cot before rushing over to her parents’ bed. Emma and Hugo jumped on the bed and tried to shake their mother awake. Marinette sat up in bed as she looked around her. Louis was back in his cot, Emma and Hugo were by her side, but Jason was nowhere to be seen. "Mom, wake up, wake up!" Emma shook Marinette once more for good measure.
"Emma, what's wrong?"
"It’s Dad, I…there was some guy…a burglar…downstairs," Emma blurted out in a panic. Marinette’s eyes widened as she pieced her daughter’s words together.
“Is he down there now?” Marinette asked, Emma and Hugo nodded.
Marinette shot up and grabbed the nearest robe, pulling it over her as she walked out the door. “Is Dad going to be okay?” Hugo asked.
"It's not your father that I'm worried about, stay here." With that, she closed the door behind her.
Marinette rushed downstairs to see her husband holding a man in a black suit in a headlock, “Morning sweetheart, don't mind him, I'll be sure to dump him in the Seine when I'm done."
"Jason?" Bruce said involuntarily, Batman parroted the question to Jason.
Jason tightened his grip as this Batman spoke his name, this wasn't Bruce. He didn't have Batman's skill, prowess or intelligence. There was no way this kid was chosen as the next Batman, it would have most likely been Dick, or failing that, maybe Tim, or even Demon Spawn himself. He considered Cass, but she would have wiped the floor with him by now. To him, some wannabe just broke into his home.
Bruce froze as he watched the whole event unfold through Terry's eyes. He thought Jason had died a second time, that he had failed his second son a second time. Bruce felt worse about it this time because they never even found a body, it felt as if he had just vanished without a trace. He took a closer look at Jason's aged face, the onset of wrinkles and silvery grey hair. Undoubtedly, it was the very same Jason Todd. Tears formed around Bruce's eyes, but he had no time to rejoice in this reunion.
“Let him go,” Marinette commanded her husband.
Jason stared at his wife for a second, before dropping Batman. He walked up to stand beside her, he stood ready to pounce on him at a moment’s notice.
“So, why are you here?” Marinette asked.
Batman eyed Jason’s glare, if looks could kill he’d died minutes ago. “Bruce asked me to find the ‘Guardian’ and Ladybug.”
Jason visibly tensed as he heard Bruce’s name, “How did you find me?” he marched forward only to be held back by Marinette.
“Dude, I didn’t even know you were here. No one did, everyone thought he died a second time Jason.” Jason’s temper slowly cooled by his wife’s touch. “The League of Assassins are up to something involving the Lazarus Pits, we need help from someone who knows how they were created.”
Jason put his hand up, “We can talk more tomorrow, come to the bakery later in the morning, before lunch.”
“Thank you,” Batman stood and made his way to the exit, but Jason’s hand forcefully grabbed his shoulder.
“Hold it right there, you still have to apologise to my kids.” Jason growled, Terry sighed while Bruce remained completely silent the entire time.
Moments later, Batman was forced to apologise to a couple of kids for scaring them and breaking into their home. Emma refused to make eye contact and pouted, while the young boy, Hugo, stared in awe, and endless questions spewed from him. One question in particular almost made Jason burst out laughing, “Could you strike a pose?” Hugo asked, already reaching for his sketchbook and readying himself to draw him. Batman visibly deflated and succumbed to the humiliation of trying to entertain children as Batman. He also had no hope of refusing him when his wide blue eyes gleamed up at him.
“I’m sorry I punched you,” Emma ground out.
Jason ruffled her hair affectionately “Maybe next time don’t go punching intruders like that,” he said, “you could have broken your wrist,” he added quickly.
“Jason!” Marinette said surprised.
Jason raised an eyebrow and shot his wife an expression that seemed to say, “You’re one to talk.”
Something told Terry that he should keep quiet as the two bickered like an old married couple.
From a distance, an assassin watched the bakery closely, “Tell Lord Al Ghul of our findings.”
A/N: Sorry these are coming out at a snail’s pace, been very busy with other life stuff. We hope you enjoy it as these ideas have been in the works for a while now. - Maribat Girl
Chapter 2
Chapter 1
Marinette sat bored at the cash register at her family bakery, it had been a slow day. She watched people walk past, with a customer or two stepping in. She hoped business would pick up, she checked her watch, school should be closing soon and then they'll get a wave of customers.
Jason emerged from upstairs carrying their infant son asleep in his arms, wearing a frilly pink apron, wiping his sweat with a towel. "Have the kids come home yet?"
Marinette chuckled as she saw her husband in a pink apron, in all their 14 years of marriage, she still never expected him to turn out like this. "Not yet, school won't be over for another five minutes." She gave her husband a kiss on the lips.
Their child stirred and cooed in his father’s arms "Wakey-wakey, happy to see me, kiddo?"
"I'm pretty sure Louis likes you more," Marinette joked as the baby laughed in Jason's hands.
Laughter quickly turned to cries, Jason gave a quick sniff before passing the baby to Marinette "Do you mind doing it? Customers probably don't want any surprises in their pain au chocolat."
Marinette laughed at Jason's crude joke and brought the child upstairs for a diaper change, while Jason took over the register.
On cue, students from Collège Françoise Dupont across the road flooded in for treats and snacks. Students selected their favourite bread and cakes and queued to pay, one student however just grabbed one from the display and began eating.
"Hey! That girl didn't pay!" One student yelled and pointed.
"I live here dumbass," the girl said as she took another bite from her palmier.
Jason couldn't help but chuckle from his daughter's response "Welcome home Emma," he said with a grin.
Emma smiled back "Palmiers are great as always," she said as she made her way behind the counter.
Emma Todd, handsome, clever and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence, and had lived nearly thirteen years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.
As the sudden rush of customers died down, a young boy entered all on his lonesome. There was a large backpack over his shoulder and a sketchbook tucked under his arm. “I’m home.”
Jason greeted his son with a smile, “Welcome back Hugo, how was school?”
“Good, can I have some macaroons?” Hugo asked politely. Jason nodded in response and gave the boy macaroons in a paper bag. “Thank you,” Hugo said as he made his way upstairs.
Hugo Todd, clumsy and scatterbrained, eight years of age with a love of art that rivalled his mother’s love of fashion. He carried his sketchbook almost everywhere and would usually get sidetracked and draw whatever caught his attention.
Hugo took after his mother, and little did he know, Jason kept his many drawings over the years in a little drawer in his study. Hugo would also watch in awe as their hamster, Marron, made his way through his cage. Emma took after Jason, and in more recent years he pretended not to notice his copy of Dracula being moved ever so slightly every time he saw it on his shelf. Jason made sure to keep his copies of Madame Bovary, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and Thérèse Raquin far out of her reach. Hugo was a gentle soul who wouldn’t hurt a fly, while Emma was brash and stubborn. She was a lot like him that way, but Jason always hoped her sharp mind would be used as a tool and never a weapon.
If you had told Jason over two decades ago that his trip to Paris would end with him meeting their local heroine, falling in love with her, and raising a family with said heroine, he would have laughed in your face. Yet, here he was, as Marinette and her family welcomed him with open arms into their lives. They didn’t know or care about his past, they treated him as part of their family. Marinette was the only one who knew the truth about his past, considering that they first crossed paths as Ladybug and Red Hood. He told her all about what happened, from fighting crime at Batman’s side since he was 13, to dying at 15 and being brought back to life, to becoming one of the most formidable crime lords in Gotham. It should have had her running for the hills, but she also got her powers at a young age and took on the heavy burden of becoming the Guardian of a box full of magic jewelry. One morning, Sabine caught him in Marinette’s room hastily putting on a shirt to cover the bandages, she gave Marinette a knowing smile before inviting them down for breakfast. Not long after they got married, Marinette got pregnant with Emma. Considering his own sordid family history, Jason couldn’t even imagine raising one kid who wouldn’t turn out as messed up as he was, nevermind three. Yet, so far his children weren’t afraid of him, they weren’t fending for themselves on the streets, and they weren’t going toe to toe with criminals every night. So, he told himself he was at least doing something right. He still kept tabs on what went on in Gotham, but he hadn’t spoken to anyone in the Bat clan for some time. Jason had been given the chance to begin anew in Paris, and so far it worked out well for him.
Jason was brought out of his thoughts with the jingle of the door opening “Welcome to the Jason & Marinette Boulangerie Patisserie.”
A young woman with blue hair entered the shop and chuckled as Jason said his line, “Must you say that tacky line all the time Uncle Jason?”
“Just for you Lian,” Jason said as he hugged the young woman. “How’s your old man? What’s that crazy asshole done now?”
Lian sighed, “He asked Auntie Emiko to team up as Red Arse,”
“Oh shit, here we go again,” Jason jokingly groaned.
“He misses you, keeps asking me to check up on you and make sure you’re staying out of trouble,” Lian said as she looked through the various loaves of bread and pastries.
“Bold words for someone who once tested out their flamethrower on the shower,” Jason retorted. “Is he staying out of trouble?” Roy fought his inner demons with tooth and nail, in hopes of becoming the father that Lian deserved.
Lian tapped her chin thoughtfully, “It’s been 30 days since one of his experiments blew up in his face,” she remarked jokingly, “So, yeah I’d say he’s doing okay.” Lian pointed to the loaf she wanted, “I’ll have the Boule,”.
“Good choice, it’s on the house,” Jason said as she packed the loaf into a paper bag. “The door’s always open for him to visit himself if he’s ever free,” Jason said as he gave the bag to Lian. “Also tell him he’s not getting any freebies,” Jason quickly added as she walked out of the shop with her free loaf of bread.
Roy was one of the only people who knew what really happened to Jason, not that he told him, he just found him. Emma was a toddler at the time, when one afternoon, a familiar face with a hideous auburn goatee walked into the bakery. Jason tried to keep his back turned, hoping Roy wouldn’t recognise him. He’d managed to make a new life for himself here, and the last thing he needed was his past showing up on his doorstep once more. He busied himself kneading the bread in the back room, while Sabine was working the counter.
“Jason!” Sabine called out to the back room, “Give this young man a fresh loaf of pain de campagne,”
Jason swore internally, “Uh, the next batch of brioche needs a bit more kneading,”
“Oh that's fine, Tom can help you there, can’t you darling?” Sabine asked her husband. He gave a quick nod and walked into the kitchen.
Jason walked out with the requested loaf of bread, already packaged into the shop’s signature paper bag. Roy squinted his eyes slightly as Jason handed him the bag, “You look familiar…”
“Is that so?” Jason kept his gaze low, as he pulled his hair net down.
“You American as well?” Roy asked, knowing the answer as he clearly heard their exchange earlier.
“Yeah, I’ve been living here for a few years,” he said and hoped that would be the end of it. Roy would walk out of the shop and leave him to his new life. The trouble was that he knew Roy, he’d seen him persistently tinker away at his inventions and it was unlikely that this trait of his ever faded.
“Seriously, you remind me of an old friend of mine,” he said, the goatee twitched as he smirked, “his name was also Jason, and he just kinda fell off the face of the earth one day.”
“Is that so? Wondered what happened to him?” Jason asked, he looked out the window at the pedestrians strolling past.
“Dunno, some people thought he died.” Roy shrugged, Jason wondered if he was better off having Bruce thinking he got himself killed a second time. Roy looked around to see if anyone was listening before he whispered, “Personally, I never believed it, I thought he was too stubborn to die a second time.”
Jason sighed, resigned to his fate, “Been a while, Roy.”
“So it really is you, what are you doing here?” Roy ran up and enveloped his friend in a hug.
Jason hugged back a little reluctantly, he wasn’t too happy about an aspect of his past reemerging. But, in the case of Roy, he was willing to make an exception.
Sabine gasped when she came back and saw them, “Two old friends meeting again, how lovely. How did you two meet by the way?” she asked.
“Dude, what’s your cover story?” Roy whispered.
“Um, our families were close,” Jason quickly answered Sabine.
“Jason, go take your break, it's fine. Catch up with your friend.” Sabine shooed the two out of the bakery.
Jason and Roy walked into a quiet alley near the bakery to talk, “So, you became a baker?” Roy said as he tried to hold back his laughter.
“Mhmm, I’ve left all of ‘that’ behind. I got married and settled down, I have a daughter too,” Jason admitted.
“Ah, so who’s the lucky lady?” Roy winked, unaware of the fact that he literally summed up his wife in two words.
“My wife’s family owns the place, that tiny old lady you saw a moment ago is my mother-in-law,” Jason told him.
“Do they know?” Roy asked, “About literally anything that happened in your past?”
“Only my wife knows, and no one else. Red Hood has no place here, and I intend to keep it that way. I’m not raising my daughter to fight supervillains,” he doesn’t know what he would do if something bad were to happen to Emma and his veins burned with rage at the thought. Marinette could hold her own, but neither of them planned on passing the torch to Emma.
“Fair enough,” Roy said.
Jason exhaled, “I’m trying to lay low, I guess you could say I took this chance to start over. I don’t want word getting out, especially to Bruce,” he explained “I sure as hell don’t want them to become a target either.”
“Hey, what do you take me for? Some loud blabbermouth?” Roy put his hand to his chest in a show of being hurt.
“Yes,” Jason responded bluntly, and there were too many people close to Roy with the power to go rooting around in people’s minds.
“Ouch, fine point taken. I won’t tell anyone, you have my word.” Roy raised his fist towards Jason, he responded by bumping his fist.
Jason smiled as he reminisced of his chance encounter with Roy all those years ago. Ever since then him and Lian would occasionally stop by the bakery whenever they were in Paris. Over the years, Roy had become more and more busy, either fighting crime in Star City or helping rear a new generation of heroes in Jump City.
“The kids and I are going for a quick walk in the park,” Marinette announced as she walked down the stairs, stroller in hand and their following behind her.
“Alright take care,” Jason said.
That afternoon in Paris, Terry McGinnis stepped out of the taxi into the heart of the city. He gaped at the beautiful sights, the Haussmann Architecture of the surrounding buildings. “Wow, so this is Paris, it's just like the post cards.”
“Stay focused, Kid,” Bruce said over the headset, “You’re looking for the ‘Guardian’, and our only lead is Ladybug.”
A/N: Sorry, we’re a little late to the party because we’ve been busy. We promise, we’ve got some fun stuff coming soon for Jasonette July.
Chapter 2
Chapter 1
Ladybug had been caught somewhere she shouldn't be, and this was confirmed by the click of a gun that she heard behind her. She slowly turned around, inch by careful inch she came face to face with the Red Hood. She could see the gun in his hand was pointing right at her, taking aim between her eyes. She slowly got to her feet, yes, this looked bad. The explanation behind it, being that she was looking for the source of a magical presence that had the gods of creation and destruction on high alert...didn't help either. To him, this probably looked like a hero in a brightly coloured costume snooping around an infamous crime lord's warehouse. Ladybug could only nervously chuckle as she stared down the barrel of the gun. She couldn't see the man’s face, just the harsh white lights on his red helmet that one would assume were meant to look like eyes. "Looking for something?" It was hard to tell with the robotic sounding voice, but Ladybug could have sworn she heard a wry edge to the comment.
"I was," she said as she slowly got to her feet. Her hands leaning on the edge of the crate behind her. She tried to keep up her nervous smile, maybe he'll see that she didn't mean any harm. "But since you're here," she said slowly as her eyes darted towards the ceiling, and her pressed her hands down on the crate. "I guess I'll be on my way." Ladybug pushed herself against the edge of the crate and kicked one of her legs up towards his gun arm, it fired and struck one of the sprinklers above them. She ducked down and bolted ahead, readying her yo-yo as she made her escape.
As Ladybug made it out of the warehouse and into Gotham’s cold city streets, they both knew the pursuit would not end there. The Red Hood continued to give chase as she swung away on her yo-yo. Whenever she managed to latch onto something, a grappling hook was never far behind. She could do this all night, but she didn’t want to and sooner or later he would catch up to her. She needed to hide and turn back into Marinette, and fast. As she reached the twinkling lights and the bustle of Gotham’s Chinatown, she saw her chance to shake him off.
Ladybug slipped into the alleyway and had mere seconds to throw him off. “Spots off,” she muttered. With a swirl of green light, she stopped looking like the former Parisian superhero and more like a small young woman. Marinette dove into the crowd of people who were either making their way home or getting some warm late night comfort food. Marinette glanced behind her to see the tall figure land surprisingly gracefully on the rooftop she leapt from moments earlier. While he searched for a woman in a bodysuit, Marinette looked away and dusted off her pink chiffon dress.
She quickly walked back to her apartment, only stopping to get dinner. As far as everyone else knew, Marinette had come to Gotham to open a small fashion studio. They didn’t know that Ladybug was here to continue to do good as a hero and as the Guardian of the Miraculous. Well, at least in the sense that she was continuing to help people by night, while she ran a small boutique and designed clothes by day. The tiny apartment was no bigger than a shoebox, but Marinette did everything in her power to make it comfortable. She always made warm bread and sweet cakes in the tiny kitchen. She had a thick soft futon on the few occasions she managed to get some sleep. Her sewing machine, mannequin and drawing tablet were neatly sectioned off into one corner. The tiny bathroom also had a bath she could submerge herself in, and there was a small shelf full of products that made her smell like a flower garden. As Marinette stepped inside, there was one other thing she neglected to tell her family and friends about. While Marinette toiled away at her commissions and designs, there was one person who was a constant presence in the apartment. When she stepped inside and shrugged off her coat, he looked up from his spot atop the futon. He had been reading a book that was roughly the size of Marinette’s head and leisurely turning the pages.
“Busy day at the shop?” he asked.
Marinette shook her head, “I was feeling hungry, so I went and got something to eat.” She set a takeaway bag down on the small dining table, taking out the small bento inside and offering it to him. One thing she neglected to tell the people back home in Paris about was the fact that she wasn’t alone in the tiny apartment. She met someone shortly after arriving in Gotham, and that someone would often stop by the apartment, so often that he practically lived there. He was a guy who, on the surface, towered over her and looked strong enough to crush her into a coke can if he thought about it hard enough. She was drawn to his kind eyes and gentle smile, and he had a fondness for literature that made him seem like he was more than just the tall brute people made him out to be. That being said, he could still be intimidating towards other people when he wanted to be.
As her boyfriend ate the bento, Marinette slumped down on the futon. She lay there quietly for a moment, her mind racing with thoughts about her encounter with the Red Hood. She had heard whispers and rumours about him in the area. People didn’t know what to make of him, but they were all certain that no one should cross him. Ladybug had probably made herself a target by searching for something in one of his warehouses. She couldn’t trust anyone else in Gotham to understand or make sense of it, nor did she want anyone else to get hurt because of it. All she knew was that Tikki had been feeling an unsettling magical presence ever since they had landed in Gotham. It was like a curse hung over this neighbourhood, possibly the whole city. They even felt its presence in this very apartment. They had always felt it from time to time, making a note to tug on the inside of Marinette’s sleeve when they felt it was particularly strong.
The spot on the futon next to Marinette dipped a little when her boyfriend finished his food. He was probably going to read a few more chapters of the book he was reading before she came home. “Jason,” she asked, her voice partially muffled by the bed sheets as she buried her face in them, “could you read me a story?” Marinette felt his fingers brush against the top of her head, gently sweeping aside the lock of hair in her face. As he softly read out the words on the page, she felt herself sink deeper and deeper into the futon, letting sleep take her.
Having read aloud the next few paragraphs of his book, Jason glanced down at Marinette, snoring softly beside him. She looked completely and utterly at peace, she wasn’t plagued by nightmares of killer clowns or the agony of being dragged back into the land of the living. As far as she knew, he worked at the Iceberg Lounge, she didn’t need to know that he owned the place. She didn’t know that her colourful little apartment was probably the last place anyone would go looking for the infamous Red Hood. She had heard of the Red Hood, heard stories of how he became Gotham’s most formidable crime lord. She once said that she couldn’t imagine what would drive someone to do that. Marinette once told him that Paris was under a long reign of terror. One where someone’s negative emotions made them a target for magic users who wanted to turn them into monsters. She felt as though they were, usually, still people underneath. In this case, they were people who were often being controlled and made to do someone else’s bidding. She didn’t understand how someone could be driven to kill those same people. So, Jason kept his other identity to himself. He kept telling himself that it was because he didn’t want to put a target on her back. Ever since he returned from the grave, he fought with everyone he thought had once cared about him. Marinette had been the one thing that hadn’t been tarnished by his ordeal.
Jason almost never slept when he stayed over in Marinette’s apartment, last time he drifted off to sleep, he had a nightmare about being submerged in the Lazarus Pit. He woke up to Marinette looking down at him with a very concerned look on her face. Once or twice, he saw that same concerned look in her eyes when she noticed the scars that marked his body. So while she slept, that gave him plenty of time to be alone with his own thoughts.
He remembered meeting Marinette for the first time in a small bookshop that he often frequented. It was run by a charming old couple and Jason liked the place enough that he took extra care to make sure nothing bad happened to it. As he looked through the shelves lined with books new and old, he spotted a peculiar sight a few sections over. He saw a young woman that was about a foot shorter than he was, trying to reach a book that was just out of her reach on the shelf above her. She looked around, unable to find a stool or step ladder to help her reach it. She resorted to trying to climb the shelves, and only then did he think to go over and help the poor girl.
Her face was scrunched up in concentration as she got closer to the book that she wanted. Unfortunately, one of her feet also slipped, and she would have tumbled to the ground had Jason not been there to catch her. The girl gave a startled squeak, before she looked up at him. He stopped and stared for a moment, she had inky black hair, a round heart-shaped face, and expressive eyes that drew him in. She glanced down at her feet, blushing with embarrassment over what had just happened. Jason quietly chuckled, it was just too adorable. He reached up and grabbed the book that she had been trying to reach, before handing it to her. “Th-thank you,” she stammered as she took the book from him
“Don’t worry about it, just try and remember the shelves aren’t really for climbing,” he joked.
“Sorry, we can’t all be giants,” she retorted, “some of us just have to try and adapt.”
Jason glanced down at the book, trying to start a conversation that didn’t devolve into him mocking her short height. “So what’s a young lady like you doing trying to reach for a book on knitting?” Jason asked.
“If you must know, I just opened up a boutique in the area,” she said, smiling warmly yet proudly, as if she hadn’t set up shop in one of the most dangerous cities on the planet. Jason was surprised anyone would set up something as unassuming as a boutique in the area, unless it was a front for something a lot less glamorous.
“In Gotham, of all places?” Jason asked, her French accent didn’t go unnoticed. She clearly hadn’t been here long as her eyes still had a hopeful shine to them. She’d probably feel more at home in Metropolis, though no self-respecting Gothamite would say that out loud. She tapped her chin thoughtfully as she looked through the other shelves, seemingly undeterred by the slight surprise in Jason’s voice.
“Yes,” she said, “plan to try and scare me away?”
“Around these parts, there’s probably no one scarier than me,” Jason was only half joking this time.
“I’m shuddering with fear,” she retorted sarcastically, Jason knew she wouldn’t be laughing if she knew the things he’d done just last week.
“Well, if you do decide to stick around, Gotham might actually get some sunshine this year,” he was about to turn and walk away, to squirrel this fun little back and forth in the back of his mind somewhere. Maybe it would be a funny memory, the kind that would make him smile, at least on the inside.
As he was about to walk out of the little book store, rapid footsteps trailed behind him and a card was stuffed into his hand. Jason stopped and looked down at the card, before glancing at the young woman who gave it to him. “Come by the shop sometime, it would be nice to see a familiar face,” she suggested, with a hopeful glow in her eyes that Jason couldn’t bear to say no to.
Jason glanced at the name on the card, “Marinette Dupain-Cheng, a pretty name for a pretty girl” he thought.
“Also, I never got your name,” Marinette scratched the back of her head, somewhat embarrassed at the realisation.
“Jason Todd,” he said, “I guess I’ll see around, Pixie.” With that, he turned and stepped out into the frosty streets.
Since that day, and the months that followed, Jason had managed to play the parts of the loving boyfriend and the brutal crime lord. On occasion, the two sides came dangerously close to merging together. Needless to say, there was a reason other crime lords didn’t come knocking on her shop door demanding protection money.
He came by once as the Red Hood, and this time he was met with Marinette having a much more guarded and serious expression on her face. Her eyes didn’t miss his holstered guns as he walked into the shop. Him being here was more of a show of the business being a part of his territory. "Can I help you?" She asked tentatively, her eyes watched him closely. He wondered if she was perhaps trying to gauge his personal style from the leather and Kevlar.
"This is just a social call, most people around here like to know who's in charge of the area," he explained.
"Is that so?" she said, "Is there anything I can do for you Mr…?"
"Call me the Red Hood," he bit back the urge to say much more than that, one wrong slip of the tongue could give away who he was under the mask. "And you are…?"
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, or 'MDC' for short." Marinette handed him the same card she gave him at the bookstore. This time she carefully placed it in his gloved fingers with both hands, as if she was worried he might bite her if she got too close. There was a cold professionalism to it, he had to remind himself who he was as he stood before her. The warm little boutique just got colder at that moment.
“So, nice place you got here,” he said, trying to make something resembling friendly conversation. Marinette tilted her head to the side, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. He could see her tense up at the remark, as though he was about to imply he would burn the place to the ground if she didn’t pay up.
Marinette stared silently at Red Hood’s attempt at small talk, her eyes darted between his mask, his hands and his guns. He understood he had overstayed his welcome. “Glad we got this out of the way, see you around, MDC.” He gave a brief wave as he walked out.
Synopsis: On the night of her parents’ anniversary, Marinette was shocked to learn that all this time, she had been the long forgotten daughter of an American businessman named Bruce. When she is given the chance to visit him that summer, she learns that she’ll also be spending the summer with his many other children.
Marinette stared at her new found family, she froze to see them all waiting for her at the bottom of the grand staircase. She felt a lump in her throat as she struggled to greet them, unsure of how they would react to her. She glanced at each of their faces, their expressions ranging from joyful to neutral to scowling. She unconsciously took a step back only to bump into Bruce.
“Welcome!” Two of them cheered, the two who cheered were a girl with blonde curly hair and a dark haired man who looked to be in his late 20s. The rest gave simple welcomes, while the one who looked to be the youngest simply grunted in acknowledgement.
“Um…hi…” Marinette tried to answer back with a small awkward wave.
Bruce cleared his throat behind her, “Why don't you all introduce yourselves?”
The dark haired man who greeted her earlier stepped forward, taking the lead and giving Marinette’s hand a good shake. “Hi, I’m Dick, I’m the eldest and the first adopted one.” He stepped back and gestured to another person beside him “That’s Jason,” he said.
Jason didn’t bother to step forward, he simply nodded towards Marinette. She couldn’t help but notice that Dick was very lean and willowy, almost like a dancer. Jason, on the other hand, was a lot more broad and looked like he could crush someone into powder if he thought about it hard enough. She smiled back and nodded at him, hoping he would be a gentle giant like Ivan.
A third boy stepped forward and also extended his hand for her to shake, “Hi, I’m Tim.”
Another girl stepped forward, she smiled and waved towards Marinette, she waved back awkwardly, “Hi,” she said simply.
“And that’s Cass, by the way,” Dick explained. Marinette thought she seemed nice enough. Out of all of them, she seemed to be watching Marinette closely, as if she was picking her apart with her eyes.
“I’m Stephanie,” the blonde girl from earlier said, “I’m friends with all these guys and I also work part time for Bruce,” She gave Marinette a two finger salute before stepping back.
“Yeah, as an errand girl,” Jason joked sarcastically.
“Shut up, Jason,” she retorted.
All eyes were now on Damian, his brows were furrowed and his arms were crossed as he stared at Marinette. He stared intensely at her, and she started to feel uncomfortable and avoided eye contact. She began to fidget nervously, the room became silent. The person across her just had to be the only biological child Bruce mentioned on the flight back, Marinette expected a verbal lashing.
Bruce intervened, “That’s Damian, say hello Damian.” His voice was stern.
Damian sneered, “Greetings.” he said flatly.
Marinette tried to smile warmly in response, “Nice to meet you all, I’m Marinette,” she said in a small but cheerful voice.
“Right, I’ve already prepared lunch. Please follow me to the dining room Miss Marinette.” Alfred gestured to everyone to follow him to the dining room.
Marinette watched as everyone took their seats at the dining table, waiting for the last available chair. Dick waved his arm with a smile and patted the chair beside him. Marinette cautiously walked over and took a seat next to her brother. Alfred came in with a trolley, on it was several dishes. Marinette could smell them and stared at the meal eagerly.
“I’ve prepared a pasta salad appetiser, along with beef and vegetarian lasagnas as the main course,” Alfred said as he placed the meals onto the dining table. Alfred turned to Marinette, “Miss Marinette, please let me know if you have any allergies or dietary requirements.” Marinette nodded in acknowledgement.
The family ate their lunch eagerly, Marinette’s nervous demeanour left as she tasted Alfred's cooking.
Dick tried to start with some small talk, "So, tell me more about yourself."
Steph chimed in, "Yeah, always wanted to visit Paris, what's it like?"
Marinette looked down at her food, "I…It's nothing special. I was raised at a bakery though."
"Ooh, do you bake? I wonder if Alfred will have competition," Dick joked.
Marinette laughed off the suggestion, before she looked around the table and asked "So uh, what do you guys do?"
"I’m a venture capitalist," Dick declared confidently.
Annoyed, Jason interjected "You do jack shit. You own a circus."
Marinette's jaw dropped in absolute disbelief, bits of lasagna fell out of her mouth and fortunately, back onto her plate. She turned to face Dick, she couldn't believe her older brother owned a circus and wanted him to either confirm or deny Jason's accusation.
Steph snorted and laughed at Marinette's reaction, "I don’t think she believes you one bit, Dick," She said while laughing and Cass nodded in agreement.
At that moment Dick stood up, he cracked his knuckles and performed a few stretches, “Alright time to show you why we were called,” he paused for dramatic effect, “The Flying Graysons.”
A voice came from the kitchen, across the dining room. “Master Dick, please refrain from swinging on the chandeliers.” Dick sheepishly sat back down.
Dick recomposed himself, “It is my family’s circus, before my parents died and Bruce adopted me.” Marinette dropped her fork as Dick spoke of his parent’s deaths, she panicked and tried to apologise for bringing up a sensitive topic. Dick put a hand on her head and messed her hair, calming her. “So Jason, why don’t you tell little Marinette here what you do?” His eyebrow raised as he finished his sentence.
Jason scratched the back of his head, “I-I run a nightclub, so not exactly the place for 15 year old girls.”
Marinette took a bite and chewed very slowly, she didn’t want to comment on that.
Steph leaned over, “You get used to it, they bicker like that all the time. But in short, Cass is a ballerina, Tim works at WE, and Damian attends Gotham Academy.”
After lunch, the family dispersed. Marinette is given a brief tour of Wayne Manor and is introduced to her room beside Cass’. After she finished unpacking, she decided to wander around. She had underestimated the size of Wayne Manor and had already forgotten the tour she received from Alfred. She stumbled around the manor, hoping to run into a familiar face. She reached the living room where she saw two grand family portraits. The first portrait she saw was the whole family, along with a few faces she hadn’t yet been introduced to, the other was what appeared to be a couple with their son. Her eyes lingered on the second portrait, curious as to who they were and why it was displayed alongside the current family portrait.
“The late Thomas and Martha Wayne,” a voice spoke from behind Marinette.
She twirled in shock only to see the voice came from Alfred.
“My apologies for startling you, Miss Marinette,” Alfred placed a hand on her shoulder and also began to admire the painting. “Your late grandparents.”
Marinette looked at what she felt was an imposing portrait, her late grandparents judging her very existence. How would they feel about her if they were here today? Probably discard her as an unwanted grandchild born out of wedlock.
“Dr. and Mrs. Wayne were some of the kindest and most generous people I’ve met in my entire life,” Alfred solemnly reminisced.
Marinette’s eyes wandered to the second, more current family portrait, Alfred noticed her staring at the second portrait. He looked back at it and thought to himself, it needed an update. After all, one more person had to be added in. He smiled to himself at the idea.
Stephanie peeked her head around the corner, “Hey Marinette, why don’t we give you a tour of Gotham?” She walked in with Cass in tow. “While we’re out, let's go shopping. Girls day out!”
Meanwhile, in the lounge, Dick had everyone else gathered together.
"So, you called an emergency family meeting, without Steph and Cass?" Tim asked, glancing around the room at his brothers. At that moment the door opened, and Barbara wheeled herself in.
"I came as soon as I heard, is it true?" she asked, she looked around the room, as though expecting to see Marinette with them.
"Steph and Cass took her shopping," Dick told them, "and I called this family meeting because if any of you were listening at lunch, we might have a problem on our hands."
"What do you mean? She didn't suspect a thing," Tim pointed out, "aside from her having a circus clown and a club owner for older brothers, and a gremlin for a younger one." He didn't miss the sour look on Damian's face at that moment.
"And she's not going to suspect a thing," Dick said, "I'm gonna need all hands on deck here."
"What are you saying?" Jason asked.
"You heard what she said in there, grew up in Paris in a nice little bakery. Sounded like a pretty nice life, all things considered," Dick reminded them.
“So, you want everyone here to keep our ‘part-time jobs’ under wraps?” Jason asked, Dick nodded.
“Then why would she go looking for Father at all?” Damian asked, “Why would she leave her quaint little life in Paris behind?”
“It’s just for the summer, Damian,” Dick explained.
“Besides, there are worse things that could happen when you go looking for your real parents,” Jason remarked.
It was at that moment Tim remembered something, “Doesn’t Paris usually flip flop between peace and complete chaos, basically at random?” he recalled.
“Yup, with the local heroes doing what they can to keep the Justice League out,” Barbara explained.
“Neither the Justice League nor the Titans have been allowed anywhere near the city for the past couple of years,” Dick recalled, “Constantine and Zatanna had been keeping a close eye on things ever since.”
“I think last time Stormy Weather wreaked havoc, the Markovs and Weather Wizard fought over who would get to adopt her,” Jason recalled.
“Think our new guest would know anything about that?” Tim asked.
“We don’t know, and the less we ask about it, the better,” Dick said finally.
Later that night, Marinette returned to her room in Wayne Manor, shopping bag in hand as she slumped face-first onto the bed. Tikki emerged from her bag, hovering over her as she lifted her head to look across the room at her bedside table.
“So, you seemed like you had a good time,” Tikki observed, cheerfully.
“Yeah, they’re not so bad. It was great to hang out with Steph and Cass, Dick was nice too. It's just…” Marinette hesitated for a moment. “I know not everyone wants me here.” She tried to start a conversation with the others, but was met with either indifference, or in the case of Damian, borderline hostile treatment.
“I know, don’t forget it was as much of a shock for them as it was for you,” Tikki tried to reassure Marinette.
“Thank you Tikki, by the way I saved you one of Alfred’s cookies,” Marinette dug into her pocket and retrieved the cookie. Tikki happily took it and began eating, “So as a full time cookie aficionado, how would you rate the cookie? Better than my family’s?”
Tikki took another big bite and gulped it down, “It’s almost as good as your family’s.”
Marinette chuckled, “I don’t how he does it, I thought there would be more, uh servants? No, that's a bit harsh, helpers. It seems as though Alfred does everything around here.” Tikki shrugged. Once Tikki was finished eating, Marinette changed and went to bed.
Marinette awoke to the sound of footsteps and grunting outside her window, with a groan she picked up her phone to check the time, 5:00 am. She turned around in her bed to try to go back to sleep, until a loud crash came from outside her window. Grumpily, she got up to see what the ruckus was all about. She looked out the window to see a figure jumping around, she rubbed her eyes and tried to focus on the figure. It was Damian, training with what appears to be...a sword? Marinette’s eyes bulged as Damian danced and swung his sword around the garden early in the morning.
Damian trained, slicing goza mats erected around him artfully, each slice cutting through his target cleanly so that it did not disturb the rest of the targets. He surrounded himself with several of them, and glided around the garden.
Marinette changed and made her way to the garden, she couldn't take her eyes off her half-brother’s swordsmanship. She watched him cut target after target for a few minutes, as she watched Damian become more and more annoyed.
Damian’s eye twitched slightly, “Does this idiot have nothing better to do than to stare?” he thought to himself, he started early to train in peace and quiet. As per his father’s request, he tried his best to contain his annoyance. He sheathed his sword and looked back towards Marinette.
As Damian stared back, she began to panic, in case she did something to offend him. She stammered as she tried to make some small talk, “G-good morning, that was pretty cool."
“Indeed,” Damian deadpanned.
“So…why do you train in sword fighting? Is it for some competition?” She asked.
Damian’s eye twitch returned, he so much wanted to yell at her, this was his life. Tim stepped in, with an alibi already prepared, “Yes, he does fencing.” Damian’s eye twitched again as he was still trying to prevent himself from exploding.
Marinette’s eyes lit up at the mention of fencing, she thought back to Kagami and Adrien sharing the same hobby. Although, they didn't train with real swords, and their technique looked very different from Damian’s. “I have a few friends who fence, maybe they could give you a few tips.”
Damian snapped, “Tips? TIPS?! IT SHOULD BE I WHO TEACH THEM! I WAS RAISED BY THE LEAGUE OF-”
Tim slapped his hand over Damian’s mouth, “Fencers, yes, League of Fencers, right here in Gotham,” he completed, attempting to be as convincing as possible. Marinette eyed Tim and Damian suspiciously, Tim put up an unconvincing smile while Damian glared at the two.
“Excuse me, breakfast is served,” Alfred’s voice came from behind all three of them. Tim felt a flood of relief as this has taken Marinette’s attention away from Damian. He needed to talk to the little demon to temporarily stop his conspicuous sword training.
Tim, Damian and Marinette followed Alfred to the dining room and she sat with her back facing the entrance. Marinette was presented with a generous portion of eggs, bacon and pancakes. She tried to engage in small talk, but Tim and Damian weren’t that talkative. So they ate in an awkward silence.
Red Hood entered the room, mug in hand and walked towards the kitchen. His outfit fully donned, his stun guns holstered, his armour slightly scratched from the night prior.
Marinette continued eating, oblivious to the vigilante behind her as she sat with her back facing the entrance. Tim coughed loudly and glared furiously at Jason.
Jason only now realised that he forgot to change, his eyes widened inside the helmet and he slowly backed away. Marinette looked at Tim with concern, she wondered if she did something to offend him, given his facial expression.
"Pancake went down the wrong hatch," Tim coughed. Marinette nodded nervously, she poked the food on her plate. She felt unsure of what caused Tim’s outburst, she was worried it had something to do with her. She occasionally glanced at Tim and Damian, who were both more focused on their meal than her. Marinette then heard footsteps come into the dining room, Jason walked back in, now changed and strode straight towards Tim.
He gave Tim a loud slap on his back and a very strained smile. Tim lurched forward, almost spitting his food out from the force. Marinette winced when she heard the thunderous slap, it was loud enough to be heard across Wayne Manor. She watched in surprise at the inconspicuous hostility between the two. Jason silently walked into the kitchen to fetch himself a cup of coffee. Marinette excused herself, her meal half eaten.
She decided to wander around the mansion. She noticed Dick with a bag by the entrance. She walked up to him, "Good Morning," she greeted.
"Morning Marinette," Dick replied with a grin, he checked his bag again and slung it over his shoulder.
"Are you going somewhere?"
"Yeah, something came up and I need to head over there and take care of it," he told her.
"Will you be gone long?"
"Nah, just need to drive across Gotham, but I'll be pretty busy. Catch you later, okay?" he messed up Marinette's hair again and left.
Marinette frowned, sad that one of the few accommodating family members had to go. She wasn't sure who else she could befriend here. She wandered restlessly and thought maybe sketching would help her. So, she brought her sketchbook to the entrance hall and drew the grand staircase.
After a few minutes of drawing Cass came down the staircase, a gym bag under her arm. Marinette greeted her and Cass nodded in return. "What are you up to today?" Marinette asked. Cass unzipped her bag and brought out a pointe shoe. “Ballet practice?” she asked. Cass nodded. “Alright, have fun.” Marinette went back to her sketching. Not a sound, not a whisper, occurred as she sketched. After some time sketching, Marinette again felt uneasy from the silence.
Marinette decided to check the library, curious as to what kind of books Wayne Manor would hold. She pushed open the large doors that creaked loudly, she peeked her head in to see if anyone was there. She spotted Jason leaning back on a lounge chair by the window, his eyes fixed on the book in his hands. Marinette left him alone, she didn’t want to disturb him. Frankly, he scared her a bit, especially after his hostile interaction with Tim at the breakfast table.
She walked around the grand library, fascinated by the many books it held and the many subdivided sections within. Fiction, non-fiction, history, philosophy, science, medicine, it had almost everything under the sun. Surprisingly there was a section on fashion, she picked up a book titled ‘20th Century Dress Designs’. She had a quick skim through its pages and felt she had seen enough. Unfortunately she forgot which shelf she got the book from, she decided she could probably just slot it in anywhere, nobody would mind.
An annoyed voice rang out just as she was about to place the book back on the shelf “Please don’t put the books back willy nilly and mess up the library.” Marinette froze, and turned around, only to be greeted by thin air. Was Jason talking? To her? She cautiously walked back to see where Jason was sitting, he still sat there on the lounge chair. His eyes never left his book as he spoke. “If you take any book out, return it to that trolley over there. Barbara will sort it out later. Understand?” he jabbed his thumb towards a trolley behind him, which had a couple books on it. She had heard Barbara’s name mentioned, but had never met her. All she knew was that she was a close family friend.
“Yes, of course, I mean, I understand,” Marinette stammered. She slowly walked up to Jason and took a seat at an empty chair beside him. “So, what are you reading?”
“A story about love, heartbreak, revenge and a hatred that burns from beyond the grave,” Jason drawled. He hoped that description would deter her curiosity, he would very much prefer some quiet time to read instead of someone pestering him with questions.
Unfortunately it backfired as Marinette’s eyes widened with curiosity, “What’s the book called?” she tried to peer at the cover and make out the letters on it. The problem was his hand was covering most of it.
Jason glanced at the book in Marinette's hands before he snapped his book shut, “You probably wouldn't like it that much,” he replied bluntly before standing up and leaving.
Marinette looked down, disappointed, she had hoped to start a conversation with her adoptive brother. She felt he had just brushed her aside, it stung, she felt like her family rejected her. Though she couldn’t blame them, she was the intruder into their lives. She got up and walked back to her bedroom.
Marinette sat in her room, bored and listless. She has no idea what to do this summer, she struggled to connect with some members of her family. Dick and Cassandra were away, Stephanie was probably working her part time job for Marinette’s biological father. She didn't know who else she could hang out with. She turned on the TV and flicked through the channels, hoping to find something good to watch. She flitted through channel after channel after channel, until she stopped at the news.
“This is Vicki Vale coming to you live from outside Arkham Asylum, Jervis Tetch AKA Mad Hatter has just broken loose. Please contact the GCPD hotline if you see him, but be warned he is considered armed and extremely dangerous.” A wanted poster was then displayed on screen.
Marinette shuddered at the sight of this criminal, now loose in Gotham. Marinette shut the TV off and opened her window. She needed to do something, she might as well make her trip to Gotham worthwhile, at least to anybody she could save. “Tikki,” she looked at her partner expectantly. Tikki nodded back. “Spots On!” and she transformed. She launched herself out the window and made her way to Downtown Gotham.
Ladybug patrolled the city, the more she travelled the more disgusted she felt. She began to see Gotham City, the true Gotham City. A city of crime, corruption, poverty and an unimaginable gap in wealth. She had seen the magnificence of Wayne Manor, the cleanliness and prosperity of the financial and fashion district. Contrasted with the poverty within Crime Alley, she watched people beg in the streets, and live in abject poverty. She couldn’t take it anymore, she felt guilty and disgusted at herself for even being related to her wealthy father. Was he even doing anything to help these people? She asked herself, over and over again. After an hour of exploring Gotham, Ladybug rested on a rooftop, looking up at Wayne Tower. She stared at its dominating presence across the entire city, a sign of wealth and decadence. For several minutes, she sat miserably at the edge of a roof.
A cry for help broke her out of her stupor, she ran to the source of the commotion to see a pair of giant men, one of whom was carrying a woman. The woman thrashed and wailed as she struggled to break free. A man of a much smaller stature who was wearing a top hat, walked up to the woman, and almost instantly she was unconscious. It was odd, this was a kidnapping in broad daylight, yet all bystanders looked as if they were in some sort of trance. Ladybug jumped off the roof and landed in front of the three, stopping them in their tracks.
“Well now, what have we here?” Mad Hatter adjusted his hat and bowtie.
“Let her go,” Ladybug commanded.
“No, no, no, no, no, no. I’m late, very late for a very, very important date with Alice. Then again…you seem a much better fit. Yes, oh yes.”
Ladybug nervously took a step back as Mad Hatter walked towards her, a wild grin on his face. He clicked his tongue in the rhythm of a clock. He took out his pocket watch, “tick…tock…tick…tock,” a blinding flash of white light shone in her eyes. When Ladybug opened her eyes, she saw that she was somewhere else.
Rated M: DC canon-typical violence, suggestive themes,
Author’s Note: Sorry for the delays, so much has happened and we have been very busy. We wanted to make this a great final chapter, and hopefully we succeeded. Thank you to those of you who followed along, we hope that you enjoyed the many highs and lows in this story. -Maribat Girl and DC Boy
Ships: Jason Todd/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Dick Grayson/Barbara Gordon (side ship).
Marinette pushed through the flames and ran, not caring which direction she went, she just needed to run. She ran through the burning streets of Paris, thinking that maybe she could still try to save people who were in danger. She listened for a cry for help, a scream, something that signaled to her that it wasn’t too late to help them. Instead there was nothing, just the crackle of flames and the silence of a city that had been lost. Marinette was faced with the overwhelming horror that her world was literally going up in flames. Somewhere off in the distance, she could hear heavy laboured breathing, as if someone was trying to keep from crying out in pain. The sound led her down a dark alleyway, where damp brick walls were lined with pitch black shadows. “Hello?” Marinette called out tentatively, maybe there was someone she could still save from this nightmare. That was until she saw the red string glow bright red in the darkness, leading her into the shadows. A tall, imposing figure emerged from them, and Marinette gasped.
“Surprised to see me?” he sneered.
“Jason, this-this isn’t you, not the real you,” Marinette pleaded.
“You don’t know the first thing about me!” he yelled, “The person you think I am is a fantasy! A sham! Maybe this is the real me!”
Marinette took a couple of steps back, feeling his acid green eyes on her. She frantically looked around, trying to think of a plan to stop this. She couldn’t seem to control her powers right now, but she could still try and think of a plan. She dove past him into the shadows, he would still be able to follow her, but she would have time to think. As she ran, she heard his voice echo throughout the alleyway. “Was your perfect little life in Paris really so boring?” he asked, “You came all the way to Gotham to look for Prince Charming, and instead you found the Beast.”
Just when she thought she had managed to outrun him, she was sent crashing back to earth, in every sense of the word. She tripped and skidded across the cold pavement beneath her feet. She looked down at the puddle beneath her, and she saw Jason’s wild eyes reflected back in the water. She quickly got to her feet, charging further into the darkness to escape. His words stung a little, she had to admit. She took a moment to steel herself. This wasn’t the real Jason, this wasn’t the person who saved her time and time again, this wasn’t the person who made her feel safe and warm. When she looked down at her hands once more, they were replaced with Lady Noire’s claws. When he finally caught up to her, she was ready for him, and fought back with a swipe of her claw. She was done running, she had done enough hiding, right now she had to face her fears.
Moments later, she was hoisted up and pinned against the wall, pushing him back with her staff using all her might. He showed no sign of letting up, there was nothing in his eyes that told her he recognised her at all. If she didn’t do something soon, he would kill her . It felt like he was going to kill her, his eyes were only filled with wild, unyielding rage. Perhaps what she feared losing most were those softer moments between them, moments where he was more than the bloodthirsty monster people made him out to be. She squeezed her eyes shut, remembering the person she knew her soulmate to be. This wasn’t Jason, this wasn’t the man who had protected her all those times before. This wasn’t the person she could trust to catch her if she fell. This wasn’t the person she loved. Tears streamed down her face, she gritted her teeth, she could barely open her eyes and look at what she was about to do. If she didn’t do something fast, it would be the end for her.
Lady Noire threw her head forward, knocking into Red Hood’s cracked helmet and sending him staggering back a couple of steps. She quickly swept his legs out from under him and pinned him to the ground with her staff. As he glared up at her, it almost hurt to look into his eyes. She felt her tears welling up even more, and she squeezed her eyes shut, steeling herself to try and end this nightmare. To do that, she would have to end him. With one clawed hand on his chest, she raised the other in the air, “Cataclysm,” she murmured. Darkness and green light swirled around her hand and danced between her fingers.
“So what happens next, Kitty? You gonna end me here and now?” Red Hood asked tauntingly.
“You’re not the real Jason,” she said, and told herself time and time again as she was getting ready to bring the full force of her power down on top of him. “Even if you were, you wouldn’t be able to live with yourself if you killed me. You tried to push me away, you were prepared to walk away from this bond because you didn’t want to hurt me,” she reminded him. She fought back the tears in her eyes, there would be plenty of time to shed them later as she brought her cataclysm down towards him..
“But do you have it in you to kill me?” Red Hood asked her, she froze, just before the tip of her claw could graze his chest. “Is that what “the real Jason” would want you to do?”
She pondered it for a moment, is this what he would have wanted? Could she really go through with this? Could she bring herself to kill the man pinned to the ground beneath her? Could she really bring herself to kill anyone? That was never a choice she had to make before, not when it would mean killing people who were simply being controlled by another person. She shook her head and tried to convince herself that the vision before her was just that, a vision. In many ways her and Jason were different, except for one thing that made them very much alike. That being that they had been pulled into this world of heroes and villains from a young age, with mentors who probably had high hopes for both of them. One of them was tragically killed, while the other was just simply lucky. “If he wanted to, if he wanted me to be just like him,” Marinette heard herself say, “there were faster ways to do it,” who could say what would have become of her if she had been forced to meet the same gruesome fate? He could have let her suffer by his own hand or someone else’s. He could have left her at the mercy of the people who threatened her, left her tied to Dollmaker's operating table, or he could have just simply killed her himself. Instead, he tried to protect her at every turn, maybe in hopes that she wouldn’t suffer as he did.
“So, you won’t kill me,” he scoffed, “but you’ve also seen what’s inside me. All that rage, misery and pain, it’s what’s keeping me alive. You’re the one who got way in over your head, thinking a wave of your yo-yo was all it would take to save me.”
“If that was all it would take, I would do it. Believe me, I would,” she couldn’t stop the tears streaming down her face.
"You're a naïve little girl who still thinks I can be saved, that's what you thought since the day we met," he growled, "You just can't face the fact that there's no fixing me, that there's no saving me."
Yet, that never stopped him from trying to save other people, and doing all he could to protect those close to him. “There’s more to you than you realise. That boy in the photo, the one who read stories hoping they would take him away from Crime Alley, he’s still alive inside you,” she wept, “and there’s no one else who understands me like he does.” She gently lowered her cataclysm to her side, while her other hand reached up to gently caress Red Hood’s face. She pressed her forehead against his, smiling as tears continued to run down her face. “I’ve defeated you at your worst before, let’s end this together, my love.” She drove her cataclysm into the ground, bright light burst through the cracks as the ground opened up. She didn’t lift her head to watch the world around them crumble, she just closed her eyes and didn’t dare to open them once more at that moment.
Marinette’s eyes fluttered open, they struggled to regain focus as she woke up. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she tried to wait for it to slow as she looked up at the ceiling. Slowly, her vision cleared and she saw that she was laying in what looked like a bedroom. A fully stocked bookshelf and a desk were in the corner, the room was spotless and very little seemed to have been moved out of place. Her hands clutched the soft sheets beneath her, she didn’t know where she was. As she tried to get her bearings, she looked to the side and saw Jason. He was asleep in the chair next to her, head resting on his hand as he slept. She always loved how peaceful he looked like this, and wanted to enjoy this moment for a little while longer.
She slowly hoisted herself up, until she sat up on the bed, “Jason,” she croaked with a dry mouth. She didn’t realise how dry her mouth was until that very moment. Jason stirred at the sound of his name, he almost stumbled as he saw Marinette awake. He slowly got to his feet, Marinette’s eyes widened in recognition as she saw the gentle shade of aquamarine in his eyes and the unexpected softness in them that often drew her in. He had only just got to his feet when Marinette threw her arms around him, burying her face in his t-shirt. Her whole body shook as she sobbed, whether it was from the terror of what she had seen or because she was relieved it had ended, she didn’t know. Jason carefully wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close as he ran his fingers through her hair.
"You're safe now, it was just a bad dream," Jason reassured her. He held her close for a long moment, he sometimes saw people peer in through the crack in the door. Maybe they needed to see for themselves what their fated bond meant, and the lengths they would go to for one another. Maybe it used to help them sleep easier at night to remember him as a cold, unfeeling monster. As he held Marinette close to him, all that mattered to him at that moment was that she was safe. He hadn't returned to Wayne Manor since his death, he made it clear that didn't come back for Bruce, or anyone else but Marinette. Even now it unnerved him to be in this very room, it looked and felt like an untouched shrine to a person he half remembers. A kid who, for a moment, dared to believe in a soulmate who loved him. All he did in turn was die tragically, and it broke the heart of someone he had yet to meet. The bond between them was never severed, and maybe the divine being that tied them together really did have a twisted sense of humour. Still, he didn’t promise that divine being, wherever or whatever they were, a damn thing. Marinette was the one who sought him out, she knew exactly what she was getting herself into, and she was the one who wanted him to stay.
As Marinette dried the last of her tears on his shirt, she looked up at him. Her blue eyes weren't searching for something in him, instead they were seeing something that was clear to them. What she managed to see in him, Jason was never entirely sure. He brushed his thumb along her cheek, before she reached up and pulled him into a brief but desperate kiss. Even after she broke the kiss, she pressed her forehead against his.
Suddenly they heard Alfred clear his throat behind them, and Marinette quickly slumped back down on the bed, a light pink blush dusting her cheeks while Jason sat back in the small armchair. Alfred set a small tray down in front of her, she perked up at the small mug of hot chocolate and the pastries arranged on the plate. Alfred turned around and smiled slightly, before leaving the room.
Upon seeing that their Guardian was very much alive and kicking, Tikki decided to emerge from Marinette’s bag and affectionately nuzzle into Marinette’s face. As Marinette gave them one of the pastries to nibble on, Tikki glanced over at Jason. Tikki knew that from the moment he entered the room, he had stayed by Marinette’s side the entire time. Even one of the Kwami looked at him as if there was a part of him that the Lazarus Pits weren’t able to eat away at. Somehow he was the only one who struggled to see it, but maybe one day it would become clear to him. He stood up from the chair and stretched, before walking towards the door.
“Where are you going?” Marinette asked.
“I just need some air, Pixie,” he answered, but before he could set foot outside, there was a knock on the door.
Barbara opened it a second later, and glanced up at Jason, “Oh good, I was just about to ask if you could give us a minute?”
“Sure, if anyone needs me, I’ll be outside,” he said before walking out the door.
Jason shut the door behind him and Barbara turned towards Marinette, who was taking a sip of hot chocolate. “How’re you feeling? You had us all worried there for a while,” she asked, wheeling around the bed towards her.
“I’m sorry…” she said, “I guess I’ll never get used to how different things are in Gotham.”
“So, if you don’t mind me asking, what did you see?” Barbara asked, tentatively.
Marinette took a deep breath, “I saw my home city burning,” she recalled, “I saw all the people I couldn’t save, and all the people who I felt like I had let down.” Marinette hugged her knees close to her at the memory. “I even saw the people who carried the mantle before me, I felt like I had managed to fail them too.”
Barbara placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, “Sounds like a heavy burden to carry," she said, "I wish I could tell you it gets easier, something we all had to learn is that you can't always save everyone." Barbara placed her hand back in her lap, "From what I've seen, when you're given the chance to try and save someone, you seem hellbent on making sure you do." Marinette smiled at her observation, "Maybe next time, at least tell me before you decide to go on a secret undercover mission to infiltrate a serial killer's base," she raised an eyebrow at Marinette. Barbara glanced at Marinette’s phone, half heartedly shoved into her bag when they moved her here in a hurry. "You might wanna answer some of those," she remarked. Marinette quickly reached for her phone to find various concerned messages from Zoë, Alya, some university classmates and her parents. Barbara smiled slightly and wheeled out of the room as Marinette frantically typed up reassuring replies to ease their minds.
As dusk began to fall, Marinette walked out to see Jason smoking outside next to his bike. He glanced up at her as she strode towards him, “You should be in bed,” he remarked, blowing out a puff of smoke.
“I’m fine now, aren’t I?” Marinette retorted as she smiled.
Jason threw down his cigarette and stomped it out, “God, you’re stubborn.”
Marinette chuckled, “I know, and you love me for it.” she walked over and slung her arms over Jason’s shoulders and around his neck.
Jason hugged her back, “I do, Pixie,” he whispered as his lips softly brushed the top of her head. The two released each other and Jason leaned back against his motorcycle, “So, if you’re so insistent on leaving this damn place, not that I blame you, where to next?” He gently tilted her chin up so she could look up at him, and see the mischievous smirk on his face.
“Hmm, how about dinner at that French restaurant again?” she suggested, her cheeks heated up when she wondered if she’ll get a kiss goodnight this time.
Jason dropped hands and put on his helmet, “Hop on, Pixie,” he said as he started up his motorcycle. Marinette slid in behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her chin on his shoulder. As they sped off, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the cool breeze rushing past them. She glanced down at the red string at their feet for a moment. It remained unbroken and untangled, it would always shine in the darkness and light their way back to each other.
Synopsis: On the night of her parents’ anniversary, Marinette was shocked to learn that all this time, she had been the long forgotten daughter of an American businessman named Bruce. When she is given the chance to visit him that summer, she learns that she’ll also be spending the summer with his many other children.
Rated T: Language
Content Warning: This chapter contains references to works of literature that could be considered spicy (only the titles of these works are named).
Ships: Gen.
Author’s Note: Hi everyone, sorry we haven’t posted in a while. We’ve both been very busy. DC Boy has had this Bio Dad Bruce fanfic idea for a while now.
One of us has a headcanon that Jason has read classic literature that was a bit more spicy, most likely when no one else in the Batfamily was looking.
Also here’s the source of our research into a ballet dancer’s routine: Teen Ballerina's Daily Routine 1 Week Before a Show | Teen Vogue
Chapter 2
Chapter 1
On this breezy evening in Paris, Marinette’s parents had just celebrated another anniversary together and they treated themselves to a glass of wine. Marinette yawned as she walked to the kitchen late at night for some water, as she walked to the kitchen she saw her parents sitting on the sofa with their backs turned towards her. Marinette opted to creep past them quietly, letting them enjoy their quiet moment together. She poured herself a glass of water while her parents talked.
“Thank you, it was a lovely evening.“ said Tom as he held his wife.
“No, thank you. I know it has never been easy.” Sabine lamented over a glass of wine.
“Oh, it was nothing.”
“Really, it meant a lot to me. Especially since you’ve accepted Marinette.” Sabine swirled her glass thoughtfully. Marinette’s ears perked curiously at what her mother just said. What did she mean by her father ”accepting” her?
“Sabine, I love Marinette as if she was my own daughter.”
As if she was his own daughter? Marinette repeated in her mind, she unknowingly dropped her glass with a loud crash. Her parents quickly sprang from the sofa and rushed to turn on the light. When they turned around, they saw their daughter, the one they had just been talking about and the shattered glass on the ground. She froze as if she was a deer caught in headlights. “I’m…not…your…daughter?” she barely spoke above a whisper, she shook at the sudden revelation. Tom grabbed a broom and dustpan to sweep up the broken glass while Sabine comforted her daughter.
“I should have told you long ago, but I never found the right time or had the strength. It's just that…'' Sabine hesitated as she tried to explain what they were talking about a moment earlier. They were all sitting on the sofa together with their stunned daughter unable to take her eyes off the floor..
“You were born before we met and got married. Does it really matter? So long as we have each other,” Tom tried his best to placate Marinette and pulled her into a big hug. Marinette hesitated to hug him back and began to cry onto her step-father’s chest. After a few minutes, Marinette calmed down enough to talk.
“W-Who is my real father?” Marinette asked, curious yet nervous of the truth.
Sabine took a deep breath, “His name is Bruce, he’s a businessman from America.”
Marinette stayed silent as she tried to process this sudden revelation, she left her parents' embrace and went back to her room. Sabine tried to follow but a large hand was placed on her shoulder, Tom stopped her and shook his head.
Marinette curled up in a seated position on her bed, her mind in a mess of thoughts as she tried to process what she just learned. Part of her felt rage, rage at being abandoned by her birth father. Did he just decide that her mother wasn’t good enough for him and cast her aside? Another part of her felt melancholy, had her birth father truly felt that she was so worthless and abandoned her? What must he think of her mother? Did he even know she, his daughter, was alive? Or did he thoughtlessly abandon her before she was even born? Her thoughts spiraled as she sat restlessly all night. She had already endured years of people like Chloe telling her that she was a pathetic loser, she didn’t need it from her own birth father too.
Next day, Marinette trudged along to school with sullen eyes, she didn't get any sleep the previous night. Alya kept eyeing her best friend in concern, she barely responded all day and almost face planted herself onto her lunch. Her concern grew as Marinette didn't even respond to Lila, Chloe or take any notice of Adrien all day. During lunch Adrien walked by to give Marinette a coffee, Alya accepted it on Marinette’s behalf as she didn’t even register Adrien at all.
After school Alya had to drag Marinette to a nearby cafe to have a heart to heart talk. “All right, we need to talk. You’ve got eyebags that raccoons would be jealous of, you’ve barely said a word all day, and you didn’t even look up when Adrien brought you a coffee,” she pointed out.
Marinete clenched her fists as tears poured from her eyes. “I...I’m not my father’s daughter.”
Alya gasped, she tried to formulate a response, or any consoling words for her friend, but nothing came out. She stared speechless as Marinette buried her face in her hands and began to sob. “Do you know who your real father is?” Alya asked hesitantly.
“Just some American,” Marinette replied flatly.
“How’s your Dad taking the news?”
Marinette calmed down slightly as she thought of the man who raised her, “He already knew, I was born before they married.”
Alya released a sigh of relief, “Okay, this isn't as bad as I thought it’d be. Your parents are alright and happy, it doesn’t matter as they still love you all the same.” She placed a hand on Marinette’s shoulder to reassure her. “Does it really matter? This doesn’t change anything.”
Marinette lifted her head, “You’re right, I can’t help but wonder, why did he abandon both my mother and I?”
“Doesn’t matter, what's done is done. You’ve never even known him, you could just move on,” Alya suggested.
“No, I’m going to ask my mother more about him. I want answers.”
Alya smiled as she saw some of Marinette’s energy return to her, “If you ever find him, kick his ass. Better yet, call my sister.” Alya raised her fists in the air, mimicking some of her sister’s moves.
That evening Marinette spoke to her mother alone, she tried to ask for more details about her biological father. All she got was the same answer over and over again, some American businessman named Bruce. Her mother would not budge to give her more details.
"Mum, please, I just…I want to meet him," Marinette pleaded. "Does he know about me?" She asked.
"No, I'll give him a call and let him know about you. I'll ask him if he wants to meet you too," Sabine returned to her bedroom, she emerged minutes later with an old photo and gave it to Marinette.
Marinette looked at the photo, it was old and worn, yet she could clearly see it was a photo of her mother in her younger years along with the man who was supposedly her father. She flipped the photo to see a handwritten message "Thanks for the great time, love Bruce" along with a telephone number written below. Marinette's hand began to shake as she saw the only connection to her father before her.
Sabine noticed this and gently held Marinettes hand, "let me call him, I'll let you know if he wants to meet you. You go do your homework," Marinette returned the photo and went to her room.
Marinette had put these thoughts in the back of her mind for the next few days, until her mother approached her and asked her to spit in a tube. Marinette stared blankly at her mother at the sudden and odd request, until she was told this was for a DNA test. She sheepishly obliged and went about her day.
After a couple weeks her mother approached her again and told her that her biological father was delighted to know that she existed and would very much like to meet her. In fact, he had arranged an all expense paid trip to Gotham City for her summer break. Marinette's eyes widened as she heard Gotham City and she began to panic, “Oh god, my father is a rich man living in Gotham, he must be a mob boss. Oh no, he’s inviting me just to kill me off isn't he? To get rid of any potential scandal and toss my body into a river somewhere in the dead of night and my swollen body will be unrecognizable when the police find it washed up the next morning and-”
Sabine looked at Marinette expectantly, “Marinette? Did you hear me?”
Marinette jumped in surprise as her mother spoke, she adopted a strained smile, borderline grimace. “That sounds wonderful,” She barely managed to respond.
“It is, isn’t it?” Sabine then handed Marinette an envelope. “Your father has sent you a ticket, everything you need is in there. He’ll meet you at the airport and the two of you will go to Gotham together.” Marinette accepts the envelope and rushes into her room.
Next day at school, Marinette seemed to be an absolute nervous wreck. She seemed to be glancing over her shoulder every few seconds in the hallways. She kept nervously clicking her pen or tapping her fingers on the table in class. Alya was starting to get a little worried. During lunch she asked, “Let me guess, it has something to do with ‘You Know Who’?”
Marinette could only nod, “Alya, you’ve been my best friend for years.” Alya raised an eyebrow at the sudden change of topic. Marinette then handed Alya a piece of paper, “here is my last will and testament.”
Alya recoiled at the severity of receiving this from Marinette, “What is happening? ” she demanded.
“My biological father wants me to come over to…” Marinette couldn’t finish her sentence.
“Oh, that’s not so ba-” Alya spoke before getting cut off by Marinette.
“To Gotham City.”
An awkward silence surrounded the two. “Gotham fucking City? As in, the city with the highest crime rate on planet Earth?” Alya whispered harshly, shocked as to why they would even meet there.
“I’m scared, he’s some rich business man in Gotham. I just know it, I’m a scandal, a ticking time bomb to ruin his career. He’s going to get rid of me, throw my poor corpse into some junkyard or into a river or-” Marinette trailed off.
Alya pinched her brow, this was much more serious than she thought. “Okay, okay calm down. That may or may not be true. Besides, you've got those ‘lucky earrings’ don’t you?” Alya nudged her friend in an attempt to calm her down.
Marinette takes a deep breath, “You're right, I’ll need them.”
Summer arrived and Marinette had her bags packed, she hugged her parents tightly and gave Alya a farewell call on the way to the airport. At the airport, she wore a brightly coloured floral dress that she made. She hoped the bright colours and pretty clothes that she made herself would inspire some kind of good first impression. She presented her ticket to the Wayne Airlines counter, the person behind the counter stared at the computer for several seconds before rapidly scanning Marinette’s ticket over and over again. Marinette grew nervous as not only other passengers stared at her, but the person behind the counter had called their supervisor over. The people behind the counter discussed in disbelief for another minute, the supervisor then walked off to make a telephone call. “I’m sorry Miss, it’s just that your ticket is…’unusual’ and my supervisor is checking it.”
Marinette gulped, “Okay,” was the only response she was able to muster.
She stands by the counter for a few minutes, then a tall figure in a suit comes up to her. She recognised him as the aforementioned supervisor that spoke to the person behind the counter. “Greetings Miss Dupain-Cheng, Mr. Wayne will see you now. Please, follow me.“ Marinette followed the man to the VIP area, she marveled at the elaborate decorations, she just had to take her notebook out to make brief notes on their designs. So engrossed in her note, she hadn’t noticed that the man had stopped and she clumsily bumped behind him. She muttered a quick apology before peeking her head around the man to see the waiting room.
In that waiting room stood a tall, muscular man with his back facing Marinette, talking over the phone. Marinette tried to step forward but the man held her shoulder, “Please wait young miss, Mister Wayne is currently busy.” The man instructed before walking away, Marinette waited nervously for her biological father.
“Yes, Lucius, I know,” The figure spoke as he paced around the room. “What would I ever do without you?” Bruce peered over his shoulder, only now noticing that Marinette was waiting for him. “I’ve got to go now, Lucius, I’ll talk to you later when I get back to Gotham."
As he turned to face her, Marinette looked up at the face of her real father. She swallowed nervously, he was much taller, much more imposing in person. Now Marinette understood where she got her blue eyes from, as his own looked down at her. Marinette wondered for a moment if he was staring her down, judging her. She was the daughter of two bakers, one of which was a woman he had a brief tryst with. He was a wealthy businessman, a known playboy, and probably had doubts about whether she was actually his child. Marinette tentatively held out her hand, as though she was worried he was going to bite it off for daring to let it anywhere near him. “My name is Marinette,” she tried not to stammer as though she was unsure about it, “my mother has told me a lot about you…”. He gave her a polite smile, one that was probably reserved for talking to the press. He took Marinette’s hand and gave it a gentle shake. Though she gave him a limp and weak handshake as she tried not to grip his hand too tightly, she tried to convince herself that it was a start.
“Yes, Miss Marinette Dupain-Cheng?” There was something impersonal in the way he said her full name. As if she was a stranger that he was meeting for the first time, and hadn’t given her much thought over the past few years.
“It’s good to meet you, Mr. Wayne,” Marinette wanted to mentally shake herself, that made her sound more like his aspiring secretary instead of his daughter.
“Please, call me Bruce,” he told her, keeping up that same cordial smile. She nodded, not entirely sure of what else to say at that moment.
Moments later, he gestured to the private plane on the tarmac, a proud smile on his face. “Behold, the Wayne Air Prototype: Fledermaus, with a cruising speed of Mach 2, we’ll be in Gotham in three hours. We should be back at Wayne Manor by lunchtime.”
Bruce glanced back at Marinette trailing behind him before he stopped and stepped aside, gesturing for her to go on ahead. “Before we go, I need to make a call back home.” Marinette nodded and tentatively ascended the steps to the cabin.
Back in Gotham City, it was early morning. Alfred just finished serving breakfast to the family as they returned from another night out on patrol. Dick walked past to get himself a cup of coffee as Alfred answered the call. “Hello Master Bruce, how is Paris?”
“Good, I’m about to board my flight back. We’ll be back for lunch, could you prepare a guest room by then?”
“A guest room?” Alfred asked, scratching his chin, Dick leaned over to listen in on the conversation. Alfred glanced over at Dick leaning over the counter, before putting the phone on speaker.
“Yes, I recently learned that I have a daughter, she’s 15 and I’m bringing her back over for the summer,” Bruce explained over the phone.
Dick yanked the phone from Alfred’s hand, “You have a daughter and you didn’t bother to tell us this before you left for Paris?!” Dick yelled. He tossed the phone back to Alfred before grabbing a pan and a ladle. He ran out to the dining table and banged them together to get everyone’s attention. “Code Red, Code Red, Bruce is bringing back another kid.”
Tim covered his ears from the banging, “Bruce is bringing another Robin, so what?”
Dick slammed his hands on the dining table, “That's the thing, it isn’t some orphan he picked up. He just found out he has another biological kid,"
"Is this one another demon spawn?" Tim groaned, Damian shot him a glare.
"She’s probably a civilian, we have less than three hours before they arrive.” Everyone’s eyes widened as it dawned on the entire family that they had less than three hours to hide everything and prepare for the arrival of their newest family member.
Everyone jumped from their seats to clean their respective rooms. Tim ran from room to room, distributing cardboard boxes for everyone to store any Bat related equipment. It would all have to be stored down in the Batcave.
As he left Damian's room he poked his head in the doorway and warned him "Demon Spawn, hide your swords!" Damian crossed his arms and grunted in response.
Elsewhere, Jason slept face down on his sofa back at his apartment, he was rudely awakened by his phone ringing. He swung his arm several times to reach his phone, before he finally managed to pick it up on his fourth attempt. “Who is it and what the fuck do you want?” he answered angrily.
“Jason, Bruce is bringing back another kid!” Dick yelled on the other end.
“So, why should I care?” Jason groaned.
“It’s not some random orphan he plans to train to be another Robin.”
“Another Demon Spawn, then?” Jason asked groggily.
“Not that either, secret lovechild.”
Jason sat up at the odd surprise, “So who was it with this time? Wonder Woman?”
“Nope, some civilian. We need all the help we can get to clean up any and all traces of our ‘night time activities.’ She’ll be here in three hours, we don't need her questioning why we have swords, grappling hooks, or batarangs lying around the house.”
“I don’t see how that's my problem Dickie,” Jason shrugged.
“Did I mention she’s French and 15 years old? What would happen if she found your old copy of Madame Bovary on your shelf? Hmm?”
Jason leaped off of the sofa and put on his leather jacket, “Alright, you’ve made your point I’m coming over to pack my shit up.” He ran out and jumped onto his motorcycle.
He raced across Gotham and arrived at Wayne Manor, an empty cardboard box with his name written on it was waiting for him on the doorstep.
He picked it up and rushed towards his room. As he ran across, he heard Dick call out to him across the distance, “Jason, when you’re done bring the box over to the garage and seal all entrances to the cave!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Jason grumbled as he rushed into his room and threw any equipment and various books into the box that would be best kept out of the young girl’s reach. There was the copy of Madame Bovary Dick mentioned, but he also threw in his copy of Thérèse Raquin, and Lady Chatterley’s Lover for good measure. With the box full, he ran towards the garage to see Tim loading several labeled boxes onto the elevator to the Batcave.
“Just put it on the pile over there and I'll sort it out later,” Tim deadpanned as he finished loading them and brought the elevator down to the Batcave.
Jason then made his way to Bruce’s study, there sat Damian sitting behind his father’s desk, brooding. Damian sneered as Jason ran in, he crossed his arms. “Hmph, such foolishness, why is everyone acting in such a way?”
“Look Demon Spawn, people aren’t exactly looking forward to exposing their deepest darkest secrets. Especially not to children, or worst of all, chatterboxes.” Jason didn't bother to look at Damian as he spoke, he flipped open the bust of William Shakespeare and locked the bookcase to the Batpoles.
“Bah, it's such a waste of time, why is Father even bringing her here?” Damian complained. Jason still did his best to ignore him, he rolled up his sleeve and reached into the fish tank and deactivated the iron maiden entrance. “I find out I have a sister from some harlot and now he’s bringing her over?!” Damian grew angrier at the thought that the entire family was doing all this for some unknown stranger, and worse for some half sibling that was not trained in any way.
Jason had reached his limit, “Verification code, Bravo Tango Three Six Six–” He called out into the room. “Chair,” Jason said with an evil grin towards Damian. Damian eyed Jason suspiciously before a hole appeared at his feet and the chair he was sitting on pushed him into said hole.
“Damn you Tooooooooooooodddddd!” He cried indignantly as he fell into the Batcave.
Jason chuckled before he continued the task at hand, rushing around and sealing the grandfather clocks around the estate. Finally, he reached the living room and he stood by the piano frustrated, trying to remember the piano key combination. Jason gave up and started mashing the keys hoping to eventually get the combination. Dick walked in annoyed, hands covering his ears. He shouted, “You’re supposed to seal the entrance, not cause everyone to go deaf..”
Jason stepped aside, “I forgot the damn combination, I'll get it eventually.”
Dick sat on the stool and cracked his knuckles, he readied his fingers to hit the piano keys. “Shit, I forgot it too.” The two turned to look at each other.
“Let’s keep her away from the piano,” Jason suggested.
“Works for me,” Dick agreed and the two went their separate ways to continue to clean up Wayne Manor.
Marinette sat on the plane opposite Bruce, the two sat silently while he tapped away on a tablet. She didn’t know what to say to him now, it was just the two of them in the cabin, with the exception of a cheerful hostess “Do you have other children?” Marinette asked downcast.
“Yes I do, five of them.”
Marinette looked down, even more worried at how her half-siblings would react to her existence. Would they call her or her mother a homewrecker? Would they see her as an outcast and bully her the entire time she was there? Marinette
Bruce noticed Marinette’s reaction and tried to ease her worries. “All but one are adopted.” Marinette looked up in shock. “Dick’s the oldest, followed by Jason, Cass, Tim and Damian. Damian is my only biological child, well, until I found you.”
Marinette became a bit more optimistic after finding out the others had been adopted, perhaps they wouldn’t be angry for suddenly appearing in their lives.
Back in Gotham, Stephanie’s phone rang. After a night patrolling the city and swapping out with Cass towards the end, she really needed the extra sleep. She twisted and turned on her bed, feeling frustrated she wrapped her pillow around her ears. But the ringing persisted and she had no choice but to pick up the phone. She glanced up at the screen, as “Tim” flashed up on it. “What do you want?” she groaned.
Tim’s panicked voice came from the phone, “Steph, we need all hands on deck, Bruce is bringing home another kid.”
She sat up on her bed and pinched her nose, “Another one? Damian’s not gonna like that.”
“This one isn’t another Damian, she’s a civilian, as in we need to hide all our gear. Also, Cass said she left her ballet bag at your place and needs it back.”
Stephanie gazed around her room and found the aforementioned bag on her sofa, “Alright, I’m on my way.” She begrudgingly got up. She stopped by to get herself some coffee on her way to Wayne Manor, once there she could hear the chaos from outside. As she stepped in, she could see Dick and Tim running past her with several cardboard boxes. She ignored them and went straight to Cass’ room.
She knocked on the door and entered to see Cassandra in the process of breaking in her pointe shoes. Stephanie watched as Cass slapped them on the floor to get the sound out of them. “Whoa Cass, what did the shoes ever do to you?” She joked. “You seem pretty calm compared to everyone else.”
Cassandra gestured around her room, everything was neat and tidy. Stephanie placed Cass’ bag on the bed. “Come on, let's go help the others.” The two walked towards the door and opened it to see Alfred standing right outside, dressed in his chauffeur’s uniform, hand raised in a fist as if he was about to knock the door.
“Ah Miss Stephanie & Cassandra, I was just about to collect Master Bruce and our newest member. Could you kindly help clean the room next door? Nothing too strenuous, just some dusting,”
“No problem Alfred, we’ll also help set the tables while you’re out.” With that, Alfred nodded his thanks and left.
Alfred arrived at the Gotham City International Airport just as Bruce and Marinette’s jet landed. He stood outside the passenger door as he waited for the ground crew to guide the aircraft in. Once the stairs were in place, Alfred made his way up to greet Bruce and their newest ward. The door opened with Bruce emerging first while Marinette hid behind him. “Welcome back Master Bruce, I trust you had an excellent time in Paris?” Alfred spoke with a short bow.
“Oh nothing special, it was just a short trip. Marinette, meet Alfred, my butler.” Bruce gently patted Marinette on the back to guide her towards Alfred.
“Um…hi, nice to meet you,” Marinette awkwardly greeted Alfred as she tried to carry her luggage off the plane.
“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Young Miss, please allow me to handle your luggage.” Alfred stepped forward and picked up the suitcase as Marinnete and Bruce entered the limousine.
Soon, the three of them were on the way back to Wayne Manor, Marinette sitting in the back of the limo with Bruce. She heard Alfred call to them from the front of the car, “Master Bruce, lunch has been prepared and everyone is back home ready for your…special announcement.”
“Thank you Alfred, what would I do without you?” Bruce answered with a rhetorical question.
“I shudder to think,” Alfred murmured sarcastically.
The ride back was quiet, Marinette’s anxiety slowly bubbled within as she worried about how her siblings would react to her. All those thoughts escaped her mind as Wayne Manor came to view, her jaw dropped at the size. Alfred noticed and smirked, with the push of a button he opened the window beside Marinette. She looked back to see Bruce gesturing for her to take a look. With that she peered her head outside of the window to see the grand scale of the mansion and its surrounding area.
She was still in awe as the limousine came to a stop, Alfred swiftly exited the driver’s seat and opened the door for Marinette. She could only gaze up at the tall double doors that seemed to stare her down. It was as if the manor itself was taking a moment to decide if she was worthy of setting foot inside.
If it was about to pass a swift judgement on her, it didn’t prevent Alfred from swinging open its doors. Marinette’s eyes were now faced with an opulent grand entrance hall, and a twinkling chandelier high above her head. When she finally stopped and looked in front of her, she felt a nervous lump in her throat. She had only just noticed that at the bottom of the grand staircase, were a small cluster of people, all of whom now had their eyes on her. Her small hand nervously gripped the strap of her bag, and she fought the urge to shrink back from several sets of eyes that seemed to be watching her every move.
“Welcome to Wayne Manor, Miss Marinette,” Alfred said.
If you’re a real human person still using the default tumblr avatar, consider changing it.
why should you change it?
When you guys pop up in our notifications, most seasoned tumblr users will suspect you’re a bot and block on sight.
why do we block immediately?
tumblr has a history of bots trying to infiltrate and establish a connection to a valid, existing blog in order to populate google searches. Simply liking or reblogging a post, not just adding a scam link to it, establishes this connection. Tumblr users don’t want this to happen, especially if it’s a scammy p*rn bot. So, we often block on sight.
So now I have to reblog stuff AND change my pfp?
Well, of course that’s up to you! I just want to explain why you may have been already blocked by an artist/blogger you may have discovered recently, and how you can avoid it in the future.
Reblogging does help creators more than likes because your reblogs will show up on the dash of those that may follow you. Plus, reblogging puts that post on your own blog, and in case the original gets deleted or edited by the OP, it’ll be on your blog like that–forever (or until you delete your blog). Nice.
Here are some free icons created by catalyststuff on freepik. Highly recommend their art for a simple replacement!
Rated M: DC canon-typical violence, suggestive themes,
Author’s Note: We are close to the end of this story, thank you for sticking around for so long. We appreciated all the comments as you joined us on this fictional journey.
Content Warning: Adrien salt, Chloe salt, and Lila salt.
Ships: Jason Todd/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Dick Grayson/Barbara Gordon (side ship).
One night, Ladybug dutifully patrolled Gotham, she sat at the edge of the rooftop and watched the quiet streets below. She was interrupted with an alert from Oracle, she tapped her earpiece to answer the call. “We lost connection to a GCPD patrol car in Otisburg. We need someone to check it out,” Oracle explained.
“I’ll go check it out, I’m close,” Ladybug spoke into her earpiece.
“Alright, I’m sending you the details,” Oracle answered.
Ladybug then approached the last known location of the missing GCPD patrol, the streets were quiet and eerie. She had a bad feeling twisting and writhing in the pit of her stomach, she saw the police car, crashed against a wall. She slowly approached the vehicle, thankfully she hadn’t seen any injured policemen so far. Still, that meant foul play. Ladybug spun around, her eyes darted, wary of the absolute silence all around her. Every corner, every window, it felt as if there were eyes everywhere.
The caw of a crow surprised her and she spun around, to be only greeted by nothing. She backed into an empty street, then she heard cackling behind her. “How pitiful, scared of even a crow’s caw.” Ladybug saw a tall lanky figure emerge from the shadows, dressed as a scarecrow. He had a hangman's noose around his neck and was adorned with vials and tubes filled with a glowing green liquid. “I don’t believe we’ve met, I am Fear, Terror, Despair.” The man chuckles in between each word he listed out, his laughter grew as he concluded his introduction. “I am Scarecrow.” Scarecrow howls in laughter as more figures emerge from the shadows and surround Ladybug, every one of them wore burlap sacks over their faces. “Now, who are you?” Scarecrow points a long finger with a syringe at Ladybug.
Ladybug gulped at the emergence of one of Gotham’s most feared criminals, “Scarecrow, eh? Still trying to ask the Wizard for a brain?”
“Cute, but I don’t think you’re in Kansas anymore, Dorothy.” Scarecrow taunted before lifting up a hand to signal to his henchmen. “Get her,” he commanded.
Several goons swarmed Ladybug, armed with pipes, bats and other makeshift weapons. Ladybug gracefully dodged all attacks towards her, using her yo-yo to trip attackers and to disarm them from a distance. Scarecrow watched her fight silently, watching her with full attention. Satisfied, Scarecrow shouted “That's enough!” his men obediently backed away and returned to their earlier positions.
Scarecrow stepped forward into the circle created by his men, so that it was just him and Ladybug. “You know, for a so-called ‘hero’, you really are just a naive little girl,” he taunted.
Ladybug’s eyes darted around her, trying to think of an opening, a plan, anything to help get her away from Scarecrow.
He examined her closely, every little move, every little change in her facial expression helped him read her emotions. “Afraid already? How disappointing. I can’t help but notice an interesting little phobia of yours. For someone who fights crime, you seem to be almost scared of hurting anyone. Why, my men seem no worse for wear. You almost never throw a punch, you never seem to cause direct harm.”
"I'm doing your men a favour, there are worse things I could do to them," Ladybug retorted with more confidence than she felt.
“Tell me, are you afraid of hurting someone? Tearing flesh, breaking bone, seeing someone in pain and agony because of you?” Ladybug didn’t say anything, her yoyo continued to spin, she was readying herself in case he got closer. “Everyone’s got something to fear, everyone’s got something to lose. Friends, family, lovers…would any of them miss you? Or would they forget you without missing a beat?”
"Stay away from them! This is between you and me!" She snapped.
“Ah I see I've struck a nerve. You’re just a scared, little girl far from home. I’m going to enjoy breaking you.” Ladybug took a small step back, but it didn’t put much distance between and the big canister he had placed in front of her. "This will only hurt a little, at first.”
Cornered Ladybug yelled out “Lucky Charm!” The ladybugs swarmed around her and conjured a gas mask into her waiting hands.
Scarecrow could only bellow out a haunting laugh, "There will come a day when your luck will run out my dear. Unluckily for you today's the day." before she heard the sharp hiss of the canister opening, and a mossy green gas poured out.
She quickly donned the mask, narrowly avoiding breathing in the gas. Scarecrow charged towards her, needles primed. She jumped backwards only to be smashed in the back of the head with a metal pipe. She tried to continue dodging, but Scarecrow and his men were closing in on her. She made a sweep with her yo-yo, pushing most of them back. Scarecrow again tried to swipe her with his needle gauntlet, she was barely able to block before a sharm pain stung her abdomen. She looked down to see Scarecrow had punctured her with his needles and the mysterious liquid was injected into her. She gritted her teeth, her vision blurred. She tried to push Scarecrow off. In retaliation, Scarecrow used his other hand and jabbed more fear toxin into Ladybug’s neck. She cried out in pain. “Now let us explore this terror together,” were the last words she heard.
Marinette blinked a few times, letting her eyes adjust to the bright dayglow of the room. She was sitting at her desk at the back of the classroom, she could see a figure at the front of the class who almost looked like Ms. Bustier. She glanced over to her left, she was sitting next to Alya like she normally did. At least, she thought it was Alya. She couldn’t seem to make out the rest of her face no matter how closely she tried to look. Marinette didn’t know how she ended up in a classroom, especially one that resembled the one she had spent most of her teenage years in. From the front of the class, she could see a pair of green eyes watching her closely…Lila. She looked inside her bag and she found the test answers that Lila had planted there. She sucked in a breath, realising that she had to do something at that very moment to prove her innocence. She shook her head, this had to be a dream, everything looked too strange and unclear to not be a dream. Suddenly she looked down and saw the fox pendant in her hands, the one Lila had accused her of stealing all those years ago.
When she looked up again, she saw the eyes of all her classmates, her parents, Mr Damocles, all watching her. Their eyes stood out, while the rest of their faces seemed to be a hazy blur. Their accusatory stares glowed bright green, and Marinette felt speechless, helpless, and hopeless. She remembered feeling so small and weak in that moment, a far cry from the hero Lila claimed to have a close connection with at the time. It was always Lila’s word against hers, and no one else dared to come to Marinette’s defence. Behind her, she heard the low cackling of Scarecrow’s voice.
“How very mundane, let’s dive a little deeper, shall we?” he hissed. The world around them seemed to crack and crumble, giving way to a city that was going up in flames. The deafening silence gave way to terrified screams. She couldn't move, she wanted to rush in and save the people crying out for her help. Sadly she was rooted to the spot, powerless to help them.
Marinette looked down and saw she had transformed into Ladybug and was now standing outside. Paris burned and crumbled all around her, she frantically looked around in hopes of putting a swift end to this calamity. She was on the steps of an old burning building, almost surrounded by flames threatening to cage her in. Before she could move and try to find a way out, her eyes fell on a figure in front of her. She swallowed hard, as the figure turned and she was face to face with…
“Queen Bee?” Ladybug gasped.
“And who might this be?” Scarecrow asked.
“No one,” Ladybug quickly denied.
“I used to think you were cool, that you were brave. I dreamed you would one day make me a hero just like all the others.” Queen Bee walked towards her, slowly, almost as though she was about to take her time pointing out all her flaws.
“You made it clear you didn’t want to fight against Hawk Moth, I couldn’t let him get his hands on any more of the Miraculous,” Marinette explained.
“So you decided to give what was rightfully mine to someone else? Someone you knew for, what, five minutes?” Queen Bee taunted, “I could have been a great hero, maybe even better than you!”
“Maybe,” Ladybug said, “but I just couldn't take that risk! I’m sorry! There was too much hanging in the balance!”
“All this time, you had everyone fooled thinking you were some great hero.” Ladybug recoiled, her words cut through Marinette to her core. Suddenly, a bright light swirled around her and she was turned back into Marinette before Queen Bee’s eyes. She looked up to see her eyes wide with shock before her chest rumbled with cruel laughter. “Now isn't that just pathetic? Look at you, all this time you were just poor, pathetic Marinette.” She took a few steps closer to her, before she began circling Marinette and looking her up and down. “So is that why you didn't let me keep the Miraculous? Because you couldn't stand someone else stealing your glory?”
“That’s not true, I couldn’t tell anyone I was Ladybug because the people I cared about would get hurt. The people you loved could have gotten hurt if they found out you were Queen Bee.” Marinette’s words fell on deaf ears.
Chloe leaned in and whispered harshly in her ear, “Maybe because as Ladybug, you could fool everyone into thinking you weren't just another clumsy, worthless little bug.”
Marinette shut her eyes, trying not to let it show just how much Queen Bee’s words stung her. In literally the blink of an eye, Chloe was gone and now Scarecrow was in her place as she tried to blink back tears. “You couldn't forge her into a capable hero, so instead she turned on you. You could have given her a second chance, but not while your duties as a hero hung in the balance.”
“Are you done?” Marinette tried not to give into her tears, any brave facade she tried to put on was becoming increasingly tiring to hold up.
Suddenly, she heard another voice behind her. “It was you, all this time,” Marinette felt a heavy weight pressing down on her chest. She knew that voice anywhere. For Chat Noir, being her friend and her partner in crime fighting wasn’t enough for them. Clearly there were also parts of him that she had no clue about until very recently. After Hawk Moth’s defeat, Marinette could never forget the heartbroken look in his eyes when the truth was revealed to him. Her fist curled into a tight ball, she kept her eyes low. She didn’t want to give Scarecrow the satisfaction of seeing her like this. “You knew all along, didn’t you?” She didn’t, none of them did.
“I’m sorry,” was all Marinette could say, she couldn’t bear to turn around.
“He would have brought my mother back!” Marinette could hear the heartbroken crack in his voice.
“He would have killed us all!” Marinette stood up and whipped her head around to face Chat Noir.
“You would have done the same for your precious ‘soulmate’,” there was a venomous sneer to his words.
Marinette’s hands shook, she didn’t have an answer to that question, “You don’t know that, I couldn’t tell you that I had a soulmate because you always thought that someone was you.” she replied, “I thought we were friends, I thought we were in this together.”
“All this time, I was right there in front of you, while you were off pining for someone else,” part of her felt devastated for him, another part of her shook with anger.
“I couldn’t make myself love you the way you wanted me too!” she yelled, she didn’t ask for any of this.
“A former ally and a dejected admirer, how intriguing. Why don’t you tell me about this ‘soulmate’ of yours, my dear.” Chat Noir vanished, but the city continued to burn down all around her. If she squinted up at the sky long enough, she could see Ladybug wielders past glaring down at her. They had fought wars, thrown themselves in the paths of kings to protect the innocent, and some were even powerful demigod. For a moment, she could see their contemptuous glares bearing down on her. She couldn’t bear it anymore, she ran. She didn’t know where she was going, or if she was going to find a way out of this nightmare. All she knew was that she had to try.
Back in Gotham, Scarecrow hovered over her curled up convulsing body on the pavement. “Your screams are like the canaries I used to torture,” Scarecrow said gleefully, “I believe it's time to up your dosage.” He reached forward to inject more fear toxin into Ladybug before his gauntlet was batted aside by a batarang. Scarecrow only managed to get a quick glimpse at the direction the batarang came from when Batman swung down and delivered a drop kick to his face. Batman landed beside Ladybug, shielding her from the henchmen as they surrounded them.
Scarecrow got up and began to run away, he was sent flying upwards with a backflip kick from Nightwing. Scarecrow landed on the floor face first with a deafening thud. His goons looked behind them in shock, to see Nightwing walking toward them as he unsheathed his escrima sticks.
This would be the last thing any of the goons would see before blacking out, Batman took advantage of the distraction and quickly dispatched all of them in seconds.
Nightwing rushed to Ladybug's convulsing body on the floor while Batman loaded Scarecrow's unconscious body into the Batmobile. "Dammit! Oracle requesting immediate CASEVAC!" Nightwing cried into his earpiece.
“What? what happened?” Oracle cried incredulously.
"Ladybug got hit by Scarecrow's fear toxin, I'm bringing back a sample so you can create an antidote." Nightwing explained as he picked up a canister from Scarecrow's unconscious body.
“Bring her back to the Batcave, I’ve scrambled the Batwing, ETA 3 minutes.”
Nightwing sighed and knelt down towards Ladybug, "Sorry about this," he said as he handcuffed Ladybug to ensure she wouldn't harm herself in this state.
Nightwing turned around to see that Batman had handcuffed everyone at the scene. "Oracle, Scarecrow has been apprehended and I'm taking him to Arkham. Notify the GCPD and give them our coordinates." He briefed Oracle as he entered the Batmobile. "I'll see you back at the cave," he said to Nightwing and he sped off towards Arkham Asylum.
Nightwing carried Ladybug up to the closest rooftop, and watched over her as she cried and wailed in her worst nightmares. Those were some of the longest 3 minutes Dick had to wait as he waited for the Batwing to arrive. The Batwing landed on the rooftop, and Nightwing carefully carried Ladybug inside and strapped a seatbelt on her. He then took manual control and flew back towards the Batcave.
As they arrived in the Batcave, Nightwing looked back to see Ladybug had transformed back into Marinette. Her pained cries growing worse by the minute, he engaged the autopilot and hoisted her up. The door opened and he saw Alfred standing by a medical bed, they struggled to place her on the bed due to her thrashing and screaming. Once they restrained Marinette, Alfred and Nightwing sprinted towards the batcomputer, and inserted the sample of Scarecrow’s toxin to be analysed.
Alfred injected a mild sedative into Marinette, calming her down, at least temporarily. Nightwing picked up a chair and collapsed alongside Tim by the Batcomputer and took off his mask. Tim tapped away at the keyboard working furiously to analyse and create an antidote to the latest strain of fear toxin. They both sat silently for a few minutes until they heard the sound of Batman returning in the Batmobile. Batman climbed out of the car and walked towards Tim and Dick, “How’s Ladybug?”
“Sedated, calm, for now,” Alfred answered.
“Analysis 50% completed,” Tim said without taking his eyes off the screen.
“She’ll be fine,” Dick reassured Batman, “Besides I’m more worried about-” he was then interrupted by a ringtone as it jingled. Everyone but Tim stopped to look around for the source of the music and all eyes fell on Marinette.
Alfred took the phone from Marinette’s bag and his eyes widened. “Ah…I believe it would be best if one of you answered.” and held the phone with an outstretched arm.
Dick and Batman walked towards the mobile phone and Jason’s name and photo accompanied the incoming call. Batman’s eyes narrowed, “Why is Jason calling her?” Marinette stirred slightly, responding to the ringtone, sedatives began to wear off and the nightmares returned.
Dick raised a finger towards Batman in an effort to silence him, “I'll explain later, but first-” he picked up the call. “Little Wing, what’s up?”
Jason answered in a dry humourless voice “Why are you answering Marinette's phone, Dickhead?”
“She's just a little busy right now. Can I take a message?” At that moment, a piercing scream rang out.
“What. Was. That?” Jason growled over the phone.
“Uh, nothing. Anyways, I'll tell Marinette to give you a call as soon as she's done.” Dick spoke quickly before hanging up and turning off the phone.
An eerie silence fell on the Batcave, Tim spoke first. “He's on his way here now, isn’t he?”
“Yeah.”
Tim sighed, “Please don't let him interrupt me.”
Batman gave Dick one of his signature glares, “How would he know to come here?” he asked.
“I’ll explain everything in a moment, but for now, Marinette needs to be in a warm bed like now.”
Jason’s motorbike came to a grinding halt on the gravel path in front of Wayne Manor. The red string led him through the front doors and he only needed to get past Dick at the door. He tore off his helmet and stormed right up to the steps. “You have about ten seconds to tell me what the hell happened back there!” Jason yelled, and Dick braced himself.
“A mission went wrong and she took a heavy dose of fear toxin,” Dick thought there was no sense lying to him, and for a split second he could see Jason’s eyes widen in horror before they snapped back to rage as he charged at Dick. Jason grabbed him by his shirt, forcing Dick to look into his eyes as they were wild with anger.
“So you planned on hiding that little detail from me? Why? Was she just going to be another sad little martyr for you?” Jason roared.
“Jason-” Dick cautioned, but before he could get another word in he gripped him tighter.
“Where is Scarecrow now?” he growled.
“Jason, please just listen-”
“So is he back in Arkham waiting to break out again? Is that it?” Jason’s hands began to shake. “I can’t lose her Dick! I can’t just toss her aside and replace her! I’ll kill the bastard myself before I let that happen!”
“Jason, she’s alive!” Dick yelled back, “She's still alive! She's going to be okay!” Jason’s hands stopped shaking with rage as he let the news sink in. Dick slowly uncurled them from his shirt, “I know you're scared for her, we all are, but you know as well as I do she'll power through it.”
Dick’s attempts to placate Jason weren’t working, so he marched back towards his motorcycle. “I’m going to bash that shit stain’s face in, and you aren’t going to stop me Dickhead!”
At that moment the front door to Wayne Manor opened, “Please come inside Master Todd,” Alfred’s soothing voice emerged. “We’ve just administered the antidote,” Jason remained silent and followed Alfred inside.
He walked straight towards the entrance to the Batcave. Alfred held Jason by the shoulder, “Please let the young miss rest. As the only one here with formal medical training, these are doctor’s orders.” Alfred spoke sternly. Jason relented and took a seat in the lounge, he put his head in his hand, trying to hide his tears and fears. A few minutes later Alfred returned with a tray of tea and biscuits and set it beside Jason. “Thanks...how is she?” he asked.
Alfred knelt down beside Jason and placed a hand on his shoulder. “She’s doing fine, she’s strong, Master Todd. She’ll wake up soon enough, and she’ll want you to be there when she does.”
“Alfred,” a voice called from the secret entrance. Alfred and Jason turned to see Bruce emerge from the grandfather clock. “Miss Dupain-Cheng, is stabilising, could you please move her to Jason’s old room?”
“Of course, Master Bruce.” Alfred stood and went to the Batcave to collect Marinette.
Bruce and Jason stared at each other for a tense few moments before Bruce broke the silence.
“She seems very important to you, Jason.”
“What's it to you?” Jason eyed Bruce suspiciously.
Bruce simply sat down in front of Jason, making a cup of tea for himself. “I know you wouldn't come back for me, or anyone else here. What is Marinette to you?”
“I barely even knew this girl before she landed in Gotham. Just some divine being decided long ago we were meant to be.” Bruce took a sip of his tea, and thought back to the very brief explanation Dick gave him. All he was told was that they were soulmates, and that there was a mystical red string tying them together. Jason continued, “Funny enough, I've known her for a few months. In that time, for the first time, I found someone who trusts me, cares about me, and even mourned me. So excuse me if I'm not in a hurry to lose her because you couldn't keep a literal madhouse under control.”
“Back then, with Dollmaker, you two were working together weren’t you?” Bruce asked.
Jason ran his hand through his hair. “No point hiding that now. Yeah, we were working together.” Bruce looked as if he was going to interrupt Jason, “Before you blame me for sending her as bait, let me finish my side of the story.” Bruce leaned back in his chair and took another sip. “I was tracking Dollmaker myself, before Ladybug decided to drop by and say hello. I was planning to follow them back to their hideout before she had the dumbass idea of getting herself caught in order to save their intended target.” Jason let out a deep sigh, “She means the world to me, she’s reckless and absolutely selfless. Is this what it feels like to have a Robin?”
Bruce chuckled, “Absolutely,” before his face turned grave. Jason wondered if Bruce thought he was still capable of any good at all, that he wasn’t just a monster that still walked the earth.
“Miss Dupain-Cheng has been moved to Master Todd’s old room,” Alfred announced as he entered the lounge.
Jason stood up immediately, wasting no time he climbed the stairs and headed straight for his old room. He slowly opened the door to see Marinette silently sleeping on his bed. Her face was completely devoid of colour and glistening with cold sweat, and locks of her dark hair were plastered to the side of her face. What he wouldn’t give to see the rosy blush on her face now. Tikki nervously hovered in circles around her. “How is she holding up?” he asked the Kwami.
Tikki’s antennae drooped, “She's through the worst of it, it seems. Whatever she saw, it must have been terrible.” Jason picked up a chair and sat beside her, noting that the room had been largely untouched in his absence. He dusted off one of the books on his bedside table, he wasn’t planning on going anywhere anytime soon.
Rated M: DC canon-typical violence, suggestive themes,
Author’s Note: Hey everyone, we hope you had a happy holiday since the last chapter was posted. Sorry that this took so long. Both of us have been very busy, but we’re hard at work making sure future chapters are the best they can be.
Ships: Jason Todd/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Dick Grayson/Barbara Gordon (side ship).
Marinette woke up with a start on Christmas morning. Her heart hammered as beads of cold sweat trickled down her forehead, she desperately gasped for air as she whipped her head around. Her eyes took in the more familiar surroundings, her old room was bathed in the dim winter glow. She was home, she was safe, and if she went back to sleep she feared she might see Dollmaker’s patchwork face looming over her once more. Marinette looked over at the alarm clock on her bedside table, it was 6:00 am on Christmas morning. She suddenly felt cold as shivers rippled through her body. She was really starting to miss the warm safety of Jason's arms right about now, and she wondered if leaving his leather jacket in Gotham was a good idea.
She decided now was as good a time as any to open the present Jason had given her for Christmas. She reached into her bag and pulled out the small gift, which was wrapped in red and gold paper. She gently peeled the wrapping paper off to reveal the present beneath. It was a small red leather bound sketchbook, with fairy wings embossed on the cover. Marinette smiled at the gift as she ran her fingers over the design, while Tikki and Plagg hovered over it curiously.
Her parents wouldn't be up for another hour or so, she might as well make use of the lovely gift in her lap. She set the book down on the table, and gathered up some art supplies in her room. At the first double blank page, she set about drawing the people she had come to know in Gotham. She drew Barbara's unshakable perseverance. She tried to capture Dick's jovial smile, and Stephanie's seemingly boundless optimism. She sketched Cass practicing speaking in front of a mirror. She recreated the time she caught Tim fast asleep in front of the computers in the Belfry, with Barbara gently patting the poor boy on the back. A couple of hours later, her parents called from downstairs, and Marinette quickly stowed the sketchbook in the same secret compartment she used for the miracle box.
Marinette enjoyed the next few days surrounded by her family and friends. Marinette had kept quiet about the fact that she had found her soulmate, but her mother had noticed a change in her since she came home. Marinette dismissed this as her finding a group of good friends in Gotham, which wasn’t entirely wrong. She saw people come and go from the bakery, all of whom were pleased to have a relatively peaceful holiday season. She was once again reminded of the parts of herself no one else understood. She wondered what would become of her hero friends across the ocean. If they lived to see Gotham be as peaceful as Paris was right now, would any of them feel what she was feeling now?
As her return to Gotham drew closer, she was packing her things to take back. She flipped through the drawings she made in her new sketchbook. The most recent one she drew was of Jason, with his nose in a book and warm drink at his side. The red string was looped around his ankle, leading him towards the foreground, towards her. It all began because they had a bond that no one else besides them could see. The more Marinette came to know him, the more it became clear as to why they were bonded in the first place.
Her parents were kind enough to drop her off at the airport, as her time in Paris came to an end. They hugged her tightly when they were about to part at the departure gates. As far as they knew, their daughter was returning to a city that was teeming with criminals and vigilantes. They didn’t need to know that she had powers of her own, or that she was once saved by a formidable crime lord, of all people. Alya asked her to keep her posted on what was going on in Gotham, she said it would help her sleep at night knowing her best friend was okay.
Shortly after she landed in Gotham, Marinette took a taxi back to her apartment. She hauled her suitcase into her bedroom, before setting it down and laying on her bed. She lay there for a few minutes, before her phone buzzed with a message from Jason:
“Sorry I couldn’t pick you up from the airport, Pixie. If you’re free, you could come to my place at the Bowery.”
Marinette turned red at the invitation and what it could have implied, but told him that she'd drop by tomorrow.
The next day, Marinette followed the red string and it led her right to a brick wall. The thread was leading her through it, but even she had to admit she looked a little silly staring pensively at a wall. All she saw was the remains of an abandoned police station and no way inside. As she walked around searching for an entrance, her phone pinged again with a message, “I see you outside, gimme a sec I’ll open the door.”
Marinette raised an eyebrow at the message, Tikki flew out of her pocket and saw it on her phone. “I’ll try to open the door,” Tikki offered as she phased through the wall.
Jason was walking towards the keypad to open the door, but he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the red light hovering over it. He sharply whipped his head around to make sure it wasn't a targeting laser. But there were no windows in this sealed off basement bunker, that was kinda the point. Gun in hand, he took a few more tentative steps towards the red spot. As he got closer, it began to take shape and he was even more confused. It looked more like a bug with a large head. Its face looked like it was focusing hard on the keypad.
“What…The…Fu-” Jason thought aloud, before the tiny creature spun in horror, to see Jason staring right at it. In a panic, the creature flew away and escaped by phasing through the wall.
“Tikki? What happened?” Marinette opened her jacket to see Tikki hiding inside. She then heard creaks and groans as the brick wall in front of her swung open. She cautiously took a step back but relaxed as she saw Jason exit from the secret entrance.
“Hey Pixie, quick question, your little fairy friend that gives you phenomenal cosmic powers and all...is it about 4 inches tall and red with black polka-dots?”
“Uh, yeah” She looked around the alleyway, making sure it was empty. "This is Tikki," Marinette muttered.
Jason eyed the tiny creature peering out of Marinette’s pocket skeptically, before glancing back at Marinette. “Look, let's talk inside,” Jason offered and the two walked down into the secret bunker.
Jason walked right back towards his computer to continue working, “Make yourself comfortable.” he gestured to a mattress on the floor. Marinette instead opted to browse around his small bunker, taking a close look at all his mementos. She smiled when she saw the books she bought for him slotted into the shelf. There were a couple more philosophical books that stood out to her, she supposed there was more to being a crime lord than just looking the part. As she perused his shelf, she was drawn to two items in particular. The first being a bat themed tyre, and she thought back to what Barbara had told her about Jason, the tale of how he tried to steal the tyres from the Batmobile. The second was an old photo of what looked like Batman and Robin. She picked up the photo, and the first thing she noticed was that Batman was smiling in this photo. She traced a finger around the picture of the boy dressed up as Robin and looked back at Jason, who was still working. She mentally compared the boy’s bright grin to Jason’s usual roguish smirking.
She had heard the story of Jason’s death and she had heard tales of what he was like before he died. She wondered how everyone felt after he died, she wondered if they felt more devastated than she did. They must have been, they were the ones who actually knew him in person. Dick in particular didn’t like to talk about it, saying that he hadn’t been living in Gotham for some time when it happened. She couldn't have been that much older than the boy in the photo when she was given the Miraculous. She couldn’t imagine the boy in the photo becoming a hardened crime lord, yet the proof stood before her. She wondered how the boy in the photo would feel if he came face to face with the person he would become. Marinette knew that if she looked closely at Jason, she would catch glimpses of what lay beneath his hard shell. No matter how many times he tried to convince her that the boy in the photo died long ago, she knew he was still in there somewhere. “I know, sometimes Batman smiles, shocking,” he joked and she was so startled that she nearly dropped the photo. She managed to catch it before it hit the floor, before putting the framed photo back on the shelf and skipping towards his desk.
“Wow, someone’s got butter fingers, someone told me you spilled hot chocolate over Batman” Jason joked.
Marinette groaned with her face in her hands at the mention of it. Sure enough, he had an amused smirk on his face, as though he took great delight in startling her. Marinette pouted in mock irritation, as she leaned against his desk. "So did you invite me down here just to make fun of me?" Marinette asked, crossing her arms.
"Well you were probably gonna find me down here anyway, and your fairy friend was gonna be there for hours trying to figure out the code," Jason explained, "I figured the least I could do was invite you in."
"How romantic, I come home from Paris only to be invited into your basement," Marinette joked.
“How was Paris?” Jason asked, Marinette pondered her answer for a couple of seconds.
“It was nice seeing all my old friends and classmates…most of them anyway. It’s been quiet ever since Hawk Moth was defeated…” she glanced down at her hands which had begun fidgeting as she tried to put her thoughts into words. She saw a flash of concern in Jason’s eyes before she shook her head and smiled, “I had to assure some people that no, Ladybug isn’t actually secretly working with the Red Hood.”
“I think we’ve done a little more than just work together, Pixie…” Jason remarked, as he stood up and it took Marinette a few moments to register that he was standing very close to her. "By the way, thanks for all the pictures of cakes and pastries," he said as he gently cupped one of her cheeks in his hand, "but all that time, I was craving something sweeter."
Marinette's whole face felt warm, she had no words in response, all she could hear was her own breathing and her quickening pulse. As Jason leaned in to kiss her, Marinette couldn't bring herself to worry about anything else. They were alone in that sealed off bunker, neither of them needed to think about what anyone outside of it thought of them outside those walls. Which one of them was deemed a hero or a villain didn’t matter at that moment. To each other they were one thing: Soulmates. Her small nimble hands crept over his armoured chest towards his shoulders, briefly remembering the large cut across this chest she had to stitch up not too long ago. By the time she managed to reach up and meet his lips halfway, her arms were already around his neck. Her fingers brushed the short tufts of dark hair on the back of his neck. Marinette closed her eyes and furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to deepen the kiss, she wanted to lose herself in this passionate moment between them. Marinette hadn’t noticed before, as their kiss at the airport was more hesitant, but right now she noticed the way that Jason held her. She could feel one of his arms wrapped around her waist, but he held her gently and oh so carefully. It made her feel like she was just that precious to him. She wondered if he thought that if he held her too tightly, she might just shatter in his arms or vanish like a mirage. He had seen her take heavy hits in fights and never suffered injuries that magic couldn’t fix, he had to know she was made of stronger stuff than that.
After the kiss was finally broken, he pressed his forehead against hers and she felt his warm breath fanning her face as they gasped for air. His heavy-lidded eyes bore into hers, and Marinette could clearly see a softness that few others seemed to know about. For now, this was something she was fine with her and her alone knowing about. Her eyes shuttered close once more as she leaned in to kiss him again. As Jason held her close, she basked in the warmth that she had craved from being in his arms. The warm feeling inside her almost felt like it was going to bust through her chest. For one glorious moment, she didn’t need to be the all powerful Ladybug and she no longer felt like the girl who Chloe and Lila felt the need to pick on at school. She had been Ladybug and Guardian of the Miraculous ever since she was 13, and what did she have to show for it? Any scars and injuries that were visible could always be washed away with magic. Very few of them knew who Ladybug was beneath the mask, she still carried the pain that came with fighting for the peace her home city could enjoy today. Down here in this sealed off bunker, it felt like a sealed off world where no one else could hurt them any longer.
Jason savoured the feeling of smooth skin and soft hair beneath his rough fingertips. He felt his own skin thrumming under her gentle touch. He didn't even take his eyes off her as he pulled away and planted a kiss on the pulse point on her wrist, watching as her breath caught in her throat. He couldn't help but smirk in amusement at the deep pink blush on her face. After days of looking through various notes and files, running himself ragged trying to figure out Scarecrow's next move, he couldn't deny how good it felt to have Marinette back. As he held her close, he gently rested his chin on top of her head. All those years of wondering and waiting for whoever was on the other side of the red string, it had built up to this moment. He was no longer counting down the hopeless seconds until his demise. He came to know Marinette as someone who was always kind, compassionate, creative, clever, and yes, a little clumsy at times. Sometimes he wondered what she saw in a monster like him, an undead abomination who was cracked beyond repair. Yet here she was in his arms, because she didn’t give up on him, and she was clearly unafraid to challenge him. Maybe Alfred was right, in that Jason would fight to keep that hopeful spark in her eyes that he loved so much.
Outside the bunker it was a slightly different story, Ladybug didn’t encounter Red Hood nearly as often. If they did happen to encounter one another, they didn’t fight so much as they carefully danced around one another. Whenever Marinette stopped by the Belfry, nobody brought up their relationship. No one really brought it up to Batman either. Mostly because that meant having to explain the red string of fate being real, albeit only visible to Marinette and Jason. Dick and Barbara asked about Paris, and Marinette could only say that it was fine, and that nothing too eventful happened. That she had seen her home city become a more peaceful place after the fall of an especially powerful villain. She knew they were all taken in by Batman’s crusade against crime, but she wondered how they would feel if there came a day when crime was similarly eradicated in Gotham. As the Guardian of the Miraculous, she felt that by helping them in their crusade, she was putting her powers to use and continuing to do good with them.
Marinette and Jason's careful dance had been going on for a couple of weeks. Batman still had his suspicions, but he didn't have much to go on recently. Both of them were mostly preoccupied with searching for Scarecrow, as he hadn’t been found yet. Jason tried to gather information on what he was planning. He had to be planning something big, and Jason had to work to find him before his plan could be put into motion.
On one of the nights he and Ladybug ran into each other, Red Hood had been getting ready to take on four guys at once. With a pistol at each side, he was ready to end this with four quick shots. That was the plan until one of them gasped as he looked down to find his legs tied up, before he was swiftly and sharply pulled into the shadows. Jason smiled under his helmet when he heard a swift thud as the goon was dealt with. The other three stared in shock and Red Hood took this chance to swiftly knock them all out.
While the men were groaning on the floor in pain, Red Hood looked up to see Ladybug step out of the shadows. “Well that was nice of you.” he joked as he holstered his two guns. “Did Batman send you here or were you just passing through?” He crossed his arms and leaned against the brick wall behind him.
“I was passing through, and four men against one didn’t seem like a fair fight.” Ladybug shrugged.
“Until you remembered who they were up against?” Ladybug raised an eyebrow as though she could see the cocky smirk on his face under the helmet.
“I did,” Ladybug said as she looked down at the other bodies, “I guess this is you on a good day.”
“Give it a few minutes and one of them’s bound to talk,” Red Hood said, “you better fly away home now, cause it’s not gonna look pretty when they do.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets, fighting the urge to reach out and touch her face.
“So I’m supposed to just run along while you get all their secrets?” Ladybug crossed her arms, trying to look serious.
Red Hood took off his helmet, his scarlet domino mask gleaming in the moonlight. He leaned in closer to quietly whisper in her ear, “I’ve seen you look through my notes, Pixie. Trust me, this isn’t about that. Right now, their only crime was being idiots.” He took a step back and put his helmet back on. Ladybug looked off to the side for a moment, possibly to gather her thoughts once again.
“Really Red Hood, after everything we’ve been through, you still don’t trust me?” Ladybug feigned offense as she looked back at him.
“All I said was, this isn’t gonna be pretty,” Red Hood reminded her, “and it’s not gonna look any better if Batman catches us chit chatting here. I’ll finish up here as soon as someone tells me why Two-Face’s goons just can’t stay away from here, before I send them back running to their boss.”
“So what am I supposed to tell Batman if he does find you here?” Ladybug asked, a little more calmly now.
“A few goons with some broken bones and nothing more, just another Friday night in Gotham,” he replied.
“You know where to find me if more of them come this way,” Ladybug said, and with a swing of her yo-yo, she soared off into the night.
Red Hood watched her go, he was often reminded in times like these that she was a lot closer to the kind of hero Bats wanted patrolling Gotham. A part of him always worried that her kindness, compassion and seemingly unwavering bravery would be twisted against her. The thought of her ending up in a dark room, hopeless, frightened and alone made his blood boil. Before he could be left alone with his thoughts for a moment longer, he heard the agonized groaning at his feet as the injured goons started to wake up.
Sometimes during her little visits to the bunker, Marinette would regale him with tales of fighting monsters and supervillains that Jason has only read about in the occasional file that was kept in the Batcomputer. He remembered thinking that some of them were ridiculous to the point where they probably gave Polka-Dot Man and Calendar Man a run for their money. He once remarked that Frightingale bore a certain resemblance to Harley Quinn, and Marinette couldn’t get it out of her mind for days. Just as he pointed out during their last encounter, her curiosity would get the better of her as she glanced over at the notes on his desk. It was times like those that Marinette was reminded that she was dealing with a different kind of evil running through Gotham city. They couldn’t be saved with a wave of her magic yo-yo, though not for lack of trying. She had been lucky to meet other heroes who were willing to help and fight alongside her. She had been lucky to meet someone who even saved her from a villain once.
…But Marinette's luck magic probably didn't stretch that far.
